Booklyn Artist Alliance

Booklyn Artist Alliance (Booklyn) is an artist-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1999 that works to promote, distribute, and archive artist books and book arts.[1][2] Booklyn was founded, and continues to be governed by, artists.[3]

History

Originally located in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York,[1][2] Booklyn moved to the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, New York in early 2018.[4][5] This relocation included plans for new education and archives initiatives.[4]

Booklyn initially originated out of several artist run projects: The Artichoke Yink Press run by Christopher Wilde, a Bookmobile artist book distribution system run by Wilde and Shon Schooler, and a Tuesday night artist gathering at 70 Commercial Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.[3] Marshall Weber, an original co-founder of Booklyn, remains involved as Directing Curator.[3]

Activities

The work of Booklyn involves a wide range of activities: representing contemporary artists; cultivating a distribution network across international institutions that may acquire work by Booklyn artists for their collections; and curating exhibitions in its own gallery space as well as at other institutions.[6] Education efforts at Booklyn involve lectures and workshops on various aspects of bookmaking, including bookbinding and zine-making.[5][7] Educational materials are also distributed through resources such as the Booklyn Education Manual.[8]

The intention of Booklyn's artist-run distribution system was to interrupt the existing distribution networks dominated by private dealers.[3] Booklyn organizes the Sass & Zines: Celebrating QPOC / WPOC in Print event, and in 2019, Booklyn participated in the New York City Book and Ephemera Fair during New York's Rare Book Week by curating a Brooklyn Artists' Fair of forty artists whose work addresses diverse and contemporary issues.[5]

The artistic works represented by Booklyn include artist books, prints, drawings, publications, and zines, as well as the archives of individual artists. Booklyn also publishes and co-sponsors books.[9] Institutions that have worked with Booklyn to acquire materials for their own collection include University of Puget Sound,[10] Franklin & Marshall College,[8] Bucknell University[11] and Long Island University - Brooklyn.[12]

Booklyn has collaborated with Iraq Veterans Against the War (now About Face[13]), on a series of portfolio projects dating back to the War is Trauma portfolio in 2008; some of these have also involved collaboration with Justseeds Artists' Cooperative and Combat Paper NJ.[14]

Booklyn's organizational archive is housed at Library of Congress.[9]

Exhibitions

Exhibitions presented by Booklyn include:

  • Straight out of Booklyn (2017), at Bucknell University Special Collections/University Archives.[11]
  • 'RISE' (May–June 2015), Kelie Bowman, at Booklyn[15]
  • Conflict Unknown, Lale Westvind (November 2014 - January 2015), at Booklyn[16]
  • Asshats for Shitheads, Sto Len (September - November 2014), at Booklyn[17][18]
  • NO/FUTURE, Mike Taylor (January - March 2014), at Booklyn[19]

References

  1. ^ a b Storm, Christian (2012-10-02). "Gettin' Weird in Greenpoint | VICE United States". Vice.com. Retrieved 2013-12-21.
  2. ^ a b Hirsch, Faye (2011-11-04). "Ten Highlights From the Editions/Artists Book Fair - News - Art in America". Artinamericamagazine.com. Retrieved 2013-12-21.
  3. ^ a b c d A, Ona. "Booklyn Artists Alliance Archives". Greenpointers. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
  4. ^ a b Stephanie (2018-02-15). "Booklyn Planning a Move to Sunset Park". Greenpointers. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
  5. ^ a b c "Will Brooklyn Artists Bring a 'Whole New Audience' to Rare Book Week?". Bedford + Bowery. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
  6. ^ "Artists' Pub: Brooklyn Artists Alliance". www.artists-pub.eu. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
  7. ^ "Greenpoint's 8 best art galleries". Brokelyn. 2015-04-10. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
  8. ^ a b Kulp, Louise A. “Teaching with Artists’ Books: An Interdisciplinary Approach for the Liberal Arts.” Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America, vol. 34, no. 1, 2015, pp. 101–123. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/680568.
  9. ^ a b "Booklyn Artists Alliance at 15 - Fine Books and Collections". www.finebooksmagazine.com. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
  10. ^ "Library Catalog Search Results for Booklyn". alliance-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
  11. ^ a b "Special Collections/University Archives Fall Exhibit: Straight Out of Booklyn « Library and Information Technology". Bucknell Blogs. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
  12. ^ Woo, Constance. "LibGuides: Artists' Books Collection: Home". liu.brooklyn.libguides.com. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
  13. ^ admin. "Iraq Veterans Against the War is changing their name to 'About Face: Veterans Against the War!'". Retrieved 2019-04-18.
  14. ^ A, Ona (2015-04-30). "War Is Trauma? Booklyn Helps War Veterans Make Art for Social Justice (Part 2)". Greenpointers. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
  15. ^ "~KELIE BOWMAN . . 'RISE' / OPENING SAT « artloversnewyork.com". Retrieved 2019-04-18.
  16. ^ "Lale Westvind "CONFLICT UNKNOWN" at Booklyn Artists Alliance | Artcards New York". artcards.cc. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
  17. ^ Furfaro, Danielle. "Grime of passion! W'burg artist combines Japanese printmaking with dirt". Brooklyn Paper. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
  18. ^ "STO LEN "Asshats for Shitheads" at Booklyn Artists Alliance | Artcards New York". artcards.cc. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
  19. ^ Lee, Jessica (2014-02-19). "Syndicated Comics". The Beat. Retrieved 2019-04-18.