June in the Bear Gallery: BOOKS AS ART 4 by The Northwoods Book Arts Guild
On View: June 6 – 28, 2025
First Friday Opening Reception: Friday, June 6, 5 – 7 p.m.
(Gallery opens at noon on First Fridays)
The Bear Gallery is located on the third floor of the Alaska Centennial Center for the Arts building in Pioneer Park, 2300 Airport Way, Fairbanks, Alaska. Admission to the Bear Gallery is free of charge and open to the public. The Bear Gallery is open Monday – Saturday from 12 – 6 p.m.
Join Fairbanks Arts in the Bear Gallery this June for BOOKS AS ART 4, the fourth in a celebrated series of exhibitions showcasing the vibrant creativity and evolving practices of book artists in the Interior Alaska community.
Since 2011, members of Northwoods Book Arts Guild have been creating artist books and exhibiting together, beginning with the original BOOKS AS ART exhibition in 2014. This newest installment features work whose structures and techniques are familiar within the established history of bookmaking, and work that challenges a viewer’s notion of what a book can be. This exhibition presents fresh perspectives on how a book can be reimagined, reinterpreted, and reinvented through artists’ eyes.
BOOKS AS ART 4 highlights work rooted in familiar structures and techniques, alongside boundary-pushing interpretations that reimagine the book as a visual and tactile art form. Featured projects include:
The Hornbook Collection: Reimagining an Historical Structure – artist books that have the hallmarks of traditional hornbooks, but are distinctly not traditional!
Contemporary Meets Vintage: Book Artists Respond – artist books inspired by the automotive and fashion collections of the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum.
The ABC Project: A Collection of Abecedaries – artist books that explore innovative approaches to and personal expressions of the alphabet.
Additional sections of the exhibit highlight the work of Northwoods Press, Northwoods Book Arts Guild’s own letterpress shop; creations made for Art-O-Mat as part of a Rasmuson Award project; and the guild’s book repair service for the Literacy Council of Alaska.
Additional Events
Join the Northwoods Book Arts Guild for their Artist Talk: “What is an Artist Book?”
On Thursday, June 12th, from 6 – 8 p.m. in the Bear Gallery.Members of the Guild will address the question, “What is an Artist Book?” as they discuss their tools, materials, and creative processes.
Guided tours of the exhibition: From June 10th to June 26th, docents from Northwoods Book Arts Guild will be available from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays to give guided tours of the exhibit to guests. The tours are free and open to the public. Registration is not required, though it is requested that large groups call the Visual Arts Coordinator at (907) 251-8386, option 3, or reach out to gallery@fairbanksarts.org.
Art-o-mat in Bear Gallery Gift Shop: From Friday, June 6th through Saturday, June 28th “Artie” the Art-o-mat machine, hosted by the Northwoods Book Arts Guild, will be in the Bear Gallery Gift Shop for the BOOKS AS ART 4 exhibition. Art-o-mat machines are retired cigarette vending machines that have been converted to vend art. There are over 200 active machines in various locations throughout the country.
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Northwoods Book Arts Guild offers program meetings to members and the public approximately every other month, either in person or online. The guild’s studio is located on Airport Way in Fairbanks. It is a gathering place for open studio sessions and classes. Its supply depot offers members access to bookmaking tools and materials that are locally unavailable, as well as a library of book arts resources.
Join us in celebrating the innovation, collaboration, and artistic spirit that define the Northwoods Book Arts Guild. The guild’s service to the community includes repairing books for the Literacy Council of Alaska, providing recurring book displays at the Rasmuson Library on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus, and teaching book arts classes for OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning). At its studio on Airport Way, guild instructors teach workshops in book binding, letterpress printing, box and casement construction, printmaking, and many forms of surface design. The Marilyn Askelin Grant Program offers financial assistance for membership dues and workshop fees.
Learn more about Northwoods Book Arts Guild at https://nwbookarts.org/ and connect with them on social media @northwoodsbookartsguild