Artists’ Books and Cookies I at Ooga Booga 2 in October 2012

In October 2012, ForYourArt and Mexico City-based Fundacion Alumnos47 hosted Artist Books and Cookies, a one-day event devoted to artists books featuring presentations by contemporary artists, historians, curators, and critics that related to the production of artists’ books, their history, and their future.

To accompany the discussions, Top Chef Masters Judge and LAist Food Editor Krista Simmons selected cookies from across Los Angeles to present throughout the day. The event brought academic minds, artistic talents, and people simply curious to know more about artists’ books together for these informal and formal exchanges.

Artists’ Books and Cookies kicked-off with a lecture by scholar Johanna Drucker, author of the groundbreaking study The Century of Artists’ Books (Granary Books, 1995), a professor at UCLA as well as a book artist herself.

The event continued with a series of presentations by artists, each invited by a member of the Los Angeles art community to speak about recent book projects. Through these conversations, Artists’ Books and Cookies provided a platform to discuss the definition of an artist book and the medium of artists’ books within today’s contemporary art landscape.

Participants included Mark Allen (Machine Project), Lisa Anne Auerbach (artist), Andrew Berardini (The Art Book Review), Dagny Corcoran (Art Catalogues at LACMA), Akina Cox (artist), Johanna Drucker (UCLA), Morgan Fisher (artist), Emi Fontana (West of Rome Public Art), Cesar Garcia (independent curator), Rita Gonzalez (LACMA), Bettina Hubby (artist), William E. Jones (artist), Brian Kennon (2nd Cannons), Chris Lipomi (artist), Aram Moshayedi (REDCAT; P & Co.), Carter Mull (artist), Laura Owens (artist), Brian Roettinger (graphic designer), Christopher Russell (artist), Ed Schad (I call it ORANGES), Mary Weatherford (artist), Jesse Willenbring (artist), and Sarah Williams (The Art Book Review).

View the postcards created by ForYourArt for the event.