Erica Spitzer Rasmussen, an artist from Minneapolis, flipped the pages of an accordion book she created with the many words of advice her mother gave her before she passed. The book, “Things My Mama Told Me: Words of a Wise Woman,” was made to honor her mother, Nancy MacKenzie, who was also an artist.
A papermaker, Spitzer Rasmussen laced the pages of the book with her mother’s ashes and fragments of their correspondence.
“I have goosebumps seeing the book,” she said. “It is really touching to see my work in a collection. It is even more exciting to see it out and know that other people can experience it as well.”
Spitzer Rasmussen was part of a group tour that arrived at the University of Miami’s Otto G. Richter Library by trolley on Thursday, from the Tropic Bound International Artists’ Book Fair, a Miami-based fair that brings together book artists, publishers, curators, librarians, and book lovers every two years. The fair was held in the Miami Design District.
Cristina Favretto, director of University of Miami Libraries Special Collections, is one of three organizers of the fair. She arrived with the group and gave a presentation highlighting the many artifacts and artists’ books that were displayed on tables in the reading room at the Kislak Center at the University of Miami, explaining how they’re used for instruction and inspiration.
Among the many valuable items displayed was a precious 1821 volume of engravings of roses called “Les Roses” by Pierre-Joseph Redouté. Commissioned by Empress Joséphine Bonaparte of France, this three-volume set is considered by many to be the most prized work by the most famous botanical illustrator in history.
The book was donated by John du Pont, an heir to the chemical company fortune who had attended the University.
“I love the world of Special Collections and archives, and we here in the department have a deep commitment to making these beautiful materials available to as wide a public as possible. I’m very grateful that this University has allowed us to build this magnificent collection,” said Favretto. “It’s such a validation of our curatorial work to see people coming from all over the world to view the work and love it as much as we do.”
Anna Tomlinson, a special collection librarian with the National Gallery of Art, traveled from Washington, D.C., to discover new artists and see how other collections gather and display their wares. She was amazed at the Special Collections acquisitions.
“It has been incredible to see this,” she said. “I have seen many things to bring home with me. I was really blown away.”
Other works being viewed included zines—small, self-published books that had a limited distribution, table games from the 1960s and 1970s that carried a social message, and many artist books that looked like finely crafted sculptures.
One was award-winning paper artist Colette Fu’s egg-shaped book “19 Generations of Papermaking in a Cave,” which featured an artisan making paper in a limestone cave in China. Peacock feathers adorned another artist book called “A History of British Birds,” a stunning example of the art of grangerizing (named after the collector who perfected the art) a technique of adding illustrations, drawings, and other materials to existing books to augment the text.
Eileen Bassis, a visual artist and a poet from New York City, also took part in the tour.
“It’s a wonderful collection,” she said. “There is so much great work here. I am really enjoying this.”
Rachel Resnik, a librarian from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, was also impressed with the many artistic items she saw.
“I think the breadth of the collection is impressive,” she said. “It covers things from the Pan Am Airlines manifestos all the way to the pop-up books made by artists. It covers so much.”
The group also toured the Cuban Heritage Collection on the library’s second floor, where Amanda Moreno, director and Esperanza Bravo de Varona Chair, welcomed them and showed them the large collection of artists books their archives hold.
