Reed’s Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery opened the fall exhibition
season with Bibliocosmos, a show of artists’ books from the Reed collection. The gallery’s
director, Stephanie Snyder ’91, curated the exhibition from Reed’s extensive holdings,
which were assembled in the last 10 years primarily by associate professor of art Geraldine Ondrizek.
The show included works from the early twentieth century from artists such as Marc Chagall and
Fernand Léger alongside a rich selection of books from national and international contemporary
artists, as well as those from local artists.
“Artists’ books are, in part, an extension of studio practice
and another forum for exploring conceptual and aesthetic situations,” said Snyder. “Books
by their nature are time-based phenomena; they are also concealable, distributable, and highly personal.
All of these factors have drawn artists to this medium.”
Opening night festivities included custom silk-screening on exhibition
posters by designers Alysha Naples and Brian Huffines from San Francisco’s Blue Green Design;
they worked outside in front of the library and were surrounded by those who were curious and
those who were waiting for posters. Almost 400 people attended the opening, mostly Reed students,
and about 300 people received free
Bibliocosmos t-shirts.
Exhibition events continued in September, when John Held, Jr., a mail and
communication arts authority, spoke on rubber stamps in the development of the Russian avant-garde
book. The exhibition was on view through September and October.
