This 30-year retrospective of internationally known book artist and book art educator Julie Chen includes some of the most innovative and complex work in the field. Her limited edition artists books employ three-dimensional and movable book structures and fine letterpress printing along with exciting visual imagery. Chen’s designs weave the narrative qualities of text and image into the palpability of the physical structure; they are artworks that read as books, and books with the impact of sculpture. Each book is as different in structure as it is rich in content, with topics ranging from climate change to the fleeting sweetness of life. Her work balances the themes of space, time and object. She has done a number of successful collaborations with writers and artists throughout her career; these books will also be part of the exhibition. Chen has taught in the book arts program at Mills College since 1996. For more information about her own work visit: Flying Fish Press. The Libraries' Book Arts Collection holds a complete collection of Julie’s work, as well as her personal archive. The exhibit is curated by Sandra Kroupa, Book Arts and Rare Book Curator. A companion catalog, Reading the Object: Three Decades of Books by Julie Chen, was co-published by Mills College Center for the Book and Flying Fish Press in 2016. |