Text on the left reads Guild of Book Workers Night Circus January 21-April 18, 2025 Featured Artwork: Nocturnal Popcorn by Chris McAfee. On the right is an image of a red and white striped circus tent made from paper. At the center of the tent a furry rodent or bear peers out standing in front of a mountain of popcorn

January 21 - April 18, 2025

 

This exhibition features approximately 31 works by members of the Guild of Book Workers, a book artists organization that promotes interest in and awareness of the tradition of the book and paper arts by maintaining high standards of workmanship, hosting educational opportunities, and sponsoring exhibits. Members were invited to interpret the theme of Night Circus, invoking curiosity with its spectacle, fascination with artistry and performance, exploration of the mysterious and luminous, investigation of clandestine actions and secret knowledge, and embrace of chaos and otherness. 

Exhibitors

Yukimi Annand, Alicia Bailey, Jennifer Büchi, Leith Calcote, Gabby Cooksey and Erin Fletcher, Coleen Curry, Samuel Feinstein, Brenda Gallagher, Suzanne Glémot, Karen Hanmer, Judith Hoffman, Lang Ingalls, Caitlin Jochym, Esther Kibby, Monique Lallier, Nancy Leavitt, Chris McAfee, Suzanne Moore, Jeff Nilan, Graham Patten, Todd Pattison, Jennifer Pellecchia, Andrea Peterson and Mary Uthuppuru, Sara Pines, James Reid-Cunningham, George Sargent, EJ Youcha, Mimi Zycherman

Reception 

Thursday, February 13, 2025
4:00-7:00pm EDT

 

Virtual Artist Talks

All virtual talks are free and open to the public. Click register under the listed talk to receive the link.

Night Circus in gold letters above a red and white striped tent shaped book. To the right, the GT logo of Georgia Tech next to the words Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking and the Guild of Bookworkers logo featuring an outline of an open book. Below the logos are three headshots of the speakers for the Form & Function virtual talk. From left to right Alicia Bailey, a Caucasian woman wearing glasses with grey shoulder length hair in a black hoodie and red apron, Christopher McAfee a Caucasian man with glasses, short brunette hair, and a red, blue, and yellow plaid shirt, and Graham Patten a Caucasian man with short brown hair, mustache and beard in a grey suit.
Form and Function
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
8:00-9:00pm EDT

The Form and Function virtual artist talk for the Night Circus exhibition features artists Graham Patten, Alicia Bailey, and Christopher McAfee as they discuss how their design choices enhance the meaning and function of the books they have bound. 

Watch the Recording

 

Night Circus in gold letters over a red and white striped tent. To the right the GT of the Georgia Tech logo next to the words Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking next to the Guild of Book Workers featuring an outline of an open book. Below the logos are four headshots of the speakers for the Words as Pictures and Pictures as Narrative virtual talk. From left to right, Nancy Leavitt is pictured wearing a large brim hat and glasses in a garden, Esther Kibby appears in a close up filled with her shoulder length white hair and wearing glasses, Suzanne Moore has an abstracted headshot combining photos of her from multiple angles. She has short dark curly hair and dark pink lipstick, and the final headshot features Judith Hoffman in her studio wearing a short grey hairstyle and glasses.
Words as Pictures, Pictures as Narrative
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
8:00-9:00pm EDT

Words as Pictures and Pictures as Narratives virtual artists talk for the Night Circus exhibition highlights the works of Nancy Leavitt, Esther Kibby, Suzanne Moore, and Judith Hoffman. Some of the artists use calligraphy as a major aspect of their books and others use narrative pictures. Each will discuss the merits of their way of communicating through artists books. 

Watch the Recording

 

Night Circus in golden letters floating over a red and white striped circus tent. To the right of this image is the G and T of the Georgia Tech logo next to the words Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking. Next to the Paper Museum logo is the Guild of Bookworkers logo that features the outline of an open book. Below the logos are the headshots of the speakers for the final virtual talk for the Night Circus exhibition. From left to right: Brenda Gallagher smiles at the viewer with shades resting on top of her shoulder length wavey brunette hair, Karen Hanmer captured with short cropped brown hair, looking down at a blue book in their hands and glasses on the tip of their nose; Lang Ingalls in a black and white headshot smiling at the camera with bangs and long wavy light colored hair; and collaborators Gabby Cooksey and Erin Fletcher. Gabby appears in a collared button up with her left elbow resting on a work bench and Erin appears in profile wearing a triangled scarf hanging in the front of her shirt. She has dark brown bangs and her hair is pulled back in a pony tail.
By Its Cover
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
8:00-9:00pm EDT

During By Its Cover, the final virtual talk for the Night Circus exhibition, artists Brenda Gallagher, Lang Ingalls, Karen Hanmer, and collaborators Gabby Cooksey & Erin Fletcher will discuss the process of designing and creating the “cover” of their books. They also discuss how the cover reinforces the themes and concepts behind the book/book object. 

Watch the Recording

 

Photo of the entryway to Night Circus. The title Night Circus, on a deep blue background, is surrounded by tiny stars and the double doors to the right are open to the exhibit.
View of a display case in the back gallery. From left to right: The green, yellow and red watercolor cover of Mimi Zycherman’s The Illustrated Man. In the middle, is Andrea Peterson and Mary Uthuppuru’s When you close your eyes opened to a page displaying various prints of plants, the Taj Mahal, and a skeleton in a blue dress. On the right, is the blue, red, black, and white striped cover of James Reid-Cunningham’s La Nuit du Haschich et d'Opium.
A view of three dark colored artists books in plexiglasses cases in the back gallery with dramatic lighting. In the foreground is Caitlin Jochym’s Celestia, a black accordion book is open to a page with round silver and gold details.
View of the front gallery. A banner with information is on the left, several plexiglass cases are hung on the walls, and a large wooden case is at the center of the room.
View of a built-in display case in the front gallery. On the top shelf is Jeff Nilan’s Night Shift, a blue accordion book with the imprint of a round hay bale. On the bottom shelf is Yukimi Annand’s Umi to Nohara to Watashi, an open accordion book of a patchworked paper collage in blues, greens, reds, and many shades in between.
View of three display cases in the back gallery. In the foreground is a case containing Esther Kibby’s Aναμνηστικά, open to a page displaying a black and cream papercut of two figures performing acrobatics. The striped black and gold roof details of Patricia Sargent’s A Night Circus are also visible.
View of a display case in the front gallery. Contains several multicolored book arts open to their pages or with their covers on display.
View of a built-in display case in the front gallery with two art books on display. On the left is Todd Pattison’s The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes, a red leather book with black deerstalker hats, magnifying glasses, smoking pipes and a violin arranged as a face, along the front and back covers. To the right is Suzanne Glemot’s Acts I, a blue leather book with plume-like appliqués in tan, brown, orange and blue, and the word Cyrano embroidered on the front cover.
View of a display case in the back gallery containing three art books. From left to right: Jennifer Pellecchia’s Winterreise, a dark blue book with a blue and white angular shape on its front cover; a white interior page with gray geometric design is visible. In the middle is Sara Pines’s I Sing the Salmon Home - Poems from Washington State, a fish-scale textured book open to the show the full cover. The back cover depicts ocean scene with white fish swimming in a deep blue ocean under a gray sky; the front shows pink fish swimming up a light blue waterfall. On the right is the front cover of a black book, Lang Ingalls’s The Book of Penumbra, featuring an inverted silhouette of two flowers, layered over white circle over a gold background. The book is slightly open to reveal black pages.