2023 New Jersey Book Arts Symposium

The 29th annual New Jersey Book Arts Symposium will be held on Friday, November 3, 2023 at Alexander Library in New Brunswick.

The exciting program includes a hands-on workshop by Catherine LeCleire and Suzie Tuchman and presentations by featured book artists Robyn Ellenbogen, Carole Kunstadt, Chuck Miley, and Ann Vollum. This year’s Artist-in-Residence James Horton will make photographic portraits of attendees on-site. You are invited to bring your artist's book to include in a portrait. In the spirit of this year’s theme, “Taking a Breath,” short meditation breaks led by Kate Van Riper will be built into the program. Judith K. Brodsky, Distinguished Professor Emerita in the Department of Visual Arts at Rutgers will provide a short summation of the day’s proceedings. The schedule will include plenty of time for networking and sharing each other’s books. All participants are encouraged to bring their art to show in our festive book jam. The 2023 Book Arts Symposium will be moderated by Artistic Director Karen Guancione. Amanda Thackray will curate the pop-up exhibition. Fernanda Perrone, Archivist and Head, Exhibitions Program at Special Collections and University Archives, and Michael Joseph, New Jersey Book Arts Symposium Founder will share their insights.

For almost 30 years, the New Jersey Book Arts Symposium has been held in November to explore and celebrate all aspects of the book arts, from time-honored arts and crafts used in traditional book-making practices, such as calligraphy, printing, illustration, binding, typography and paper-making, to avant-garde explorations of the ontology of the book in its adaptation to artistic expression in artists' books.

The New Jersey Book Arts Symposium will be held in the Teleconference Hall on the fourth floor of the Alexander Library at 169 College Avenue in New Brunswick from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The symposium is free and open to the public. Parking may be reserved here.

Grant funding has been provided by the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund.