It's always good to remind ourselves what books can be . . . and that the stylistic conventions of Victorian mass publishing are just that --- conventions, based on then-current technologies and tastes, and nothing more.

The amazing variety of book creators that gather together under the aegis of The Guild of Book Workers offered their best work to curator Karen Hanmer, and jurors Jeff Altepeter, Melissa Jay Craig and Peter Verheyen, who challenged them to make project around the theme "Marking Time." The travelling show just opened in Minneapolis at the Minnesota Book Arts Center, where it will show until August 15th.

The result is an eclectic and challenging show that explores numerous shapes, silhouettes and mechanics of sheet paper and the presence and power of text and image on it.

This collection pulls in two main, and opposite, directions. One is toward the engineered edge and classically precise typography (though always with a contemporary twist). The other is toward . . . well, for lack of a better word . . . "fuzzy" . . . a late 00's aesthetic that readers of these pages know I like . . . even though . . . well . . . perhaps because, it's borderline creepy.

My favorite fuzz piece in this collection is Melissa Jay Craig's architectural half-tower, which bristles with illusions to both buildings and flames.

After Minneapolis, the show moves on to:
San Francisco Public Library
September 6-November 23, 2009

University of Washington Seattle
December 7, 2009-February 19, 2010

University of Utah, Salt Lake City
March 5-April 23, 2010

Denver Public Library
May 3-June 25, 2010

Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
July 5-August 26, 2010

Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania
September 5-October 25, 2010

Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
November 5, 2010 -January 2, 2011
 
Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
January 14-March 20, 2011