CURRENT EVENTS
Spring 2026
EXHIBITION: Imaginary Books: Lost, Unfinished, and Fictive Works Found Only in Other Books from the collection of Reid Byers
When: January 20, 2026 – April 18, 2026
Where: USM Reading Room, 7th Floor, Glickman Library
314 Forest Ave, Portland, ME 04101
Free and open to the public, open during library hours.
ARTIST LECTURE & RECEPTION:
When: Tuesday January 27th, 2026, 5 – 7 PM; Lecture starts at 5 PM.
Where: University Event Room, 7th Floor, Glickman Library
314 Forest Ave, Portland, ME 04101
Free and open to the public. Co-presented by Baxter Society
About: A cross between a book exhibition and a conceptual art installation, Imaginary Books: Lost, Unfinished, and Fictive Works Found Only in Other Books consists of a collection of books that do not really exist. Curated by bibliophile Reid Byers, the exhibition includes approximately 100 books and associated objects from his collection—all simulacra, created with a team of printers, bookbinders, artists, and calligraphers—of lost books that have no surviving example, unwritten books that were planned but left unfinished, and fictive works that exist only in fiction.
Highlights of the exhibition include William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Won, the lost sequel to Love’s Labour’s Lost; Ernest Hemingway’s first novel, stolen in his wife’s valise at the Gare de Lyon in 1922 and never recovered; and the Necronomicon, John Dee’s copy of the most notorious of the Middle Eastern grimoires, a book that has been kept sealed in a Wells Fargo strongbox, as a precaution, since the Krickle accident of 1967. A color catalog of some 330 pages accompanies the exhibition, published by Oak Knoll Press in cooperation with the Club Fortsas, the great French book collectors’ society (itself imaginary as well).
Share the event page and learn more about parking or RSVP via Facebook.
EXHIBITION: Unfolding the Myth: KCCCBA Critique Group Member Exhibit
When: January 20, 2026 – April 24, 2026
Where: Crewe Center for the Arts, KCCCBA Book Arts Studio (Studio 160) Display Cases
111 Bedford St. Portland, ME 04103
Free and open to the public, open during public building hours.
PUBLIC RECEPTION:
When: Thursday, February 12, 2026, 5-6:30 PM
*Alternative date (for snow day): Thursday, March 12, 2026, 5-6:30 PM
Where: Crewe Center for the Arts, KCCCBA Book Arts Studio (Studio 160)
111 Bedford St. Portland, ME 04103
Free and open to the public. Refreshments provided.
EXHIBITION: USM Book Arts Students at the Pope Cheney Art Studio at Wishcamper Center
When: January 20, 2026 – April 15, 2026
Where: Pope Cheney Art Studio Display Cases, Wishcamper Center
34 Bedford St. Portland, ME 04101
Free and open to the public, open during public building hours.
WORKSHOP: Pop-Up Puppet Theater —
Fold, Pull, Pop & Perform with Sarah Frechette
Date: Saturday, March 28, 2026
Time: 9 AM – 4 PM (with an hour lunch break; please bring your own lunch or purchase at the USM Cafeteria)
Location: KCC’83CBA Book Arts Studio, Studio160, Crewe Center for the Arts
111 Bedford St. Portland, ME 04103
Workshop Fee: $80 (price includes materials and one ticket to Sarah Frechette’s performance at Mayo Street Arts on Friday, 3/27)
Maximum Enrollment: 15 (middle school ages and Above)
About:
In this full-day workshop, participants will learn how to incorporate various mechanisms and rigging points into paper pop-ups to turn them into animatable or puppeteer-able, hand-held (also known as: direct contact), and/or table-top puppets.
Instructor Sarah Frechette will also demonstrate how to direct intention, concentration, and energy from within oneself, down the arms, into the hands, and through a paper puppet to give it its own independent focus and breath – the two elements that give any object life.
PAST CONTENT
PANEL DISCUSSION RECORDING: What is Book Arts
CLICK HERE for the Video Recording of the Panel Discussion What is Book Arts
From Thursday, September 29, 2022, 5:00 – 6:00PM
Co-sponsored by USM’s Special Collections and Kate Cheney Chappell Center for Book Arts
Panelists: Liz Brown, Rachel Church, Anna Low, and Angel Simoneau
The panel discussion will be moderated by Susie R. Bock, Coordinator of Special Collections and Director of the Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine.
Liz Brown is a book artist, printmaker, quiltmaker and florist who is obsessed with color. She graduated from USM in 2017 with a degree in Art & Entrepreneurship with a concentration in Printmaking and minors in Book Arts and Accounting. She has participated in trips to France, Italy, and Monson, ME, to study book arts with Rebecca Goodale and Lin Lisberger. She is an active member of the KCCCBA Critique Group and works at her studio at Running with Scissor in Portland.
Rachel Church is an intermedial artist, book artist, and printmaker. She is a USM alumna, earning a BA in Art with a concentration in Printmaking and Entrepreneurial Studies in 2009 and a BFA in Studio Art with a minor in Book Arts in 2017, has participated in many USM book arts focused travel courses, and both taken and taught for the Summer Book Arts Workshop. She is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Maine, as well as teaching at USM and the University of Maine at Machias.
Anna Low runs Purplebean Bindery, a business focused on creating unique, durable and inspiring blank journals. She has taught workshops at the USM Summer Book Arts program and have been a member of the KCCCBA Critique Group for over 10 years. She currently serves as co-leader of the Critique Group with Angel Simoneau.
Angel Simoneau is an art educator and illustrator, heavily inspired by manga (Japanese comics). She is the current co-leader of the KCCCBA Critique Group. She graduated from University of Southern Maine in 2017 with a major in Art Education and a minor in Book Arts and has been making books ever since.
For more information about KCC ’83 Center for Book Arts, please contact:
Annie Lee-Zimerle, Program Coordinator
(207) 228-8014 or aemin.leezimerle@maine.edu
usm.maine.edu/bookarts
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