Betty Bright: The History of the Artist’s Book

March 12, 2008

Dr. Betty Bright is an independent art historian and curator who authored the critical work, No Longer Innocent: Book Art in America 1960-1980 (Granary Books, 2005), the first history to trace the emergence of the artist’s book in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s. Previously, she helped start Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA) in Minneapolis, a studio-based arts and educational organization that celebrates the arts of the book. She worked at MCBA for nine years as program director and curator of over 50 exhibitions, several of which toured nationally with catalogs. Her scholarly interests include the interrelationship of image and text, the ability of art to engage social issues, and the intersections of art and technology.

In classes with JSC Professors Ken Leslie and Neil Shepard, Bright will investigate the role of image and text in book form, and how structure, scale, materials, and other aspects of the interdisciplinary, sequential book can combine to create a memorable voice for the writer and artist.

Thursday March 20, 4 p.m.
Johnson State College
Ellsworth Rooms
Library & Learning Center
Free and open to the public