Save the Date! For the “Damn library’s” grand opening in July and a really cool art show that will accompany it

Okay, library supporters, before you take offense at my continued use of the “damn library” reference, consider that perhaps some readers and I have adopted it as a term of endearment.

Anyway, the library will celebrate its grand opening July 17. I’ll keep you posted as I get more details on what this extravaganza entails. Sorry to library naysayers, but I like how the library is looking. I drive along Civic Drive towards Walnut Creek Intermediate every morning. I catch a glimpse of it through the branches of the trees outside City Hall and Civic Park, and I think its design fits in nicely with the setting.

Meanwhile, I’ve received word that the Bedford Gallery is putting together an exhibition whose theme ties in to the library’s opening. Unbound: A National Exhibition of Book Art (July 1-August 22) celebrates the book as an art form. The show will feature artists who make one-of-a-kind art books as well as artists who disassemble pages, covers, and spines to create three-dimensional works.

I became somewhat familiar with this art form while getting a master’s degree at Mills College in Oakland in the late 1990s. Mills, which is well known for its fine arts programs, also offers a pioneering program in book art, where students learn about the conceptual, theoretical, historical, and craft foundations of contemporary artists’ bookmaking. (This photo shows a work by Julie Chen, a professor of book arts at Mills College, who is scheduled to participate in the show.)

One wonders with the introduction of the Kindle, IPads, and the whole concept of e-books, whether real books (you know with paper and bindings) will become a thing of the past–or if the whole art of bookmaking will transform into something digital.