A book artist is someone who elevates bookmaking to an art form using little more than ink, paper and a wildly creative imagination.
The Bay Area is known internationally as a hub for these handmade, architectural artist books. In addition to the region’s long history of printmaking and its thriving academic book arts programs, we are home to CODEX, one of the world’s largest biennial exhibitions of artists’ books, fine press books and other handmade publications.
Each spring, book artists from Santa Cruz to Sebastopol and around the world gather at the Craneway Pavilion in Richmond to display their work for the public. CODEX may appear like endless aisle upon aisle of exhibitor tables — a whopping 203 in 2022 — but once you stop, chat with a book artist and spend some time with their work, a whole world will open up.
