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Two women standing and smiling in front of a framed painting in a gallery. One has curly gray hair, wearing a patterned skirt; the other has straight brown hair, wearing a sleeveless top.
NMWA Tickets
National Museum of Women in the Arts

The Book as Art: Twenty Years of Artists’ Books from the National Museum of Women in the Arts

A photo of a still life of the remnants of a large meal. The half-eaten food is actually made of books that are sculpted to resemble fishbones, slices of pie, and other food scraps.
Oct 27, 2006, to Feb 4, 2007

Please note: Information about this exhibition is limited.

Featured Artists

Mirella Bentivoglio

Mirella Bentivoglio is known for her exploration of the relationship between image and word.
Close-up black and white photo of an older woman with light skin and cropped hair. She holds up two small, speckled eggs to her eyes, the right one just visible. She sits in a bright, sun-lit room, a window on her right and wears a dark blazer and wrist watch.

Elisabetta Gut

Endowed with an aura of originality and poetic whimsy, Elisabetta Gut’s book objects must be seen rather than read.
Wearing a black turtleneck sweater, a light skinned woman leans on her jacked with her chin resting on her arm. She has straight, dark hair that is pulled back by a headband, and stares directly at the viewer.

Audrey Niffenegger

Audrey Niffenegger, author of bestselling novels The Time Traveler’s Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry, is also a renowned book artist, painter, and printmaker.
A light-skinned adult woman smiles while standing against a white wall beside two paintings that resemble her in theatrical costumes. She has long red hair, and wears glasses, earrings, and a brown jacket over a matching brown dress with subtle, organic stripes on them.

Meret Oppenheim

Swiss artist Meret Oppenheim used a range of mediums and styles to explore dualities: sensuality and desire, friendship and love, nature and culture, reality and imagination.
Black and white photo of a woman shot from the shoulders up. She leans to the left, bringing her hand to her ear. Her light hair is cropped very short to her head and she looks past the camera with a thoughful expression, looking as if she were about to begin speaking.

Jan Owen

Music is an important source of inspiration for the work of book artist Jan Owen.
An older light-skinned woman with short white hair wears glasses and a long-sleeve blue top. She stands inside, holding open a large black book with an abstract gold design printed across two pages and unreadable gold writing.

Elena Presser

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, book artist Elena Presser moved with her family to the U.S. in 1966; she has become known for creating visual interpretations of music.
An older light-skinned woman with short, dark, curly hair looks directly at the viewer. Posed from the chest up against a light grey background, she wears a darker grey sweater, eye glasses, pearl earrings, and lipstick.

Renée Stout

Renée Stout is a Washington, D.C., artist whose paintings and sculptures have earned her international recognition.
" A black-and-white photograph of Renee Stout. With medium-brown skin and thick dreadlocks, and clad in a dark jacket, she looks away from the camera as she leans against a wall. Her figure casts a looming shadow against the wall."

Julie Chen

Book artist and instructor Julie Chen is known for her work's innovative use of non-traditional structures and high level of craftsmanship.
A light-medium-skinned adult woman with medium-length black hair wears a blue floral blouse and glasses. She is in an art studio, behind a green cutting mat, looking down and holding open a flag-style book. Equipment is on the counter behind her.

Susan Goethel Campbell

Trained as a printmaker, Susan Goethel Campbell did not start working with artists’ books until 1999, when she was researching new formats to present her images of building implosions.
A light-skinned adult woman with shoulder length blond hair. She wears a paint covered apron and stands behind a tablle covered in art supplies, incluidng brushes and photographs. She smiles slightly, her hands posed as if they were about to begin creating.

Yani Pecanins

Book artist Yani Pecanins sought to construct her own visual language through the use of everyday objects—such as plates, spoons, clothing, photographs, shoes, needles, and thread.

Claire Van Vliet

Her early exposure to nature heightened Claire Van Vliet’s interest in the outdoors and influenced her desire to celebrate the landscape in her book artwork.
A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned adult woman with close-cropped light colored, straight hair. She is smiling and wearing a dark colored turtleneck shirt. She is shown from the neck up against a black background.