Join curator Rich Dana for a special guided tour of the current Main Library Gallery exhibition, A Roll of the Dice: Symbolism in the Sackner Archive. All are welcome to attend this free event. About the exhibit:   In 1897, French Symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé revolutionized the world of graphic design with a single poem that forever changed the way we look at words. His work illustrated how text conveys meaning not only through words, but also as visual symbols that contain a deeper...

Join curator Rich Dana for a special guided tour of the current Main Library Gallery exhibition, A Roll of the Dice: Symbolism in the Sackner Archive. All are welcome to attend this free event. About the exhibit:   In 1897, French Symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé revolutionized the world of graphic design with a single poem that forever changed the way we look at words. His work illustrated how text conveys meaning not only through words, but also as visual symbols that contain a deeper...

Join us for a lecture from Barbara E. Mundy called "The Queen, the tlahcuilo and the printing press: Cultures of control and spaces of freedom in the sixteenth-century Americas." Mundy is a Professor of Art History and the Martha and Donald Robertson Chair in Latin American Art, Tulane University.

Iowa Bibliophiles is back and ready to showcase some of the new acquisitions from the last year. Come get a close-up look at fantastic items, talk to curators about their collections, and discover something new to inspire you. Unique artist's books, medieval manuscripts, comics, manuscript collections, and so much more will be on display for researchers, educators, and the curious to enjoy. This event will be April 9 and held on the third floor of the Main Library from 5 to 7 p.m. It is free...

University of Iowa Center for the Book MFA Candidates Emily Eldred & Jess Overmeyer will both have thesis exhibitions on view from April 6–12.

University of Iowa Center for the Book MFA Candidates Dana King & Margaret Yapp will both have thesis exhibitions on view from March 30–April 5.

University of Iowa Center for the Book MFA Candidate Kelsey Voy's thesis exhibition will be on view from March 23–29.

University of Iowa Center for the Book MFA Candidate Chayna Truex's thesis exhibition will be on view from March 9–15.

A Virtual Curator Talk with Rich Dana Join the curator of A Roll of the Dice: Symbolism in the Sackner Archive for a behind-the-scenes look at his spring 2025 Main Library Gallery exhibition. Learn more about Ruth and Marvin Sackner, the self-taught archivists who created the world’s largest collection of word art, which they donated to the University of Iowa Libraries in 2019. Find out how "A Roll of the Dice will Never Abolish Chance" by Stéphane Mallarmé helped break down the boundaries...

University of Iowa Center for the Book MFA Candidate Jessie Kraemer's thesis exhibition will be on view from March 2–8.

Casual Reception from 5 to 7 p.m. on Feb 28  Join us! What We Have Left: Solastalgia in Iowa City is a body of work that consists of lowrelief paper drawings and paintings, a series of pressure printed maps, a variable edition alphabet book, and a wall installation composed entirely of paper objects. Thematically, my thesis work radiates out from my lived experiences and layered memories that have accrued over a span of five decades in a place I call my home. I was born and raised in Iowa City...

Book artist Peter Thomas will talk about how he has used book structure and binding techniques to add depth of meaning to his artwork and enhance viewers’ understanding of it. Interweaving discussion about the history and future of book arts, he will also share how his work relates to the way concrete poets have utilized typography and visual elements on a page to further illustrate texts. In partnership with the University of Iowa Center for the Book, this talk is part of programming for the...

Reception on Friday, Feb 28 from 5 to 7 p.m. North Hall, Ground Level (B), K K Merker Gallery

Join curator Rich Dana for a special guided tour of the current Main Library Gallery exhibition, A Roll of the Dice: Symbolism in the Sackner Archive. All are welcome to attend this free event. This tour is offered in partnership with the Iowa City Downtown District's Free Week. About the exhibit:   In 1897, French Symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé revolutionized the world of graphic design with a single poem that forever changed the way we look at words. His work illustrated how text conveys...

University of Iowa Center for the Book MFA Candidate Sara Parr's thesis exhibition, Unmade, will be on view from Feb. 2–8.

The Pentacrest Museums invite you to Bound to Collect: Exploring Literary Collections — a tale of two librarians whose passion for collecting books and creative literary games will inspire and entertain you. Join us virtually over the lunch hour for a deeper look at 2 collections on display in our My Collections exhibition program. Whether you’re a bibliophile, a collector, or someone who simply cherishes stories and games, this event will spark your imagination and offer a new appreciation for...

Exhibits from UICB studio classes in lettering arts, papermaking, bookbinding, artist books, and letterpress printing will be on display. UICB Faculty work will be on display in the K.K. Merker Gallery. Food and drink will be served — all are welcome!

The UICB will be holding an information session about the program on Nov. 15, 2024 at noon CT via teleconference. Videos and slides, faculty and students: we’ll describe the program, answer questions, and welcome anyone (from the curious to the already-committed applicant) who would like to participate. Link to register: https://uiowa.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJctdOCtrzsoHNAW_hf7piD02oPU9hHysJe0  

Group exhibition featuring UI Center for the Book Graduate Certificate students! Work on display will be an array of mediums featuring: bookbinding, paper making, letterpress printing, mixed media, printmaking and more. Multiple Signatures is on display Nov. 3–23, 2024 in the Merker Gallery, located in North Hall on the University of Iowa campus. The reception for Multiple Signatures is on Friday, Nov. 8 from 4:30–6:30 p.m. This event is open to the public. 

Join us for the 2024 Kozo Harvest! Nov. 8 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Come for the morning and/or the afternoon! UI Oakdale Campus 2280 Crosspark Rd., Coralville On Friday, Nov. 8, we will have our annual kozo harvest out at the Oakdale paper research facility! We have a field of kozo to harvest, steam, and peel. You'll learn a lot about processing bark fibers in traditional ways. We will be harvesting in the morning, from 9:30 a.m., and will then move to the studio to steam the bark and peel the...

Renate Mesmer is head of Conservation and Preservation at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. Mesmer is an experienced book and paper conservator with more than 20 years’ experience in the field. She formally trained as a master bookbinder in Germany and has pursued further conservation training at renowned institutions throughout Europe and the U.S. She has held previous positions conserving and restoring books and manuscripts at the University Library in Mannheim; the Speyer...

Moses Mendelssohn (1729-86) is widely recognized as the most innovative German-Jewish thinker of the Enlightenment. He maintained friendships with notable Christian intellectuals of the time, such as Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, and published a wide variety of works concerning aesthetics, religion, and philosophy. The debate concerning Mendelssohn’s legacy continues today: Do his accomplishments reflect an assimilation to European Christian culture or the preservation of Jewish tradition? David H...

In 1721-25, the Amsterdam artist Bernard Picart produced some of the most influential representations of Jews and Judaism in European history. These transformative engravings, which became the most reproduced images of Jewish life in the early modern period, supported the expansion of religious toleration. David H. Price discusses Picart’s representational principle of authenticity and his promotion of works by Leon Modena and Manasseh ben Israel, two innovative rabbis who wrote about Judaism...

Statement from Clara Reynen: When did you first learn about Palestine? I was a freshman in high school and had just moved to a brand new town, brand new school, brand new state. The first day of honors geometry I sat down next to a girl with wild hair and expressive hands. Liana. Liana, whose family took me in and showed me kindness. Told me stories about where they had come from. Pointed to maps on the walls and helped me try on hijabs. Told me I looked like a princess and I felt like one too...

The macabre practice of binding books in human skin sounds like the stuff of horror movies, but it was actually done by well-respected doctors in the 19th century, a practice now known as anthropodermic bibliopegy. Join Megan Rosenbloom as she discusses her debut bestselling book, Dark Archives: A Librarian’s Investigation in the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin, and how her interdisciplinary scientific team’s work to prove and disprove claims of anthropodermic books fits into...

In 19th century Japan, people navigated dark paths and roads during the night using small collapsible paper “pocket lanterns.” Join emeritus Center for the Book director and paper specialist Tim Barrett as he describes his late career obsession with collecting and restoring these popular, utilitarian, personal flashlights. Barrett’s talk will officially open his exhibition “Japanese Pocket Lanterns” installed in the Special Collections and Archives Reading Room at the UI's Main Library, which...

Over 400 languages are spoken in the United States. For "Tik Pirmyn, Nera Ko Cia Bijoti (Just Go Ahead, There Is Nothing to Fear)," UICB 2nd year MFA student Diane Vadino (@faraway.places.paper) is interviewing one person who speaks each of them — and recording two things: their language story, to be shared in an oral history, and "a message of encouragement or goodwill" in each tongue. A portion of them will be shared this Friday, Oct. 4, at RSVP @rsvpicia, 140 N Linn St., Iowa City, from 5-8 p...

Join UICB MFA Candidate Poojana Prasanna for her exhibition reception! 'I want to do so many things' is the confessions of a new-skill-seeker and serial-to-do-lister that uses pacing and spacing to visualize the conflict between curiosity and reality. The exhibition will be on display through Oct. 5.

The UI Center for the Book presents An artist talk with the Nadia Sophie Seiler Visiting Book Artist: STEPH RUE "Other Ways of Knowing" Steph Rue is an artist working primarily with handmade paper and books as her medium. She is a 2023 Living Cultures Grant Recipient through the Alliance for California Traditional Arts and a 2023 Individual Artist Fellow through the California Arts Council. After receiving her MFA degree from the University of Iowa Center for the Book, she studied traditional...