Entry Call for Book Arts Exhibition Extended to Aug. 1

Gallery show anchors ‘Handmade & Bound, Vol. 2’ festival, running October 5-6 at Watkins

The Handmade & Bound Nashville festival is currently accepting submissions of artists’ books, zines, and comics for their juried exhibition Familiar Relics, to run October 5-20 in the Brownlee O. Currey, Jr. Gallery at Watkins College of Art, Design & Film.

Artists are invited to submit works that speak both to the familiarity and the evolution of the book. Per the exhibition theme:

Book artists occupy a distinct place in the evolution of print. In questioning the very concept of the book—its form, its intention—artists’ books have the power to mediate the relationship between reader and vessel, content and form. As the notion of the book rapidly changes, book artists take on an increasingly important and challenging role. Books are no longer bound by paper substrate; digital books, downloadable print, and electronic media have all permeated our cultural landscape, altering the delivery of images and written words. This is a massive shift, one that has happened quickly, and through which a new paradigm of artistic communication has been formed. What was once familiar has been transformed into the mysterious, at once contiguous with antiquity and emblematic of a bold future. Books are relics, yet constantly changing and with that change come new possibilities.

Communication theorist Marshall McLuhan presciently wrote that “as the unity of the modern world becomes increasingly a technological rather than a social affair, the techniques of the arts provide the most valuable means of insight into the real direction of our own collective purposes.” This begs the question; how do we, as artists, use our techniques to define these new relationships? How do we envision the future of artists’ books? How do we reconcile the past and future of the book?

Details are available via the CaFÉ (Call for Entries) online artists’ submission system (www.CallforEntry.org) or the festival website, www.handmadeboundnashville.com.  Entry deadline for artwork has been extended to Wednesday, August 1.

Curators for Familiar Relics are local book artists and instructors Annie Herlocker and Jennifer Knowles-McQuistion. Submitted works—books, zines, comics—may be printed in any manner, including digital, offset press, hand lettering, etc., and all shapes, sizes, and materials are encouraged. Work will be judged according to quality of craftsmanship, context within the theme of exhibition, and originality.  First place carries a $200 cash prize, with second place $100 and third place $50.

SCHEDULE

As previously announced, the family-friendly Handmade & Bound, Vol. 2 will kick off on Thursday, October 4, with a community book sculpture, to be created by artists and enthusiasts at Watkins. Volunteers of all skill levels are invited to come by from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to sort books and participate in the construction of a spiral-staircase sculpture.

On Friday, October 5, Familiar Relics will open in the Currey Gallery with a reception from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

On Saturday, October 6, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., creators of artists’ books, publishers and distributors of zines and comics, and book aficionados will come together to sell, trade and buy handmade and affordable publications, printed matter and book-themed creations at the book arts bazaar. The day will also feature demonstrations and hands-on activities for children and adults in printmaking, papermaking, book- and zine-making and screenprinting, as well as live music and food trucks.

ABOUT H&B, VOL. 2

All October 4-6 activities are free and open to the public.

For information including schedules, vendor table registration and exhibition submissions, visit handmadeboundnashville.com and Handmade & Bound Nashville on Facebook, or contact the Watkins Library at 615.277.7427.

The festival is an official, registered event of Artober Nashville, a broadly collaborative promotional initiative designed to highlight, inform and inspire the community’s participation in the wide range of arts activities offered in the Nashville area during the month of October (NowPlayingNashville.com).

Handmade & Bound Nashville, Vol. 2 is presented by the librarians and staff of Watkins College of Art, Design & Film, the Watkins Community Education department, and local librarians and book artists, and is supported in part by a grant from the William N. Rollins Fund for the Arts of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.

Joining as partners this year are the Nashville Public Library, whose Wilson Limited Editions Collection contains more than 800 limited edition books (library.nashville.org), and Turnip Green Creative Reuse, a nonprofit designed to divert useable material from landfills for creative endeavors through innovative programming (turnipgreencreativereuse.org).

FAQ

• What’s an artist’s book? An artist’s book is a work of art realized in a book-like format. They are usually one-of-a-kind creations or published in small editions, and can employ a form other than bound printed sheet.

• What’s a zine?  A zine (pronounced “zeen,” as in “magazine”) is a self-published, small circulation, non-commercial booklet or magazine, usually produced by one person or a few individuals. Zines range from small photocopied booklets, to handwritten or handmade booklets, to magazine-like publications.