[PHOTOS] Theta Chapter initiation at Pratt on May 11

New initiates Kat Fanning (second from left) and Heather Hill (fourth from left) joined Beta Phi Mu on May 11, 2018. [photo by Pratt Institute School of Information]. 

Beta Phi Mu Theta member and Pratt SI Alum Rossy Mendez delivers the annual initiation lecture.

BPMT Membership Coordinator Michelle Lee (Pratt SI '14) reads introductory remarks at initiations.

Vinette Thomas (L), Pratt SI staff and BPMT member, provides the introduction to initiation as BPMT Vice President Alexandra Nader looks on.

Beta Phi Mu Theta Cosponsored Event at Center for Book Arts, May 22!

Please note: this event has been moved to a new location. Please RSVP and join us at:

The Center for Book Arts
28 West 27th St, 3rd Flr
New York, NY 10001
212-481-0295

WOMEN IN A GOLDEN AGE OF ARTISTS’ BOOKS
Roundtable Discussion featuring Cynthia Marsh, Rebecca Michaels, Patty Smith, and Tony White
Tuesday, May 22, 2018 – 6:30 – 7:45 pm

Cosponsored event with Center for Book Arts, Rare Book School, APHA-NY, Small Editions Artist’s Books; and Theta Chapter, Beta Phi Mu Honor Society, Pratt Institute School of Information

Join us for “Women in a Golden Age of Artists’ Books,” a roundtable discussion featuring:

• Cynthia Marsh, Professor of Art, Founder of the Goldsmith Press & Rare Type Collection at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee
• Rebecca Michaels, Associate Professor of Photography at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia
• Patty Smith, artist, printmaker, book artist, and professor of Fine Arts, Printmaking at The University of the Arts, Philadelphia
• Tony White, Florence and Herbert Irving Associate Chief Librarian, Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Cynthia Marsh, Rebecca Michaels, and Patty Smith forged their own, significant paths in the male-dominated field of high-speed rotary offset lithographic printing, and were sometimes eclipsed in the history of artists’ books by their male contemporaries—until recently.

It has been said that the “golden age of offset printed artists’ books” was the 1970s and 1980s. During that time, Smith revived a defunct print shop and ran the press at the SUNY Purchase Center for Editions, and cofounded the Borowsky Center (Philadelphia) with Chuck Gershwin, specifically for the production of prints and artists’ books using a high-speed rotary offset lithographic printing press. Marsh was a founding member of the Women’s Graphic Center at the Woman’s Building in Los Angeles, where she taught offset printing and helped establish a community publication studio for women artists; and Michaels collaborated with Miles DeCoster in Chicago before moving to Philadelphia to run the 5,700-pound Heidelberg offset press in the shop at the Tyler School of Art, in addition to making her own artist’s books.

In a roundtable discussion facilitated by Tony White, the printers will elaborate on their work, artists’ books and publications, and the changing roles of women in the timeline of offset printing history.

Co-presented with Rare Book School in conjunction with the course, The History of Artists’ Books since 1950, at the Thomas J. Watson Library of The Metropolitan Museum of Art; the New York City Chapter of The American Printing History Association; Small Editions Artist’s Books; and Theta Chapter, Beta Phi Mu Honor Society, Pratt Institute School of Information.

The event will be recorded. Audio will be posted on Rare Book School’s SoundCloud channel.

Please note: rsvp to this event directly at rsvp@centerforbookarts.org. View the Facebook invitation.

If you previously registered for this event at its former location, The New York Public Library, you must RSVP. Please contact us with any questions.