CURRENT EVENTS
FALL 2025
EXHIBITION: Summer Book Arts Students Exhibition
When: September 2, 2025 – October 25, 2025
Where: USM Special Collections, 6th Floor, Glickman Library
314 Forest Ave, Portland, ME 04101
Free and open to the public
ARTIST LECTURE & RECEPTION:
When: Wednesday, September 17, 2025, 5 – 7 PM; Lecture starts at 5 PM.
Where: University Event Room, 7th Floor, Glickman Library
314 Forest Ave, Portland, ME 04101
About: Lecture presented by one of our Summer Book Arts instructors, Lucky Platt.
Free and open to the public.
EXHIBITION: Syntax in Structure Artist’s Books by Anna Low
When: September 2, 2025 – December 5, 2025
Where: Pope Cheney Art Studio at Wishcamper Center
34 Bedford St. Portland, ME 04101
Free and open to the public
OPEN HOUSE: Book Binding + Printmaking Activities
When: Friday, October 3, 2025; 3pm- 5pm.
Where: Cheney Chappell Book Arts Studio
Studio 160, 111 Bedford St. Portland, ME 04103
About: Join the Kate Cheney Chappell ’83 Center for Book Arts Critique Group for a series of FREE public demonstrations on Fall-themed book, print, and paper activities. Appropriate for attendees of all ages!
About the Event:
Join us as we mark a historic moment: a day-long grand opening of the Crewe Center for the Arts — a bold and visionary step into the future of innovation, performance, and creative expression. Come explore our cutting-edge spaces, enjoy performances, and take part in the excitement as the University of Southern Maine joins the elite ranks of 200 colleges, universities, and conservatories worldwide that have achieved the designation as an All-Steinway Institution.
This is your chance to view the new KCC’83CBA Book Arts Studio while exploring the new Crewe Center for the Arts during our ArtsFest Celebration. Parking is FREE on the day of the event. All are welcome.
LECTURE: Peter and Donna Thomas,Wandering Book Artists: Making books by hand in the Digital Age
When: Wednesday, October 8, 2025; lecture starts at 5 pm.
Where: University Event Room, 7th Floor, Glickman Library
314 Forest Ave, Portland, ME 04101
About: Lectured co-sponsored by Baxter Society. Free and open to the public.
About the Artists:
Peter and Donna Thomas are book artists from Santa Cruz, California. They work collaboratively, making both editions and one-of-a-kind books. They make the paper, print, illustrate, and bind their books, combining the precision of the fine press aesthetic with the structural creativity found in contemporary artists’ books. Between 2009 and 2019, they made four cross-country road trips, traveling in their artistic tiny home on wheels as the “Wandering Book Artists,” teaching classes and giving talks about the book arts as they visited universities and community-based book arts centers around the country. They are authors of More Making Books by Hand, and editors of 1000 Artists’ Books, and in 2021, The Legacy Press published a descriptive bibliography of their work: Peter and Donna Thomas: Bibliography, 1974–2020.
WORKSHOP: Making Miniature Books Workshop with Peter and Donna Thomas
When: Saturday, October 11, 2025; 9 AM – 3 PM
Where: KCC Center for Book Arts, Studio160, Crewe Center for the Arts
Capacity: 15
Cost: $100
EXHIBITION: Imagining a No-Go Zone with Blue Horses and a Red Forest and Other Artist’s Books: Artist’s Books by Rebecca Goodale
When: September 2, 2025 – December 5, 2025
Where: KCC’83CBA Book Arts Studio, Crewe Center for the Arts
111 Bedford St., Portland, ME 04101
Free and open to the public
ARTIST LECTURE & RECEPTION:
When: Thursday, November 6, 2025, 5 –7 PM; Lecture starts at 5 PM.
Where: KCC’83CBA Book Arts Studio, Studio 160, Crewe Center for the Arts
111 Bedford St., Portland, ME 04101
About: “Concept to Finish Line or How I Make Books” presented by Rebecca Goodale.
Free and open to the public.
About the Artist:
For the past twenty years, Rebecca Goodale has been creating a series of artist’s books about Maine’s rare plants and animals. Recently, she has been revisiting her training as a textile designer by employing that aesthetic and various printmaking techniques to create large-scale, repeatable patterns.
Rebecca has taught Book Arts and Design at the University of Southern Maine for four decades. She has played a key role in the growth and development of book arts at USM, serving as the Program Director for the Kate Cheney Chappell ’83 Center for Book Arts from its inception until her retirement in 2020. Her work is included in many collections, such as the USM Special Collections, Maine Women Writers Collection at UNE, Bowdoin College Library, Herron Art Library at IUPUI, Boston Athenaeum, Yale University, Harvard University, the Library of Congress, and the Portland Museum of Art.
PAST EVENTS
SPRING 2025
BOOK ARTS BAZAAR 2025
Sunday, April 6, 2025, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Location: McGoldrick Center for Career and Student Success on the Portland Campus
35 Bedford St (2nd Floor), Portland, ME 04101
About: A festival with Book Artists, papermakers, bookbinders, printmakers, educators, writers, and all things related to the book! This event if free and open to the public. Find more information HERE.
EXHIBITION: Everyone Has a Story to Tell
(KCCCBA Critique Group Members Exhibition)
When: January 21, 2025 – April 26, 2025
Where: Great Reading Room, 7th Floor, Glickman Library
314 Forest Ave, Portland, ME 04101
Free and open to the public
ARTIST LECTURE & RECEPTION:
When: Thursday, March 27th, 5 –7 p.m.; lecture starts at 5 pm.
Where: University Event Room, 7th Floor, Glickman Library
314 Forest Ave, Portland, ME 04101
About: Lecture presented by the Critique Group Members Gretchen Halpert, Cynthia Marsh, and Angel Simoneau. Free and open to the public.
EXHIBITION: Visual Book Arts Students Exhibition
When: January 21, 2025 – April 19, 2025
Where: Pope Cheney Art Studio at Wishcamper Center
34 Bedford St. Portland, ME 04101
Free and open to the public
WORKSHOP: Print n’ Fold with Anna Low & Angel Simoneau
When: Saturday, April 12th, 2025, 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Where: Luther Bonney, Room 424, Portland campus
Capacity: 15
Cost: $80 (Materials included in the price. Please bring a studio apron or wear
something that is okay to be messy. We will be printing!) Join the Facebook event page!
FALL 2024
EXHIBITION: Journals and Journeys, artist’s books by Sue Rogers
When: September 3 – December 14, 2024
Where: Pope Cheney Art Studio, Wishcamper Center
34 Bedford St. Portland, ME 04101
Free and open to the public
WORKSHOP: Contemporary Paper Marbling with Claire Reynes
Saturday, October 5, 2024
9:00 AM – 1:30 PM
Luther Bonney, Room 424, Portland
Student Max: 10
Price: $100 (Materials included in the price. Please bring a studio apron or wear something that is okay to be messy.)
ARTIST LECTURE: Summer Book Arts Workshop Instructor, Stephanie Stigliano
(co-sponsored by Baxter Society)
Wednesday, September 18, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
University Event Room, 7th Floor, Glickman Family Library, Portland
Free and Open to the Public
LECTURE RECORDING: Building Books
CLICK HERE for ZOOM Recording of Online Lecture, Building Books
Presenting artists: Cristina Hajosy, Alice Stanne, Chris Perry, and Gail Smuda
From Wednesday, March 8, 2023, 7:00 – 8:00 PM
Building Books presented by members of New England Book Artists and co–sponsored by the Baxter Society.
New England Book Artists, NEBA is a professional organization of book artists and bibliophiles. It celebrates, promotes, and supports the book arts and its makers, fosters public education, and nurtures an understanding and enjoyment of the discipline through exhibitions, workshops, lectures, and related activities.
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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