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Artists' Books

Artists' Books Collection at the University of Oregon Libraries

Design Library Spring 2016 Exhibition

The Summer 2016 exhibition is Picnic Time! Food and Artists' Books. It features items from the artists' books collection that are made about food. On view June 15, 2016 through September 14, 2016.

Exhibitions of artists' books and other materials from the Design Library collection rotate each term.

For library hours, see here.

Images of books in Picnic Time!

Oats: A Non-narrated Participatory Narrative by Bill Bradish

Very Food by Silvia Ziranek

Land of 1000 Beers: Travel Guide to la Via Dollarosa by David Sandlin

Blinky: The Friendly Hen by Jeffrey Vallance

Meat: Animals and Industry by Sue and Mandy Coe

I Like to Eat Right on the Dirt: A Child's Journey Back in Space and Time by Danny Lyon

Mortal Salt by Daniel Smith

Cereal and Sugar-coated (I)deology by Gordon Simpson

Praxis by Julie Chen

Salsa by Anne Bingham

About Picnic Time!

Picnic Time! Food and Artists’ Books

An exhibit in the Design Library, Summer 2016 (Please note: This is a PAST EVENT, you can view items from this exhibit by contacting the Design Library at designlibrary@uoregon.edu)

It’s picnic time! To kick off summer, the Design Library has installed a new exhibit featuring some of the unique items found in our artists’ books collection related to food.

The books in this exhibition represent a wide range of creative approaches to book arts construction and concept. Included are a book printed on paper towels, a pop-up book about a high-sugar diet, a tunnel-book about making salsa, and photo journals of the experiences of a frozen chicken and a loaf of bread. Themes include childhood, the meat industry, food history, and consumption.

This exhibition features the newest addition to the artists’ books collection: Mortal Salt by Seattle-based artist Daniel R. Smith. The narrative of this nontraditional book is a poem by Karen Finneyfrock that tells the story of Lot’s wife from the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah. In the story, despite warnings from God not to, Lot’s wife turns back to watch their city be destroyed and is turned into a pillar of salt. This poem is in her justifying her decision to turn back, and reprimanding Lot for not doing so. Conceptually strong in construction and format, this book gives voice to a woman who previously had none in a way that is both charming and appropriately critical.

Books in the exhibition

Related books

Artists' Information

Past exhibitions

Image of the artist book "Salsa."
Picnic Time! (Summer 2016). This is an exhibit of artists' books related to food.

Interior of the book Cuts, Snarls, and Snags depicts hair on a piece of typed paper.
Cuts, Snarls, Snags, and the Black Hole (Spring 2016). This exhibit explores artists' books made with hair.