May 4, 1995 Contact: Barbara McKenna (408/459-2495)

NATIONALLY RENOWNED EXPERTS WILL GATHER TO DISCUSS FINE PRESS ARTISTS' BOOKS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA--A panel discussion titled, "Testing the Limits: From the Artist's Book to the Book as Art," will take place on Saturday, May 20, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Art Museum of Santa Cruz County, 705 Front Street, Santa Cruz. General admission is $3, student and member admission is $2.

The panel discussion is presented in conjunction with the exhibition, "Dressing the Text: The Fine Press Artist's Book," on display through May 28 at the Art Museum. The event is sponsored by the University of California, Santa Cruz, Boards of Studies in Literature, Art History, and Art; Cowell College; and the UCSC Division of the Arts. For more information, call (408) 429-1964.

Organized and moderated by Thomas Vogler, professor of English and comparative literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz, the panel features Johanna Drucker, associate professor of Contemporary Art and Theory at Yale University; Marcia Reed, curator of Rare Books at the Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities; and Michael Davidson, a poet and professor of English literature at the University of California, San Diego. The discussion will open with brief statements by the speakers, followed by more general discussion in which audience participation will be encouraged.

The panel will address some of the key issues connected with a dramatic rise in the production of artists' books and book-object art over the last 25 years. The artist's book will be explored from a variety of perspectives, including the arts/crafts production side, its place in the art world in general, and its literary implications.

Johanna Drucker has made more than twenty artists' books since 1972, under her own Druckwerk imprint and others, and her work is in major collections throughout the U.S. and Europe. She has written and lectured extensively on the topics of typography, contemporary art, and artists' books. Her recent critical publications include The Visible Word: Experimental Typography and Modern Art, Theorizing Modernism, and Alphabetic Labyrinth: The Letters in History and Imagination.

Marcia Reed is the principal expert at the Getty Center in the artist's book category. She is an internationally recognized authority on the history and culture of the book; the history of book illustration, maps, and prints; and contemporary artists' books. Author of numerous publications on art history, printing, artists' books, art documentation, curatorship, and art documentation, she is known also for her curatorial efforts at the Getty and other venues.

Michael Davidson is widely known for his poetry; among his many works are The Mutabilities, The Prose of Fact, and The Landing of Rochambeau. He is also the author of The San Francisco Renaissance: Poetics and Community at Mid-Century, an exploration of the Bay Area poetry scene in the 1950s and 1960s. He has also published on many poets and topics, ranging from Gertrude Stein to Robert Duncan.

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