posted by: Kevin McFadden

Monumental Ideas in Miniature Books 2: A Traveling Exhibit
Virginia Arts of the Book Center
2125 Ivy Road, “Beneath the Art Box”

March 1 – April 26
Exhibit is viewable during Art Box open hours
M-F 10AM-6PM; Sat 10AM-4PM

VABC is delighted to host an exhibition of 87 unique and subtly created object books in the MIMB II Traveling Exhibition, 2011-2013. This Exhibition is coordinated by the Myers School of Art at the University of Akron, and its main exhibition space, the Emily Davis Gallery. The traveling exhibition includes a work by VABC book artist Addeane Caelleigh.

VABC will host a reception during the Virginia Festival of the Book on Sunday, March 24 at 2:30PM, including a discussion of the exhibit by Molly Schwartzburg, curator of the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. Special Collections has prepared its own exhibit from its holdings of miniature books to coordinate with this visit.

Diversity and ingenuity are what this exhibition is all about. Materials ranged from handmade and rice paper, plastic to tea bags, wood blocks, and mailing envelops, and the techniques from letterpress, silkscreen, digital prints to collage, die-cut, and painting. The artists also represent 7 different countries and cultures: United States, Canada, China, Japan, India, Pakistan, and Spain.

“I think the miniature book idea is really a great artform to serve as the basis for this economical traveling exhibition,” comments Hui-Chu Ying, associate professor of Printmaking at Myers School of Art, who coordinated the original MIMB in addition to this new show. “Any artist can take on the challenge of scaling down thoughts, text, images, and materials to create a readable, workable small scale artist book that is a pleasure to handle, to read and to exhibit.”

MIMB II has arranged 3 North American circuits and 1 international route, with the purpose of promoting the work of local artists to a wide range of audiences, venues, and cultures. New York, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Texas, Georgia, Colorado, among others states, will host this exhibition, starting simultaneously in July 2011 at Emily Davis Gallery, OH and Savannah College of Art and Design, GA. The international route begins this fall at the National Taiwan University of Art, followed by the Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea.

Filed under: Hot off the Presses on February 23rd, 2013