Artist Talk and Demo for exhibition “Turn the Page” In-Person
Saturday, January 17, 12:00 to 2:00 pm: Please join us in celebrating the closing month of the group exhibition Turn the Page. These events will take place in the Mural Room and Updike Room, 3rd Floor.
We invite you to gather for artist talk and demo with three of the book artists Andre Lee Bassuet, Lara Henderson and Iris Wright. They will share their process of re-imagining deaccessioned books and the inspiration that helped sculpt the works showcased in Turn the Page. Light refreshments will be provided.
Andre Lee Bassuet (she/her/hers) is a Korean American artist, designer and educator based in Rhode Island. She reuses materials that have been discarded or forgotten to explore themes of ancestral trauma, feminine identity and belonging. She completed her MFA at Osaka University of Arts on a Monbusho scholarship and a bachelor’s from New York University. Her bookarts are in the Columbia University Libraries, Harvard Fine Art Library, John Hay Library, MassArt Libraries, RISD Fleet Library collection, SMFA Tufts Library, Western Michigan University’s Special Collections, as well as private collections.
Iris Wright (xe/xem/xyr) is a transdisciplinary artist. Xe grew up in northern Illinois and trained as an artistic writer before pursuing a degree in Visual Art and Literary Arts at Brown University in Providence, RI, where xe graduated with honors and was awarded the Ann Belsky Moranis Award for exceptional skill in visual art. Xyr artist’s books and zines are housed in the special collections of the Rhode Island School of Design, the Sarah Doyle Center for Women and Gender Zine Library, and the Savannah College for Art and Design. Xe is a founding member of the artist collective abcpvd (Art Book Collective, Providence), where xe collaboratively organizes group art shows that prioritize interactive art. Xe makes art that is worn, spoken, and touched to demonstrate communication’s futility, especially where it attempts to capture queer and othered being.
Lara Henderson is a book artist, printmaker, and designer based in Providence, RI. She is currently a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where her research centers on the intersections of printmaking, bookbinding, creative coding, and digital fabrication. Through this multidisciplinary approach, she explores the evolving relationships between analog and digital technologies, materiality, and narrative structure within the book form. Henderson produces her work at AS220, a community printshop in Providence, RI, where she continues to engage with the collaborative ethos of print culture. She holds a BFA in Graphic Design from UMass Dartmouth and an MFA in Book Arts/Printmaking from the University of the Arts.
This event is free and open to the public; registration is encouraged but not required. Find more information about the exhibition here.
Questions? Need more info? Please email: andreleebassuet@gmail.com
This activity is made possible in part by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.