Featured image: “Confluent Septa” by Marc Snyder and Harvey Hix
Introduction from the exhibit curator, Mark E. Ritchie:
Words and images are at the core of books. As the curator of the 2022 annual Laramie County Library book arts exhibition, I paired artists and writers based on the imagery, themes, and sensibilities I had experienced in their writing or artwork. They were asked to explore the theme of “Habitat” with simple single page broadsides or folded folios. Each pair defined their work parameters and relationship. Most described their interactions as “conversations.”
Some works are literal and others metaphorical. Most ask viewers questions. A few works have classic illustration and text-block relationships while others challenge expectations of the relationship of words and images, use the folded page to communicate, and perhaps use other language – even sound. Is music a language? Through poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction, artists and writers explored the relationship of the individual and the collective, human accountability, and human, animal, and environmental relationships. Several teams engaged the relationship of habitat and changing climate. Many tell stories of home, house, and dwelling.
Enjoy this artistic exploration of habitat, and the many manifestations it takes in these strikingly diverse works.
-Mark E. Ritchie, Curator
University of Wyoming Professor: Printmaking
To purchase the catalog for Habitat, click here: https://www.blurb.com/b/11444841-habitat
This exhibit was displayed on the first floor of Laramie County Library from June 10, 2022 to August 21, 2022.
Click on each pair listed above to learn more about their artist book and to view their statements, biographies, and websites.
Featured Event:
Habitat: Conversation with the Curator
Wednesday, July 6
6–8pm
Join Habitat: Artists’ Books curator Mark Ritchie for a conversation about the art and artists through a guided tour of the exhibit. Enjoy refreshments and mingle in celebration of the library’s annual book arts exhibit!
(Adults; Willow Room)