EVENTS Spring 2011
TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE BOOK |
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Throughout this semester, the Watts program at the John Carter Brown Library is challenging the way we think about books. Prominent practitioners, from Rhode Island and across the country will present lectures and workshops that analyze and predict how the book is changing.
In February we focus on artists’ books, a format that for more than 100 years has confounded traditional expectations of the book. In March and April we offer a series of lectures and workshops on books in the digital environment including discussions on writing, graphic design, and publishing. Finally a former Brown University student, now Mellon Curatorial Fellow at the Art Institute of Chicago, returns to discuss her research on moveable books of the Renaissance period.
We are joined this semester by Andrew Losowsky, who will serve as Provocateur-in-Residence working with students both online and in person to connect their current research and course work with the function and techniques of the book.
All events are open to Brown and RISD students. Many events are open to the general public. Please see the schedule for more information. Unless otherwise noted all events are held in the reading room of the John Carter Brown Library. All events are free. Please contact Lisa Long Feldmann for more information at lisalongfeldman@brown.edu
ARTISTS' BOOKS AND BOOK ARTS:
Feb. 16 (Wed.) 1:00 PM
Artists’ Books at the Hay Library - Highlights of the Collection with Rosemary Cullen, Special Collections Librarian, John Hay Library, Brown University.
Venue: John Hay Library
Open to Brown and RISD Students.
Friday February 25 (Fri.)
Artists’ Books and Book Arts at RISD
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm: Visit to RISD Special Collections for artists' books presentation with Laurie Whitehill Chong, RISD Special Collections Librarian.
Venue: RISD - Fleet Library
3:30 to 5:00: Exploration of artists’ books made by former students with Jan Baker, RISD Professor of Graphic Design.
Venue: John Carter Brown Library.
Both visits Open to Brown and RISD Students.
Saturday February 26 (Sat.)
Book Arts with Steve Miller, Professor & Coordinator M.F. A. in the Book Arts Program, University of Alabama
Student Master CLASS: 9:00 AM to 12 noon: with Steve Miller. Venue:RISD Design Center Type Shop
Open to Brown and RISD Students.
Lecture: 2:00 to 3:00: Steve Miller, "21st Century Letterpress Printing and the Artisan Book,"
Venue: John Carter Brown Library.
Open to All.
BOOKS AND WRITING IN THE DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT
March 2 (Wed.) 6:00 PM
Andrew Losowsky, LECTURE: Reading in four dimensions: How to use sports, Shakespeare, and particle physics to predict the future of publishing. Andrew Losowsky, Watts Program Provocateur-in-Residence.
Venue: John Carter Brown Library
Open to All. [See also Master class with Andrew Losowsky April 9]
March 4 (Fri.) 11:00 AM
Digital Collections at the JCBL—“Remember Haiti”—a site showcasing a selection of books from the JCBL that are available online through the Internet Archive.
Project demonstration with Ted Widmer, Director, and Leslie Tobias Olsen, Manager of Computing and Digital Imaging.
Venue: John Carter Brown Library
Open to Brown and RISD Students.
March 10 (Thurs.) 6:00 PM
The Institution of the Book: Why Shelley Jackson doesn't write hypertext. Lecture with John Cayley, Brown Professor of Literary Arts.
Venue: John Carter Brown Library
Open to All.
March 16 (Wed.) 4:00 PM
Digital Collections at the JCBL— Archive of Early American Images— a database of pictures of Colonial Americas, from Hudson Bay to Tierra del Fuego, based on primary resources from the holdings of the John Carter Brown Library. Project demonstration with Leslie Tobias Olsen, Manager of Computing and Digital Imaging, and Susan Danforth, Curator of Maps and Prints.
Venue: John Carter Brown Library
Open to Brown and RISD Students.
March 18 (Fri.) 10:00 AM
Master class in book design with Michael Carabetta, Creative Director of Chronicle Books.
Venue: John Carter Brown Library
Open to Brown and RISD Students.
Lecture: 5 PM. Michael Carabetta. What is a Book: Book Publishing, Book Design and the Electronic Environment
See his account of his talk on his blog.
Venue: John Carter Brown Library
Open to All.
MOVEABLE BOOKS
April 4 (Mon.) 5:30 PM
Margaret B. Stillwell Prize Evening with Suzanne Karr Schmidt (Brown '01) the Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow at the Art Institute of Chicago who will give a talk on moveable books in the Renaissance with comparisons to books today. The Stillwell Prize evening is co-sponsored with the John Russell Bartlett Society. It is a prize awarded by the Bartlett Society to RI undergraduates for their book collections. Ms. Karr Schmidt won the prize in 2001.
Venue: John Carter Brown Library
Open to all.
FUTURE FUNCTIONS OF PRINT
April 9 (Sat.) times TBC
Master class with Watts Program, Provocateur-in-Residence, Andrew Losowsky
Ever wanted to live forever? During this one-day Master class, we will make a book that will then be entered into the library archives at Brown, available to read by everyone for as long as the library is standing. The subject of the book? An attempt to capture this moment, here and now: a time capsule in print. Following on from his lecture on the future functions of print (March 3rd), experienced writer and editor Andrew Losowsky (The Wall Street Journal, Wired, The Believer) will work with all attendees to immortalize the moment by creating a book that, by the end of the class, will be sent to print and available to purchase. Won't somebody think of your great-great-grandchildren. Open to Brown and RISD Students.
WATTS PROGRAM CLOSING EVENT
April 27 (Wed.) 6:30 PM
The Book in My Life - An eclectic evening of very short talks by professional speakers to close the Watts Program series on the History of the Book.
A wide variety of practitioners reveal their thoughts on "The Book in My Life" in a series of Pecha Kucha-style presentations. 20 slides, 20 seconds per slide - the clock is ticking. Expect tales of literature, shelving and entertaining reflections on the eccentricities of paper and ink. Ideal for anyone who has ever liked a book a little more than they really should have.
Moderated by Andrew Losowsky, Watts Program Provocateur-in-Residence.
Venue: RISD Artisan Cafe at 345 S. Water Street.
Open to All.
The Charles H. Watts II history of the book program supports lectures, events, seminars, workshops, field trips, and presentations to Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design undergraduates at the John Carter Brown Library and other appropriate venues in Providence to further the study and appreciation of the codex book as a crafted, practical, historical object.
John Carter Brown Library| Box 1894 | Brown University | Providence, RI 02912
401-863-2725 |
