News

Book sculptor Dan Essig visits Book Studies Workshop
Emily Martin exhibits at Bright Hill's Word and Image Gallery
Leonard, Jacobsen teach at prestigious summer institutes
Gary Frost to direct library conservation project in Peru
UICB Director to give invited talk at symposium in Israel
North Hall studios survive the flood intact
Jon Wilcox will lead Obermann seminar focusing on materiality and medieval texts
Gary Frost to direct library conservation project in Peru
Center awarded $155,000 grant for printing program, student aid, and special initiatives
UICB Grads Contribute to Japanese Papermaking Conference in Toronto
Cheryl Jacobsen exhibits at Hudson River Gallery in Iowa City
Certificate student Jessica White excels at UI graduate conference
Emily Martin exhibits in Secrets and Lies, a Nationally Juried Artist Book Show
The UICB leads with graduate education that is authentically interdisciplinary
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News & Events Archive

Book sculptor Dan Essig visits Book Studies Workshop

Asheville-based artist Dan Essig opened the first session of this semester’s Book Studies Workshop with a slide show of current work. Essig’s art combines a collector’s sensibility with a novel sense of the book format’s potential. Likening his work to a journal without words, he makes the book structure itself a visual record of a past both personal and social. The Book Studies Workshop gathers UICB students and faculty together for weekly discussions of art and history, theory and practice. For more information about Dan Essig’s work, follow this link.

"Clues and No Answers: Prints & Artist's Books" Exhibit by Emily Martin

UICB faculty member Emily Martin started as a painter-sculptor working with personal or anecdotal imagery. She has found that prints and books, particularly sculptural book forms, provide her with the proper arena for her intentions. The complexity in working with books or series of prints allows her to have the materials, the forms, and the content all working together. For more information about the Bright Hill exhibit, follow this link.

Leonard, Jacobsen teach at prestigious summer institutes

Julie Leonard will teach a three-week course in boxmaking and bookbinding at Penland School of Crafts, the preeminent institute of craft education in the U.S. The UICB's Bookbinding Specialist is invited regularly by Penland to lead workshops in the art of book structures. Cheryl Jacobsen, the UICB's calligraphy instructor, taught at the Wells College Book Arts Center Summer Institute. Jacobsen led a week-long session entitled "The Elegance of Italics."

Gary Frost to direct library conservation project in Peru

A University of Iowa Libraries preservation team will assist conservation of historical libraries of Arequipa, Peru. The city is 40 miles from the coast and surrounded by volcanoes and expansive canyon lands. The region has had long pre-Incan settlement with an archeological record of more than 6,000 years. The Incan intrusion began in the 14th century. Spanish settlement was established in 1539. Libraries for the education of clerics were founded beginning in the mid 17th century. Subsequent acquisition programs have continued to build the collections bringing together printed books imported to Peru as well as those printed in Peru over a period of five centuries.

The project team will demonstrate actions needed to preserve these historical libraries. Specialists Chela Metzger from the Kilgarlin Center for the Preservation of the Cultural Record, University of Texas at Austin, Anna Embree, from the School of Library and Information Studies, The University of Alabama and project director Gary Frost, UICB Instructor and University of Iowa Libraries will demonstrate non-damaging exhibit installation, methods for preservation of historical libraries and cleaning and stabilization of book collections. The team will also participate in salvage of collections from earthquake damage. Read more about Gary's efforts through this UI press release.

UICB Director to give invited talk at symposium in Israel

Matt Brown will participate in an international research workshop on book history and literary studies to be held at Ben-Gurion University, July 1-3, 2008. The symposium will gather historians, literary critics, media scholars, and bibliographers from across the globe to discuss the state of the field. For more information about the workshop, click here.

North Hall studios survive the flood intact

Through the hard work of the UICB community and the luck of the water levels, our studios and equipment in North Hall have weathered the severe flooding that has devastated parts of the UI campus. Tim Barrett's papermaking classroom in the Old Art Building was less fortunate, but happily we had been in the midst of moving that studio into North Hall. North Hall's sub-basement was flooded and our friends in Art Education have been hit badly. The UICB was locked out of the building for 3 weeks, but due to the good fortune of power and ventilation issues specific to North Hall, we escaped moisture damage as well. Summer courses are running as usual. Thanks again to all who expressed concern, which gave us heart as we faced this challenge; and may all so interested in our plight continue to think of and help with the efforts to rebuild the arts programs and UI campus more generally.

Jon Wilcox will lead Obermann seminar focusing on materiality and medieval texts

UICB and English Professor Jon Wilcox will direct an Obermann Center for Advanced Studies research program entitled “Medieval Manuscript Studies and Contemporary Book Arts: Extreme Materialist Readings of Medieval Books.” A competitive application process for fellowships resulted in an international group of scholars to work in tandem with UICB faculty Timothy Barrett, Cheryl Jacobsen, and Gary Frost. The seminar will run June 2 – June 13, 2008 at the University of Iowa. For more information, click here.

Center awarded $155,000 grant for printing program, student aid, and special initiatives

An anonymous donor has granted the UICB $155,000 to enrich its letterpress-printing program, to support its graduate students with research assistantships, and to promote the unit with national and local initiatives. Read more about the grant through the press release.

UICB Grads Contribute to Japanese Papermaking Conference in Toronto

UICB Certificate and MFA Design graduate (2001) Paul Denhoed and his wife Maki Yamashita will be major contributors at the World Washi Summit in Toronto, Canada June 7-15 this summer. They will accompany 3 papermakers from Japan, and act as their guides/translators for the week. Maki will give a bookbinding workshop, and Paul will give two talks on his experiences in Japan. Paul's papermaking research began 6 years ago when he received a Monbusho Fellowship from the Japanese government. Another UICB certificate graduate (2003) Tatiana Ginsberg will be at the conference as well, speaking and doing a workshop on her specialty which is natural vegetable dyeing of Japanese paper. Tatiana received a Fulbright to support her research in 2003-2004, and completed an MFA at UC Santa Barbara in 2007. For more information on the conference please click here.

Cheryl Jacobsen exhibits at Hudson River Gallery in Iowa City

UICB faculty Cheryl Jacobsen has a new exhibition entitled Inevitable on view at the Hudson River Gallery in Iowa City. Inevitable incorporates writing, found phrases and found objects to create unexpected displays of the inner life, spirituality, and humor. The exhibition will run March 28 – May 10. For more information, please click here.

Certificate student Jessica White excels at UI graduate conference

Jessica White won first place in the Fine & Performing Arts division in this year's 10th annual James F. Jakobsen Graduate Conference. White represented both the UICB and the Printmaking Department with a display of her letterpress printed, handmade scroll. The Jakobsen Conference is held annually and spotlights the work of graduate students from across the entire Graduate College. The event is co-sponsored by the Graduate Student Senate and the Graduate College. This year, the Conference was the capstone to the Graduate Student Recognition Week, showcasing presentations from scientists, mathematicians, writers, musicians, artists and the many other members of the University of Iowa graduate community.

Emily Martin exhibits in Secrets and Lies, a Nationally Juried Artist Book Show

Eyes Were Watching by Emily Martin

Eyes Were Watching, by UICB faculty member Emily Martin, has been selected to feature in Secrets and Lies, a national juried artist book exhibition in Portland, Oregon. The exhibition features book arts works by over 70 artists from around the world and was juried by Gay Walker, the special collections librarian at Reed College. For more information, please click here.

The UICB leads with graduate education that is authentically interdisciplinary

The Center offered two courses this academic year that featured collaborative teaching across disciplines, with a heady mix of students from various departments. Last fall, the Book Studies Workshop was led by UICB faculty in English and Art and included graduate students with backgrounds and enrollments in Anthropology, American Studies, Library Sciences, Art and Art History, Book History, English, and the UICB Certificate program. This spring, the UICB sponsored a graduate proseminar on the work of Michael Warner, co-taught by faculty in American Studies and English/UICB, and featuring Warner on the day of his visit as the UICB’s Ida Beam lecturer. Participating students included Certificate candidates in the UICB and MA and PhD candidates in Cinema and Comparative Literature, English, Library Sciences, and American Studies.