Join Night Circus featured artists as they discuss how their design choices enhance the meaning and function of the books they have bound.

Alicia Bailey, a Denver-based artist who has been publishing since 1996 under the Ravenpress imprint, uses the term “artists' books” to describe her unique creations. Her work encompasses box works, assemblage, and 3D collage, drawing from a rich collection of materials many sourced from family archives. Alicia delights in the process of transforming these objects into art, often setting aside concerns about form and direction; her favorite and most memorable moments come when she enters the studio to “see what happens.”

Chris McAfee is a skilled bookbinder, book artist, and book and paper conservator specializing in archival materials, assessments, and preservation methods. He joined the Guild of Book Workers in 1994. His unique pieces, "Nocturnal Popcorn," which is crafted from wood, paint, paper, and a bobblehead binturong, and "Katherine Dunn's Geek Love," which tells the story of the Binewski family, circus performers with unusual physical traits, can be appreciated at the Night Circus art show exhibition at the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking

This exhibition features approximately 31 works by members of the Guild of Book Workers, an organization that promotes interest in and awareness of the tradition of the book and paper arts. Members interpreted 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. Free and open to the public.