Into The Fold
Collaborative Book Arts in South Florida
Presented at the Coral Springs Museum of Art
July 6 - August 21, 2021
Into the Fold highlights a series of eleven artists’ books and the artists who made them. Each book is the result of a collaboration between the artist and our printmaking and book arts studio, IS Projects. made possible through our artist book publishing program, Existent Books. Viewers can get up close and personal with handmade, limited-edition artists’ books and gain an in-depth view of how artists working in varied media take on the challenge of manifesting their concepts and visual language into a book form.
Existent Books is a semi-annual publishing initiative established in 2015, which brings artists to IS Projects to experience fine art printmaking, letterpress printing and fine book binding. These artists then design an artists’ book that IS Projects’ staff produces by hand, taking inspiration from all the techniques that the studio has come to offer: screen printing, relief, intaglio, letterpress, foil stamping, die-cutting, pop-ups, and more.
Existent Books is unique in that it specifically publishes limited edition handmade artists’ books produced with traditional printing and binding techniques. With a mission focused on building awareness and breaking down barriers to entry in artists’ book publishing and collecting, the Existent Books initiative is invested in collaborating with a variety of artists, including those working in different media and with limited to no experience in printmaking or book arts. To date, the project has included artists whose primary practice includes printmaking, illustration, painting, sculpture, graphic design, video, architecture, drawing, fiber and performance.
The beauty of the Existent Books project is that each artist is given complete freedom when translating their existing practice into a book format. Artists are tasked with examining how their paintings or sculptures can be transformed within a bound structure. As they explore narrative and sequence, each resulting book is as unique as the world in which they came from. Viewers are welcome to experience these worlds unfold as each artist’s typical, existing practice is displayed alongside their artists’ books in the museum.
This unique exhibition also invites viewers into the process of creating artists’ books by showcasing some of the printmaking and hand binding techniques IS Projects provides to its artists through behind-the-scenes materials like printing plates, early maquettes, original drawings, color swatches, and more!
Featuring books and works by 11 Existent Books artists:
Edwin Beauchamp
Beth Sheehan
Noah Levy
Jen Clay
Brian Butler
Elysa D. Batista
Christian Feneck
Michelle AM Miller
Onajide Shabaka
Carol Prusa
Elia Khalaf
Organized by IS Projects
Co-Curated by Ingrid Schindall and Sammi McLean
Didactic Displays
This unique exhibition invites viewers into the process of creating artists’ books by showcasing some of the printmaking and hand binding techniques IS Projects provides to its artists through behind-the-scenes materials like printing plates, early maquettes, original drawings, color swatches, and more! The didactic displays highlight one prominent print or book technique from each project, including:
Photopolymer printing, Pressure printing, Screen printing, Die-cutting, Pop-ups, Boxmaking, Digital printing, Handset letterpress, Foil stamping, Mock-ups and Laser-cutting.
Hands-on Activity Rooms
Gallery goers were invited into the process of printing and bookbinding through two activity rooms set up inside the museum. Materials and instructions were provided so that the audience could bind their own pamphlet stitch book and then decorate their books using rubber stamps. This way, each visitor leaves with hands-on experience in the art of printmaking and book binding, thus fostering a better understanding and appreciation for the artists’ books on display.
Start Your Collection
The mission of Existent Books is not solely focused on creating opportunities for South Florida artists to publish artists’ books, but to encourage our community to support the medium by starting artists’ book collections of their own. Within the museum was a dedicated retail space for visitors to handle and purchase each of the 11 Existent Books projects after viewing the exhibit.
