2013

Premise

The Uninvited Book (NJBAS 2013), a symposium being chaired by Lois Morrison, takes a look at spontaneous acts of creativity: why do certain books seem, like hurricanes, to come out of the blue? What are the underlying precipitating causes? The artists featured in the symposium, will discuss ongoing or recent book artwork that will help to sharpen our understanding of the velleities and vagaries of the creative process.

For the first time in our nineteen-year history, The Symposium will be hosted by The Alexander Library at 169 College Avenue, New Brunswick, and co-sponsored by The Middlesex Cultural and Heritage Commission as well as The Rutgers University Libraries. We are proud to partner with The Commission, which does so much to enrich the New Jersey cultural scene, on our first appearance in Middlesex County, and to be a part of the great tradition of cultural and historical programming at The Alexander Library.

Participating Artists

• Amina Ahmed is an artist born in Africa and grew up in England
• Rosaire Appel is an artist and novelist who lives in NYC
• Judith K. Brodsky is an artist and founder of the Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions
• Washington Cucurto is a writer and founder of Editorial Eloísa Cartonera of Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Andrea Dezso is an artist and writer. She is assistant professor of Art at Hampshire College, in Amherst, MA.
• Karen Guancione is an artist and NJBAS Artistic Director
• Maria Gómez is an editor of Editorial Eloísa Cartonera of Buenos Aires
• Elizabeth A. Jabar is a print-based artist and associate professor at The Maine College of Art
• Patricia Malarcher is an artist and former longtime editor of Surface Design Journal
• Lois Morrison is an artist living in Leonia, NJ, and Program Chair of NJBAS 2013
• Irmari Nacht is an artist who lives in Englewood, NJ
• Anna Pinto is a Hoboken-based calligrapher and NJBAS Scribe
• Amanda Thackray is an artist and Curator of Exhibitions, NJBAS
• Marcia Wilson is an artist living in Leonia, NJ, and Artist-in-Residence of NJBAS 2013

Speakers and New Jersey Book Arts Symposium Committee Members

• Anna M. Aschkenes is the Executive Director, Middlesex Cultural and Heritage Commission
• Melissa Gasparotto is Latin American, African, Latino, Spanish and Portuguese Studies Liaison Librarian at The Rutgers University Libraries
• Marianne Gaunt is the Vice President of Information Services and University Librarian of the Rutgers University Libraries
• Bonita Craft Grant is the retired New Jersey Bibliographer in the Rutgers University Libraries
• Michael Joseph is Director, Founder, NJBAS and Rare Book Librarian in the Rutgers Universities Libraries
• Nancy G. Martin is Archives Assistant in Special Collections and University Archives in the Rutgers University Libraries
• Fernanda Perrone is Head of the Exhibitions Program at Special Collections & University Archives in the Rutgers University Libraries
• Marcy Schwartz is an Associate Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Rutgers University, New Brunswick