2017

Hand Papermaking Portfolios

On display are eight collaborative portfolios published by Hand Papermaking Inc. They showcase the wide range of creative possibilities inherent in the art of handmade paper. The examples of paper are made from a variety of materials such as cotton rag, abaca, yucca, and other plant fibers. They demonstrate the different roles that paper can play in printed works, such as serving as a passive substrate, being an active participant, incorporating a symbolic function, and creating an atmosphere or environment for the text.

Words & Pictures: Artist’s Books by Diane Fine

Diane Fine, a distinguished book artist, printmaker, and educator, was the invited speaker for the Third Annual Bernstein Book Arts Lecture. Under her imprint Moonkosh Press the artist has produced over twenty-five limited edition books that explore the search for meaning, and speak to the need for beauty in our lives. Her rich and imaginative books combine letterpress printing with a variety of print media such as lithography, relief printing, and etching.

Out Popped Summer: Bugs, Beaches, and Blossoms

On view is a sampling of the Kohler Art Library’s amazing collection of pop-up books. The sixteen examples on display celebrate and embrace the season of summer. The simple pleasures of going to a fair, walking in a park, relaxing at a seashore, observing the beauty and wonders of nature, reading and acting out stories, and traveling to far off become three-dimensional and interactive in these books. These adventures, and many more, literally pop off the page in vibrant, lively, and masterful works of paper engineering. Most of the titles on display were generously donated by Richard and Liz Askey, Ben and Elwyn Weible, and the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) at UW-Madison. The exhibit was co-curated by Sarah Stankey and Carissa Heinrichs, both graduate students in the UW-Madison Art Department.

Science and Nature, Religion and Wonder in Medieval Books

The current show at the Kohler Art Library features a selection of medieval facsimiles exploring the many ways scientific notions and religious doctrine intertwined to produce a wondrous world view, circa late antiquity through the early 16th century. The illuminated manuscripts on display include Bibles, prayer books, and liturgical documents that offer a glimpse into a medieval science wherein the sun might stand still for a day, physical deformity exemplifies spiritual disorder (and marks the Other, non-Christian entity), and the symmetrical measurements of the human body and Gothic architecture all testify to God’s presence. Curated by Prof. Thomas Dale and students in Art History 415: Image and Text in Medieval Manuscripts.

Rare and Fine Books: Gifts from Barbara Mackey Kaerwer

This exhibit showcases a donor’s private collection of rare and fine books on German and Austrian art published between 1898 and 1950. Like many art collectors, Kaerwer valued books for their research capacity to document an artist’s life or work, or an artistic period or movement. The exhibit contains work by members of various artistic groups: Der Blaue Reiter (Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc), Die Brücke (Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Emil Nolde, Max Pechstein, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff), the Worpswede Colony (Heinrich Vogeler), and the Wiener Werkstätte (Josef Hofmann, Kolomon Moser, Carl Otto Czeschka, and Vally Wieselthier). It also features work by contemporary artists Käthe Kollwitz, Egon Schiele, Lovis Corinth and Ludwig Heinrich Jungnickel.