UA Hoole Library to Host Book Arts Exhibition

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – A thesis exhibition by Paul Moxon at The University of Alabama will run from April 25-July 26 in the W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library on the 2nd floor of Mary Harmon Bryant Hall, 500 Hackberry Lane, on campus.

An opening reception will be held on Thursday, April 25, from 4:30-6:30 pm. This event is free and open to the public.

Moxon, master of fine arts (MFA) candidate in the UA book arts program, will exhibit selected books and broadsides from his three years in the program. His thesis project, “Something Old, Something New,” is a collection of poems by Romanian Poet Nina Cassian.

Cassian is a poet of sensual unflinching, and visionary statements on the human condition. She was a journalist and film critic, and has translated Brecht Celan, and Shakespeare. Exiled from Romania in 1985, she now lives in New York City. Although Cassian has had 50 books published since 1942, Moxon’s thesis project marks the first time her work has appeared in a handcrafted, limited edition.

This book features 19 poems, with four drawings by the author. Set in Monotype Joanna and printed letterpress on Arches Text Wove, it is casebound in quarter-cloth, with foil-stamped spine, and handmade kozo and rag paper over boards [40pp, 16 x 25cm]. One hundred copies, signed and press numbered at a cost of $110 postage paid.

The master of fine arts in the book arts program began at UA in 1985, and emphasizes the art and craft of making books by hand. The program is located in the College of Communication and Information Sciences, School of Library and Information Studies, at UA.

The program leading to the MFA in the book arts degree is a 60-credit hour course of study comprising four basic areas: printing/publishing, bookbinding, papermaking, and the history of the book.