The inaugural publication of the Book Print Collective Volume One assembles conversations, scholarship, and reviews devoted to the possibilities of the handmade and printed book.
Designed by the founder Tia Blassingame, this distinctive volume is digitally printed in oversized fonts on elementary school, lined writing paper, and bound in a pressboard report binder. Immediate, playful, and deliberately participatory, its material design invites readers to engage with the text, but also to write in it, respond to it, and make it their own.
BPC Volume One brings together critiques and conversations, including:
a founder’s statement by Tia Blassingame to introduce this new, ongoing publication series,
an interview led by Jose Guerrero with artist member Akua Lezli Hope and scholar member Jesse Erickson on artificial intelligence and large language models,
a review by Kinohi Nishikawa of Alisa Banks’ History of A People artist’s book,
a discussion led by Jerushia Graham with four established and emerging children’s book illustrators Jennifer Mack-Watkins, Daniel Minter, Robyn Phillips-Pendleton, Janelle Washington, and
a review by Devin Fitzgerald of the Fish Out of Water artist’s book by Irene Chan.
Rather than functioning solely as a conventional publication, Volume One occupies the space between artist’s book, critical anthology, and communal notebook. Its contributors examine contemporary artistic practice, children’s book illustration, artificial intelligence as well as the cultural and formal dimensions of the book itself. Together they reflect the Book Print Collective’s commitment to thoughtful discourse and meaningful exchange and to the continuing relevance of the book in an increasingly digital culture.
For collectors, Volume One offers the opportunity to acquire the first volume of an emerging book and print initiative, as well as a carefully produced object documenting current conversations in contemporary book arts. For readers, artists, educators, and scholars, it offers an accessible and provocative entry point into questions of making, reading, technology, and community.
Book Print Collective Volume One is a publication to encounter slowly, return to often, but also to personalize. It is an artful record of shared inquiry and an invitation to participate in the future of the book.
Contact Tia at tia at bookprintcollective.com to purchase a copy.