The Evolution of an Artist’s Book

The Susan Garretson Swartzburg Lecture Spring 2011 lecture at Wells College featured Sarah Bryant. Bryant, the proprietor of Big Jump Press, discusses the design and production of her most recent book, a project entitled Biography. The book is “an exploration of the chemical elements in the human body and the roles they play elsewhere in the world,” according to the website of Big Jump Press. “Each spread is a diagram describing the elements as they exist on the periodic table, the earth’s crust, a variety of man-made weapons, medicines and tools, sea water, etc.,” and relating these to the elements within the human body. Bryant founded Big Jump Press in 2005. In 2008, she earned her master’s in book arts from the University of Alabama. From 2008 to 2011, she has served as the Victor Hammer Fellow at Wells College, teaching bookbinding and letterpress classes and designing and printing for the Wells College Press. Her artist’s books have been featured in a variety of exhibitions and collections, and last year, she earned the Juror’s Award for Artistic Excellence from the Pyramid Atlantic Book Fair. The Susan Garretson Swartzburg Lecture, sponsored by the Wells College Book Arts Center, is named for, Susan Garretson Swartzburg, Wells College Class of 1960, who was one of the co-founders of the Book Arts Center. Swartzburg worked tirelessly to promote the fledgling Center until her unexpected death in 1996. Online publication of this lecture is sponsored by the Department of Preservation and Conservation, Syracuse University Library