Much thanks to everyone who helped make this year's Annual Benefit and Auction a success-in particular: Roni Gross for overall design and good cheer; Courtney Booth for an exciting! live! auction! event! Richard Minsky for playing host; Karen Gorst for certificate design; all of our volunteers and workstudy for serving drinks food and generally being helpful; Russian Standard Vodka; Les Chauds Lapins for delightful entertainment; all of the artists who donated work to our fantastic auction; Alex Campos for leading the way; Delphi Basilicato for framing excellence; Star Black for photographic evidence; our generous sponsors; the Benefit Co-Chairs; our Board of Directors for spreading the word...am I forgetting anyone? Oh yes:




























































The Hive Baking Collective for our site-specific dessert installation. Corinna Zelstman (center) made the amazing tiered hive honey cake; Jordan Provost (left) made the honey comb brittle; Sarah Nicholls (right) made the flower cookies, and Bridget Ewald (on vacation in the Bahamas) made the A-MAZ-ING marzipan bees.




















Nick and Bryan can't believe their eyes. There's more photos of the entire event for your viewing pleasure here. Thank you to everyone who came and made our fundraiser a success!

The Center for Book Arts turned thirty-five in the fall of 2009. In honor of our thirty-fifth anniversary year—a venerable landmark—we hope you will join us in recognizing how far we’ve come! You are cordially invited to mark this exciting occasion, and pay tribute to key individuals who have made exceptional efforts to advance and promote the book arts:

• Lesley Dill, Artist
• Dikko Faust, Printer, Purgatory Pie Press
• Ann Kalmbach and Tatana Kellner, Founders, The Women’s Studio Workshop
  
• Ruth and Marvin Sackner, Art Collectors
• Mary Coxe Schlosser, Binder and Scholar

We are pleased to celebrate the admirable achievements of these individuals at our 2010 Annual Benefit & Silent Auction on Wednesday, April 7, 2010, from 6 to 9 pm. We hope you will join us for an enchanting spring evening of French Jazz, cocktails, gourmet hors d’oeuvres, a silent auction, and a rousing live auction featuring work by acclaimed artists.

You may purchase tickets for the benefit through our website, here, or by phone at (212) 481-0295.

The exciting artworks on the auction block for this year are viewable on our website!Click here to get a preview of this year's auction.

Please consider purchasing a fully tax-deductible ticket to the Center's Annual Benefit & Auction today.

The Center for Book Arts is proud to be a part of the Annual Chapbook Festival , co-sponsored by The Office of Academic Affairs, The Center for the Humanities, The Graduate Center and MFA Programs in Creative Writing of the City University of New York; The Center for Book Arts; Poets House; Poetry Society of America; and Poets & Writers. Now in its second year, the Chapbook Festival celebrates the chapbook as a work of art and as a vehicle for alternative and emerging writers and publishers. This year’s festival features two days of workshops, panels, readings, a book fair of chapbook publishers, and a reception at the CUNY Graduate Center on Monday and Tuesday, May 3-4. The complete schedule of events is here.

Directly following the events at CUNY, we'll ask, how do you go from manuscript to object? What are your options for getting text to page? How exactly do you make a book, anyway? Join us on Wednesday, May 5th, from 10 am to 5pm when instructors Susan Mills and Karen Randall will teach basic bookbinding and printing techniques for writers interested in publishing their own work. Writers will learn a few structures suitable for binding their words, and get their hands dirty printing some letterpress book covers. Students will come away with models, ideals and inspiration for producing their own chapbooks. RSVP at 212-481-0295; there's a $20 fee for materials.

We'll cap off the day with our first Broadside reading of the year's series; John Yau has invited Boni Joi and Albert Mobilio to read at 6:30pm, and letterpress printed broadsides are being produced by artists here at the Center to commemorate the event. $10 suggested donation at the door gets you a complimentary broadside. Wine and cheese reception to follow.

Please join us this week for the next session of this year's History of Art series!

We organized a series of talks this year around the general theme of the book as a material object; we invited a wide range of artists, writers, and scholars from a variety of backgrounds to give us different perspectives on the book. We wanted to focus on the book's relationship with time, how people have interacted with books throughout history, and how it continues to function in the present.

Back in February Jane Siegel was kind enough (in a blizzard!) to give a curator's tour to a packed house of how we have interacted with the written word over time, via her favorite treasures from the collection she works with as Rare Book Librarian at Columbia University. This Wednesday we're pleased to present the second installment:

This Wednesday, March 3rd, 6:30PM
Co-sponsored by the American Printing History Association, New York Chapter.

A Force Beyond Function: The Conversation, Technology, and Significance of the Codex.

Join us for a panel discussion centered on the form of the book as an expression of technology.

With Jeff Peachy, Book Conservator; Sarah Lowengard, Historian of Technology and Science, The Cooper Union; Marie Fredricks, Drue Heinz Book Conservator, The Morgan Library and Museum; and John Townsend, Independent Bookbinder and Conservator

How Much: $10/$5 members of the Center & APHA (suggested)

Where: The Center for Book Arts,
28 West 27th Street, 3rd Floor

Annual Benefit and Auction
We're in the midst of printing invitations to the Center’s Annual Benefit and Auction: to be held on Wednesday, April 7. Join us for an evening of music, cocktails, a fine art auction, and more, as we celebrate the Center’s continued success!























This year we are proud to honor the following individuals for their achievements and commitment to furthering the field of book arts: Ruth and Marvin Sackner, Collectors; Lesley Dill, Artist; Mary Coxe Schlosser, Master Bookbinder; Dikko Faust, Master Printer and co-proprietor, Purgatory Pie Press; and Ann Kalmbach and Tatana Kellner, Artists and Founders of Women’s Studio Workshop. We’d like to thank the over forty artists who have generously donated their work to the auction, as well as Courtney Booth, Assistant Vice President, Prints, from Sotheby’s, who will captivate us during the Live Auction portion of the evening. . Thanks also to our annual benefit committee, led by Roni Gross, Richard Minsky, and Idee G. Schoenheimer. Proceeds from the annual event benefit the Center’s programs and activities. Be sure to secure your tickets by calling 212-481-0295 or by visiting our website.

The Print Factory: A Printmaking Workshop
at the Center for Book Arts

This Friday, February 19, 6-9PM

Join The Print Factory's crew in the Center's printshop for an interactive evening of printmaking on its portable printing press. The Print Factory is currently featured in the exhibition The Incidental Person,organized by Antony Hudek at apexart, The exhibition is on view through February 20.

About The Print Factory's Workshop
Producing art on-site while handing it out to the public sparks dialogue about the processes behind printmaking and the historical impact of the multiple in everyday life. Sharing the process and the product of printmaking stimulate community by provoking questions about the utility of printmaking and the nature of art. Click here for more about The Print Factory.

When: This Friday, February 19, 6-9PM

How Much: $10/$5 members (suggested)

Where: The Center for Book Arts,
28 West 27th Street, 3rd Floor