Ruth Lingen’s art book, Vessels and Voids, features poetry and transcendent illustrations.
Ruth Lingen’s art is on display at some of the nation’s top museums, including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. But Madison museum-goers are lucky to be able to experience the work of the UW-Madison alum — and her voice — at the Chazen Museum of Art through April 19.
Speaking of Book Arts: Oral Histories from UW-Madison is a multimedia exhibit of artists’ books created by graduates of UW-Madison, from 1973-2006, held by the Kohler Arts Library. Audio excerpts gathered by the UW-Madison Archives Oral History Program punctuate the show with the voices of alumni recounting stories of how they became artists and how they undertook their work. The books themselves are special; the audio adds a whole new dimension.
“Artist’s books are creative expressions of the idea of a book,” says Lyn Korenic, director of the Kohler Art Library. “They are engaging, stimulating and really totally unexpected.”
Since they are handmade art objects, these books are often of a limited edition. The Kohler Art Library boasts an international collection of 1,200 artists’ books.
“Each book is kind of its own world unto itself,” says Lingen. “You can have any kind of tone of the work, and that’s complemented by whatever images you want to put in it and you construct the binding and you make the paper.” Bookmaking is now formally part of the UW-Madison art department.
Lingen graduated in 1984 with a master’s degree in graphic arts. She studied printmaking, papermaking, typography and binding and founded Poote Press, located in Brooklyn, New York. Since then, she’s been involved in nearly 40 book projects.
Lingren’s book, Vessels and Voids: Physical Conditions and the Most Remarkable Phenomena of the World, features thick pages covered in bright yellow, blue, red and orange. Gray urns and turquoise stars adorn poetry in contrasting letterpress and typography. The text is adapted from The Earth by W. Mullinger Higgins (1839).
In one of two 20-minute loops of oral histories, Lingen discusses the process of collaborating on artists’ books. Currently a New Yorker, she likens it to “speed-reading on the subway.”
Other pieces include a tiny, round collection of paintings and a book that takes the shape of a building. A set of handmade books on how to produce handmade books is also on display.
In another audio piece, Sandra Fernandez talks about exploring the many forms a book can take. Her Childhood Memories: When I Was Three is a doll-like paper structure that includes the handwritten story of her journey from Ecuador to the U.S.
The audio was collected as part of 21 oral histories gathered by the UW-Madison Archives Oral History Program in 2018 and 2019. The interviewees graduated with master’s degrees in fine arts between 1979 and 2006.
“We wanted to be able to make sure we could gather these stories before they were lost to history,” says Korenic. “It’s remembering back over their time at UW, but also bringing it forward.”
In several audio clips, artists emphasize how important collaboration is to the art of bookmaking. “You would print all night, and you’d help other people on their books, and everybody sort of lent a hand on other people’s projects,” says Lingen. “It definitely set some things in place with me.”
Ruth Lingen will speak at 5:30 p.m., Feb. 20, at the Chazen, ahead of an opening reception.
[Editor's note: Speaking of Book Arts runs through April 19, not April 1.]
