March 2014 | Rebecca Rego Barry

Book Arts Bash in NYC

With Jonathan Safran Foer as one of the night's honorees and an after-hours dance party, the Center for Book Arts in New York City reaches out to younger book/art lovers at its annual benefit and silent auction on April 4.

The Center for Book Arts, located at 28 W. 27th St., is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting book arts through classes, exhibits, events, and publications. (If you want to learn letterpress printing, paper marbling, or bookbinding, this is your place.) Every spring it holds a benefit event that recognizes the achievements of individuals in the book arts. In addition to Safran Foer, whose 2010 book, Tree of Codes, was hailed as a book arts crossover, this year's guests of honor are Steve Clay, publisher of Granary Books in New York City, and Joan Lyons, artist and founder of the Visual Studies Workshop Press in Rochester, NY.

Silverberg-CBA Auction.jpgThe silent auction offers attendees the opportunity to browse and bid on some amazing contemporary book art. This piece by Robbin Ami Silverberg (profiled in our winter 2013 issue) is particularly appropriate for the occasion -- her Safer Code (2014) it is an altered copy of Safran Foer's altered book, Tree of Codes. The minimum bid is $500.

The benefit begins at 6 p.m., and tickets cost $100. For $30, the DJ-ed after party goes from 9 p.m.-11 p.m. Sounds perfect for those in town for Rare Book Week!  

Image Courtesy of The Center for Book Arts.