Beyond Words

Featuring hand-made books by 6 book artists:

Barbara Brown
Susan Goethel Campbell
John Mijatovich
Alvey Jones
Pati Scobey
Julia Miller

April 18 - May 21, 2006

Opening Reception:

Friday, April 21, 7 - 9 pm

Special events at WSG:

Sunday at 2 Series:

Panel Discussion: Book Arts

Sunday, April 30, 2 pm

Artists' panel discussion hosted by Barbara Brown

Arts by Moonlight

Friday, May 5, 7-9 pm

Celebrate Main Street's Moonlight Delight with free helium balloons from WSG Washington Street Gallery!!

The exhibition Beyond Words of eclectic handmade artists' books showing at the Washington Street Gallery from April 18 through May 21 showcases the works of some of the area's best known book artists. Barbara Brown, who curated the exhibit, is a member of the gallery and has drawn together an extraordinary group of artists including Susan Goethel Campbell and John Mijatovich, instructors at the College of Creative Studies in Detroit, Pati Scobey from Concord, Michigan, Julia Miller, Alvey Jones, and Brown herself, all of Ann Arbor .
 
There have always been beautiful books created for discerning collectors, but in recent years artists have been creating handmade books as art objects in and of themselves. Coming from various backgrounds which include painting, graphic arts, and printmaking, each of these artists uses a different approach when combining text and images into intricate and imaginatively bound and boxed books.
 
Well known as a highly skilled printmaker, Goethel Campbell has taught for many years at the College of Creative Studies and is currently teaching a workshop at Penland School of Crafts near Asheville, North Carolina. Mijatovich, much respected in the digital field, also uses many and varied printmaking techniques, notably photo-transfer, in his handmade books. Pati Scobey uses her skills as both an etcher and a woodblock printer to create the images both within and on the covers of her handmade letterpress books. Miller is well known in the national book community for her historical bindings. Alvey Jones' more traditionally bound books combine both digital and hand drawn images with original and wryly witty text. This is a chance to show some of his more unusual, larger and wall hung books.  Brown's works include digitally printed photo-collage books created in collaboration with two of her favorite writers, Jane Brown and Claudette Jocelyn Stern. All these artists have books in the Special Collections Library housed within the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library at the University of Michigan. Both Barbara Brown and Alvey Jones are  members of the WSG and their work is available there on a regular basis.

There will be a reception to meet the artists on Friday evening , April 21, from 7-9 pm and a panel discussion on Book Arts, hosted by Barbara Brown, on Sunday, April 30 at 2:00 pm as part of the gallery's ongoing "Sunday at 2" series.