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The Otis Artists’ Books Collection was
founded by art curator and writer Joan
Hugo when she was hired in 1957 as the
Director of the Library. Under her leader-ship
the collection developed from her in-terest
in the counter-cultural art move-ments
of the 1960s. According to Hugo,
“the development of the Library’s Collec-tion
coincided with several sixties’ art phe-nomena:
the use of multiples—of which
the book was just one; the popularity of
graphics workshops; and—with increased
access to inexpensive methods of reproduc-tion—
the production of the democratic
book, the book produced to be given away
or sold at low-cost in order to circumvent
the hierarchies of distribution, and to con-nect
directly with the viewer.” Although
Hugo passed away in 2006, her emphasis
on multiples and the concepts of accessibil-ity
and democracy continue to guide the
mission and purchasing philosophy of the
Collection today.
In organizing this exhibition, we wanted to
reflect the diversity and mission of the col-lection
in the areas of typography, paper-making,
graphics, bookmaking, binding,
design, and creative writing. Therefore, we
enlisted Cathy Chambers, Assistant Librar-ian
and resident authority on the collec-tion,
to be the lead curator and created a
support team of distinguished Otis faculty
and library staff. This group (listed below)
provided invaluable help from the view-points
of the printmaker, book binder,
graphic designer, writer, poet, comic book
artist, and zine publisher. It is an intention-ally
eclectic selection of work as it reflects
both the pedagogical priorities of current
faculty for their students as well as their
personal expertise and interests. Using the
history and mission of the collection as a
guiding principle for selection we devel-oped
the following overarching themes:
Democracy/Accessibility, meaning eco-nomic
and user friendly production and
distribution methods; Disappearing/
Reappearing, the idea that the physical
book is fading into the digital realm while
self-publishing, scrapbooking, and fine art
book making are emerging; and Legacy,
the passing of knowledge, production, and
access through the generations. Within
these larger categories emphasis was also
placed on form, technique, collaboration,
personal narrative, non-traditional narra-tive
and reader determined experiences.
In this iBook exhibition catalog designed
by Sheldon Forbes, the history of the collec-tion
and artists’ books in Los Angeles is fur-ther
explored and documented by an illu-minating
essay by Kathleen Walkup called
LA Bound. Binding Desire: Unfolding Artists
Books (the book, exhibition, programs) pro-vided
opportunities for the public to exam-ine
the history of artists’ books in Los Ange-les
through work in the Otis collection; ex-plore
the resurgence of artists’ books; and
get a peek at the future of book arts, as art-ists
manipulate and stretch our notions of
what a book can do and be. With that in
mind, we created a reading room in the ex-hibition
and a section in this book called
“Curricular Connections” to highlight the
work of Otis students produced in classes
taught by Guy Bennett, Rebecca Chamlee,
Nancy Jo Haselbacher, and
J.T. Steiny.
Meg Linton
Director of Galleries and Exhibitions
Otis College of Art and Design
iv
Object Description
Description
| Title | Page 5 |
| Full Text of PDF | The Otis Artists’ Books Collection was founded by art curator and writer Joan Hugo when she was hired in 1957 as the Director of the Library. Under her leader-ship the collection developed from her in-terest in the counter-cultural art move-ments of the 1960s. According to Hugo, “the development of the Library’s Collec-tion coincided with several sixties’ art phe-nomena: the use of multiples—of which the book was just one; the popularity of graphics workshops; and—with increased access to inexpensive methods of reproduc-tion— the production of the democratic book, the book produced to be given away or sold at low-cost in order to circumvent the hierarchies of distribution, and to con-nect directly with the viewer.” Although Hugo passed away in 2006, her emphasis on multiples and the concepts of accessibil-ity and democracy continue to guide the mission and purchasing philosophy of the Collection today. In organizing this exhibition, we wanted to reflect the diversity and mission of the col-lection in the areas of typography, paper-making, graphics, bookmaking, binding, design, and creative writing. Therefore, we enlisted Cathy Chambers, Assistant Librar-ian and resident authority on the collec-tion, to be the lead curator and created a support team of distinguished Otis faculty and library staff. This group (listed below) provided invaluable help from the view-points of the printmaker, book binder, graphic designer, writer, poet, comic book artist, and zine publisher. It is an intention-ally eclectic selection of work as it reflects both the pedagogical priorities of current faculty for their students as well as their personal expertise and interests. Using the history and mission of the collection as a guiding principle for selection we devel-oped the following overarching themes: Democracy/Accessibility, meaning eco-nomic and user friendly production and distribution methods; Disappearing/ Reappearing, the idea that the physical book is fading into the digital realm while self-publishing, scrapbooking, and fine art book making are emerging; and Legacy, the passing of knowledge, production, and access through the generations. Within these larger categories emphasis was also placed on form, technique, collaboration, personal narrative, non-traditional narra-tive and reader determined experiences. In this iBook exhibition catalog designed by Sheldon Forbes, the history of the collec-tion and artists’ books in Los Angeles is fur-ther explored and documented by an illu-minating essay by Kathleen Walkup called LA Bound. Binding Desire: Unfolding Artists Books (the book, exhibition, programs) pro-vided opportunities for the public to exam-ine the history of artists’ books in Los Ange-les through work in the Otis collection; ex-plore the resurgence of artists’ books; and get a peek at the future of book arts, as art-ists manipulate and stretch our notions of what a book can do and be. With that in mind, we created a reading room in the ex-hibition and a section in this book called “Curricular Connections” to highlight the work of Otis students produced in classes taught by Guy Bennett, Rebecca Chamlee, Nancy Jo Haselbacher, and J.T. Steiny. Meg Linton Director of Galleries and Exhibitions Otis College of Art and Design iv |
