Dreams and Creativity: Cuban Artists’ Books and Prints: 1985-2009
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Talk by Linda Howe
Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009
5 – 6:30 p.m.
Wilson Special Collections Library, Pleasants Family Assembly Room
Free and open to the public
Program information: Liza Terll, UNC Friends of the Library, (919) 962-4207 or liza_terll@unc.edu
Linda Howe, associate professor of Romance languages at Wake Forest University, will discuss the Cuban bookmaking cooperative Ediciones Vigía.
Ediciones Vigía was founded in Matanzas, Cuba, in 1985. The artists’ collective produces elaborate and artistic books using craft and copier paper, crayons, cloth, leaves, sand, wood scraps, and items donated by international visitors.
To accompany the talk, a mini-exhibit of approximately twenty Ediciones Vigía books owned by the UNC Library will be on view Nov. 2-27 in the Rare Book Collection Reading Room in Wilson Library. Hours are 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. weekdays.
The Rare Book Collection acquired its first Vigía title in 2001 and currently has approximately sixty volumes. Twenty-five of the books were part of the 2008 exhibit, Hecho a Mano: Book Arts of Latin America.
Howe is author of Transgression and Conformity: Cuban Writers and Artists after the Revolution (University of Wisconsin Press, 2004), numerous articles on Cuban culture, and several English and Spanish translations of fiction and poetry. Her traveling exhibit, Cuban Artists’ Books and Prints: 1985-2009, which debuted at the Grolier Club of New York in May, features handmade, limited-edition books by Ediciones Vigía and other objects created by thirteen contemporary Cuban painters, sculptors, photographers, and printmakers.
Howe’s talk is co-sponsored by the University Library and UNC’s Institute for the Study of the Americas (ISA). It is part of the ISA series “The Cuban Revolution at 50: Art and Cinema.” Contact Beatriz Riefkohl at (919) 966-1484 for more information about the series.
Related Links
- Hecho a Mano: Book Arts of Latin America (2008 exhibit in UNC’s Wilson Library)
- Rare Book Collection, Wilson Library
- Institute for the Study of the Americas
I am wondering if Linda Howe is planning to come to Canada to speak about the handmade Cuban books.I have purchased a few and they fascinate me. I would like to know more about them.
Thank you.
catherine g.
Posted by catherine gascon | March 10, 2010, 8:04 pmCatherine, thanks so much for your interest and comment. The Cuban books are fascinating, indeed. Linda Howe is on the faculty at Wake Forest University, so you may wish to consider contacting her directly. Their directory is online: https://win.wfu.edu/directory.html.
Good luck!
Judy Panitch
Directory of Library Communications
Posted by Library Staff | March 11, 2010, 10:04 am