Stories Your Mother Never Told You

Artists’ books which feature a narrative line within a visual work.

Norman B. Colp, the curator, said of the exhibit: “The title for this exhibit bespeaks long held family secrets and covert information withheld from your youthful ears until you were ‘old enough.’ You may not have been privy to the stories because they were related when you had long since fallen asleep, or they were told in your presence but you could not decipher them for they were spoken in the tongue of your grandparents and you had only a faint knowledge of a word here and there.

In seeking out artists for this show, I included not only active bookmakers like Ida Applebroog, Barton Benes, and Stephanie Brody Lederman, but also visual artists who had never before made an artist’s book.

This exhibit unveils some of those untold stories, but the greater part of the bookworks are here simply for visual pleasure.”

Support for the Center for Book Arts’ visual arts programming is provided, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Exhibition Checklist:

Variation on a Theme by James Joyce, 1979
Al Aguilar
Flannel covered accordion book with photographs.

You’ll See, 1979
Ida Applebroog
Saddle stitched. Edition: all same size. A Performance. But I Wasn’t There. I Feel Sorry For You. I Pretend To Know. It Isn’t True. Look At Me. Sure I’m Sure. The Sweet Smell of Sage. You What?

Mother’s Kisses, 1982
Dotty Attie
Hand colored lithograph.

Family Secrets, 1982
Barton Lidice Benes
5 sections twisted to 36 long. Rubber stamped ink on linen tape.

Snapshots, 1975
Barton Lidice Benes
Two folios with rubber stamped ink and hand colored images, color photographs in canvas envelope.

Fun With Memo Pads, 1981
Roz Chast
Color Xerox. All books same format.

Mondo Boxo, 1982
Roz Chast
Color Xerox. All books same format.

Small Pamphlet of Things, The, 1981
Roz Chast
Color Xerox. All books same format.

Somebody Goes to the White House, 1981
Roz Chast
Color Xerox. All books same format.

Cat’s Cradle, 1981
Nat Dean
Rag and fibre boards, book cloth, latex and co-polymer paints.

Departure, 1981
Nat Dean
Rag and fibre boards, book cloth, latex and co-polymer paints.

No Water Necessary, 1978
Carol Forget
Roller towel with printed text.

It’s a Dog Eat Dog World, 1982
Karen Fredericks
Hand painted fired clay with pasta letters; accordion book.

In the Land of Trulala, 1982
Rob Gardner
Cardboard, wood, springs, magic marker, typewritten type.

An Incident From the Reign of Terror, 1981
Howard Goldstein
Glass, B/W photocopies, colored pencil.

Speculations, 1977
Dorothy Handelman
Staple stiched book. Edition.

Tiffany Dialogues, 1979
Dorothy Handelman
Color ads with typewritten conversation; ten variations.

Picture / Readings, 1978
Barbara Kruger
Perfect bound book of stories with photographs. Edition.

A Modern-Day Cowboy, 1979
Stephanie Brody Lederman
Mixed media; brass fastener binding.

Chocolate Cake, 1979
Stephanie Brody Lederman
Saddle stitched book. Edition.

Pain Beau, 1979
Stephanie Brody Lederman
Saddle stitched book. Edition.

We Headed Straight For Cartier, 1980
Stephanie Brody Lederman
Mixed media; portfolio book.

Falling Eyelids, 1981
Adal Alberto Maldonado
Perfect bound book; photographs with text.

It Took Me More Than 20 Years, 1981
Barbara Mauriello
Rubber stamped letters, painted and printed images, watercolors and inks on paper.

Ron and Ray, 1981
Raymond Mingst
Bound book of color Xeroxes on rice paper with wool fabric cover. (Black and white Xerox copy of original.)

Stories Mother Never Told Me, 1982
Barbara Nessim
Hand painted/colored drawings; sewn folios bound in bookcloth.

Asleep in the Deep, 1981
Claire Owen
Twenty-three hand colored relief etchings, continuously attached in a clamshell box.

Half Off, 1981
Mimi Pond
Printed book with half shower cap binding.

I’m in Oakland, 1980
Mimi Pond
Bound blueprint paper. Edition.

Notions, 1978
Mimi Pond
Printed book with vinyl cover and mixed media.

14 Korrect Waze to Draw a Kat, 1982
Elwood H. Smith
Hand colored drawings; accordion folded.

L.A. at Night, 1980
Bart Thrall
Paint and ink over paper and wood with metal hinge.

New Tenderness in Art, 1980
Bart Thrall
Paint and ink over paper and wood with metal hinge.

Robotrix, 1980
Bart Thrall
Paint and ink over paper and wood with metal hinge.

Sleep Waves, 1980
Bart Thrall
Paint and ink over paper and wood with metal hinge.

Dear John Letters, 1981
Anne Turyn
“C” prints. Eight different images.

Luther and the Cactus, 1982
Kathleen Volp
Pencil on paper, wood, lineoleum, abraded plexiglass, needles and pins.

Journey, 1981
Edward Whitfeld
Bound book of hand set type with tipped in B/W transparencies and photographic prints; slipcased.

Incidents of Travel, 1982
Susan Willmarth
Metal spiral bound notebook with typed text, pencil and collage drawings.

Exhibition Views

White background with light pink text in the top right corner and bottom. Think pink border and images of books at the bottom
Broadside for "Stories Your Mother Never Told You"
White background with light pink text. Title at the top and three columns of text below surrounded by thin pink lines
Broadside for "Stories Your Mother Never Told You"
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