JENNA RODRIGUEZ

This post is a few weeks overdue. I had the honor of attending the College Book Art Association (CBAA) Conference. The conference took place January 2nd-4th. It was a wonderful way to start off the year. There are a few reasons I was able to be a part of this conference. I received a travel grant to get there, I presented my thesis project, and I volunteered to waive my registration fees. I also had one of my books in the Members Exhibition and participated in the folded form exchange.  Through all of my involvement I was fortunate to meet and engage with amazing educators, Book Artists, and Letterpress Printers. It is always wonderful to leave these conferences with inspiration and the juices flowing for my next project.  The University of Utah has an amazing facility for their Book Arts Program. I have never seen anything like it. It is located in their library. When you arrive on the 4th floor you are in front of a glass wall. Behind this glass wall is everything letterpress! Their printshop is on display like a working museum. This is wonderful because all students on campus can see printing in action and it may entice them to take classes. Most letterpress shops are hidden in the basement and no one knows they exist.

There was so much going on at this conference. They had a vendor fair all days where Jim Croft selling his gorgeous bonefolders. There was a book created onsite in 24hrs. The edition size was 250. Particpatants from the conference were able to contribute to it by bringing an item from their studio that could be scanned in. I assisted in the final production of the book (folding, Stapling, and trimming).Here is a picture of the final books. Everyone at the conference received a copy.

There was also another ongoing project happening throughout the conference called [in code]. A group of artists go by the name Shift-lab developed this collaborative project. Here are details about the project from their website http://www.shift-lab.org  [in code] is a social media inspired collaborative project by shift.

The picture to the right is one of many prints they produced.

Here are pictures of the shop and the exhibitions…