Rare Books joins forces with the Book Arts Program and the Katherine W. Dumke Fine Arts & Architecture Library to curate an exhibition of the J. Willard Marriott Library’s holdings from the Women’s Studio Workshop.

Friday, September 4 through Saturday, November 25
Level 1 atrium, Level 1 wall cases
J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah
Curators: Crane Giamo, Ian Godfrey, Luke Leither, Marnie Powers-Torrey, Luise Poulton, Emily Tipps

Committed to developing an alternative space for artists to create new work and share skills, Ann Kalmbach, Tatana Kellner, Anita Wetzel, and Barbara Leoff Burge founded the Women’s Studio Workshop in 1974. Public programming included a regular workshop series, as well as special programs that featured the work of women artists. The intention was to exhibit the work of women artists as well as provide professional experiences for the artists themselves.

Still going strong, Women’s Studio Workshop is housed in a historic building located in the foothills of the Hudson Valley’s Shawangunk Mountains. Artists can take workshops, rent the studios, schedule private instruction, or apply for artist residencies.

Rare Books featured work from the Women’s Studio Workshop in its 2009 exhibition, “The Feminine Touch: Women and the Work of the Book.”

Queen of Wands: a paper sculpture
Susan Elizabeth King (b. 1947)
Rosendale, NY: Women’s Studio Workshop; Santa Monica, CA: Paradise Press, 1993
N7433.4.K5 Q84 1993

Issued in clear plastic envelope with seal bearing title and author. Two cards are enclosed which bear publication information and instructions for operating. Paper construction uses the tetra-tetraflexagon form. Printed offset by Paul Muhly.

Truly Bone: poems
Hilda Raz
Rosendale, NY: Women’s Studio Workshop; Lincoln, NE: Blue Heron Press, 1998
PS3568 A97 T78 1998

Two attached sheets, folded accordion style into twenty pages attached front and back to tan-colored endpapers. Sheets and endpapers are within tan and beige-colored wrappers with flaps. Text is letterpress printed in black typeface. The type is Romulus 11 point. Images are etching, aquatint spit bite, and drypoint from multiple copper plates using sixteen colors. The paper is cream Italian Alcantara. The production of this book was supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Research Council, University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Book production by Karen Kunc with the help of interns Ryan Ninete and Lynda Sock. Edition of fifty copies, signed by the poet and Karen Kunc. University of Utah copy is no. 47.

Shared Memories
Lori Spencer
New York: Women’s Studio Workshop, 1998
N7433.4.S691 S53 1998

Short prose pieces on a simple pop-up structure. Illustrated with photographic images. Handbound and issued in paper slipcase. Edition of 90 copies. University of Utah copy is no. 30, signed by author.

A Book of Myths and Fates
Nancy W. Diessner
N7433.4.D535 B6 2001

New York?: Women’s Studio Workshop, 2001
Inspired by three characters in Sophocles’ ancient Greek tragedy, Oedipus Rex. The Oracle, Jocasta, and Oedipus correspond respectively to the spiritual, sensual and intellectual elements of the human experience. Three sections illustrate each state. In each section, the pages fold out from a central pair of black and white images. Digitally printed. Bound with a soft, wrap-around cover. Edition of eighty copies. University of Utah copy is no. 26.