Material Lessons: Artists’ Books in Practice and Study

Presented in conjunction with the 2025 College Book Arts Association Conference

April 21–August 8. 2025
Curated by LIS 855: Art Librarianship

Inspired by the 2025 CBAA conference, this exhibition invites viewers to consider how book art engages with materiality, memory, and meaning. In a time when digital experiences often dominate, these works foreground the physical and sensory qualities of the book as an artistic and intellectual form, reflecting diverse approaches to storytelling through material practice.

In a time when digital experiences often dominate, these works foreground the physical and sensory qualities of the book as an artistic and intellectual form. They reflect diverse approaches to collaboration, storytelling, and research through material practice.

This show was curated by graduate students in the Art Librarianship course at UW–Madison’s iSchool.

LIS Student Curators:

David Advent * Bailey Blomquist-Dege Dana Bumbalo * Hannah Eastburn * Lyn Golat* Makana Kirkey * Bri Quintero Bungert * Beth Tulley * Maria Hellenbrand

Works Exhibited:

Aimee Lee, Knit Sestina
Sarah FitzSimmons, Atlantic Ocean

JoAnna Poehlmann, Drawings in a Nutshell II

Jillian Sico, Mycorrhizae 

Sue Ann Robinson, Quercus Psalter

Marian Crane, Rivers under the Sahara

Ann Kalmbach and Tatana Kellner, Pistol/Pistil: Botanical Ballistics 

Rebecca Vickers, Spirit Story House

Mirel Fraga, Ofrenda

Chris Fritton & Keri Miki-Lani Schroeder, Please Stay Until Doomsday

Amy Richard, The Mollusk

Sam Pappas, Feathers, chords, and scales

Devon Stackonis, Condition Report