Environmental Design Library Exhibit by Alisa Banks

My latest book, Inheritance, will be on display in Adaptation: Artist’s Books for a Changing Environment, an exhibit at the Environmental Design Library at UC Berkeley until May 15. The opening reception, April 9 from 3 - 6pm, coincides with the CODEX International Art Fair. Event details here.

Enid Mark Lecture Series @ Smith College by Alisa Banks

Enid Mark Lecture Series

I am pleased to be featured as the Enid Mark Lecturer at Smith College (Northampton, MA). In Mixed Messages: Fusing Literary and Oral Traditions, I will discuss my latest book, Inheritance, the essay that inspired it, and other works that use unconventional materials. The event will be held in person at the Neilson Library and virtually via Zoom. Attendance is free, but registration is required. For details and registration, please click here.

Summer at Women's Studio Workshop (WSW) by Alisa Banks

Images: Rough book dummy for Yeene (left); Yeene, final version (right).

I look forward to spending time in the Hudson Valley this summer to teach The Book Art Dummy, a week-long workshop at WSW’s Summer Art Institute from August 22 – 26. The workshop will focus on the development of original content to create a dummy for a book art project.

The dummy is a mock-up or model of a book and is created when a significant portion of the project has been resolved. The dummy functions as a general model for the final project and can be rough or refined. Participants will identify a project and create their book dummy during the workshop.

Learn more about the workshop and register here.

CBAA Artist of the Month by Alisa Banks

Inheritance, open reverse quilt

I am pleased to introduce my latest book Inheritance as the College Book Art Association (CBAA) Artist of the Month. In the article, I discuss thoughts and processes involved in creating Inheritance, a book that features several unusual materials. Read the article here.

Boundless @ Bainbridge Island Museum of Art by Alisa Banks

Emergence

Inheritance is one of the works featured in Boundless, an exhibition that “…celebrates the visionary ideals of the artist’s book which often challenge, in the best of ways, our preconceived notions of what a book can be. Boundless explores the vast field of artist’s books, but also the thinking of book artists. Each work reveals the mapping and laying bare of uncomfortable, surprising, or unexplored terrain.”

The exhibition is open from Mar 4 – Jun 22, 2022 at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art in Bainbridge Island, WA. Click here for details.

Guests & Gusto @ Savannah College of Art and Design by Alisa Banks

A conversation on book art at SCAD

Join artists Sauda Mitchell, Carletta Carrington Wilson, and me at SCAD for Guests & Gusto, a virtual conversation about books moderated by Joël Díaz, director of the SCAD Museum of Art’s Evans Center for African American Studies, Tuesday, February 15 at 6pm ET. The event is free but reservations are required. Reserve a spot here.

27th Annual New Jersey Book Arts Symposium by Alisa Banks

Image: Susan Happersett, From Women of the Resistance, 1460 collages & video, 2017 - 2021

I’m pleased to announce a short online presentation of my work at the New Jersey Book Arts Symposium sponsored by Rutgers University, Friday, November 4 at 2pm ET.

The Words Turned Sideways, the 27th annual New Jersey Book Arts Symposium

An online event: Thursday & Friday, November 4 & 5, 2021

Sessions on both days from: 10 am - noon, 2 pm - 4 pm & 7 pm - 8:30 pm

The Symposium is free, but registration is required. Register at: https://go.rutgers.edu/njbas2021

Rutgers New Brunswick Special Collections and University Archives is delighted to announce that this year’s New Jersey Book Arts Symposium will once again be held in cyberspace. As in years past, it will feature speakers, artists in residence, and a chance to interact with other creators. New this year are opportunities made possible by the virtual format: live streamed and prerecorded presentations, virtual studio tours, videos, a hands on do-at-home workshop and cocktail with curators breakout sessions.

Featured Artists: Alisa Banks, Long-Bin Chen, Carla Rae Johnson, Annie Lopez, Rachel Mulder, Derli Romero, Sonia Yaco /  Workshop Artists: Catherine LeCleire & Suzie Tuchman / Artists in Residence: Susan Happersett, Amanda Thackray / From the Archives: China Marks Presentation from 2018 presented by Judith K. Brodsky & Michael Joseph / All sessions Moderated by Karen Guancione and Sonia Yaco. 

Panelist at North American Hand Papermakers Conference by Alisa Banks

Cultural Substrates as Paper

Cultural Substrates as Paper

I am scheduled to serve as a panelist at Fluid Practices, the North American Hand Papermakers Conference Sunday, September 26 at 5pm ET. Panelists will discuss Cultural Substrates as Paper to:

…reexamine the materials used as substrates in specific cultural contexts, consider the vital role these substrates might play in a community, and share how meaning is made from what we might call paper and papermaking.

There is a fee for attendance and membership is required to attend conference events. Additional information can be found on the NAHP website here.

virtual Workshop: Building a Book art reference by Alisa Banks

Building-a-Book-Art-Reference.jpg

Join me Tuesdays, October 12, 19, 26 from 7–9pm CT (convert your time zone) for a virtual workshop sponsored by the Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA) to build a book that serve as a personal library for adding text and imagery to your book work. Learn low-tech methods for adding text to book pages, creative ways to attach images,, and how to assemble samples into an album.

Each session will feature demonstrations, discussion, and brainstorming. Participants may follow along or work on their own between sessions. Together, we’ll create a tool that can be used to enhance or inspire your next project!

Additional details and registration here.

TEXTILETALK: Talking about books by Alisa Banks

Textile Talk conversation with Annie Lopez and R. Skye Tafoya

TEXTILE TALK: TALKING ABOUT BOOKS

On Wednesday, August 18, at 2pm EST (convert to your time zone), I joined artists Annie Lopez and Rhiannon Skye Tafoya in a conversation about book arts:

Three artists discussed their use of fiber-based techniques to create work in non-traditional book and book inspired formats that addresses familial, communal, and cultural narratives. Annie Lopez uses cyanotype and stitching to create dimensional works that feature social commentary and family histories. Rhiannon Skye Tafoya translates the traditional weaving techniques learned from her grandmother to forge dialogs within and outside community. Alisa Banks uses needlework to consider the performative and sensorial potential of the book through narratives that explore multiple identities.

Click on the image to view the conversation.

Every Day & Special Days by Alisa Banks

Interwoven Alphabet, open

Interwoven Alphabet, open

Interwoven Alphabet, a collaborative abcedary created with Diane Jacobs, featuring various themes including relationships, nature, the senses, time, and the environment, is on view in Every Day & Special Days at the Bainbridge Island Art Museum, Bainbridge Island, WA..

Co-curators: Cynthia Sears and Catherine Alice Michaelis present Every Day & Special Days taking viewers on a journey from daily delights and mundane activities to once-in-a-lifetime events.

Between birth and death, we string together memories of dailiness: the view from a window, the route we travel to school or work, the rhythm of mealtimes and seasons, or cultural messages that inform our interactions, to name just a few.

Special days lift us from the mundane and predictable. They might include a trip to the ocean, birthdays, a marriage, or immigrating to a new country. A special day may signal a change in our life or even our world, and become the new every day."

Interwoven Alphabet , and edition of 2, consists of 26 half-inch thick square felt pages. Each page features imagery on the larger sides and words are stitched along each narrow edge. Imagery and words correspond to the letter of the alphabet assigned to the page. New messages are revealed as the blocks are turned.