The Golden Gate Bridge in the morning sun.

Over the break I had the pleasure of attending the College Book Arts Association (CBAA) Conference in San Francisco. If you’re counting, this was the third conference I have attended since I started posting back in September. To me, this is a sign – a sign that book and paper arts is a fast growing field. Conference after conference, a lecture schedule is packed with a diverse range of artists and scholars who are bursting with things to say about what is going on in our, once oh so tiny, book and paper world.

There are so many exciting things about being involved in something that is not new, but is taking a new form. There is a passion present and a desire to discuss and to figure out. Why are we all here? Why are we interested? Why book arts now?

CCC student Boo Gilder on the campus of Mills College.

Because the CBAA conference is obviously a conference of an association rooted in the educational institutions who have adopted book and paper programs, students had many opportunities to participate. One member of our department, Claire Sammons, presented one of her projects, along with other students from colleges and universities such as Memphis College of Art, Washington University, and the University of Alabama. And all of the graduate students in attendance from Columbia College Chicago participated in a graduate student round table discussion. This was one of my favorite moments — to be able to sit in a room with 20 or so graduate students from around the country, all of whom are working in the same field, and just talk for an hour and half. It was heavenly. And it was fascinating. Never before had I been in a space with such a concentrated group of book arts grad students. The most amazing, however probably predictable thing, was that we all were really coming from the same place. Our academic and artistic concerns were, for the most part, very similar. We were all asking the same questions and had a lot of the same answers. I know I’ve gone on about community a lot lately but, whoa, here it was in spades!

CCC students Claire Sammons and Jillian Bruschera take an afternoon stroll.

There were also fantastic lectures. Some of the best panels: Seeming and Being: Photography and the Book as Medium (Presenters: Tate Shaw, Clifton Meador, Phil Zimmerman); The Self-Righteous, Self-Indulgent, and Politicaly Correct – Can Paper, Ink, and the Personal Narrative Build Communities? (Presenters: Tate Shaw, Cynthia Marsh, Ann Kalmbach); Herding Cats: Instructional Strategies in Twenty-First Century Book Classrooms (Presenters: Marnie Powers-Torrey, Emily Tipps, David Wolske); and Exploring Typography: Historical Insights, Contemporary Practice (Presenters: Craig Jobson, Kitty Maryatt, Tricia Treacy, Ashley John Pigford).

In all of these lectures, obviously reflecting the theme of the conference – Book Art in the 21st Century, there was talk of past and present working together to lead to our future. How do we take something that used to be so practical and so relegated to the craft universe and pull it into the land of fine art and, in doing so, preserve it, protect it, and ensure its future?

So, in short, CBAA was a fantastic experience. And so were the two days I stayed in the San Francisco area after – bopping around, watching the sun set over the Golden Gate Bridge, eating fantastically fresh California grown foods, and spending some true quality time with some of my dear friends/classmates. As you can tell from the photographs included in the post – I was so busy taking notes and being excited during the conference that I forgot to take photos. However, afterwards I took plenty. So, you’ll just have to imagine the Hilton in Emeryville, CA where a lot of the conference took place and enjoy the magnificent scenery instead.