Skip to Main Content

Book Arts Collection

A guide to discovering artists' books in the Book Arts Collection at Hill Memorial Library.

About This Gallery

This gallery displays works by Louisiana artists and that are thematically about Louisiana in some form. We claim artists as "Louisiana artists" who were born in Louisiana, who make work while living in Louisiana, and/or who make work about their personal ties to Louisiana.

Louisiana Themes & Louisiana Artists

Riverine

White, Sara. Riverine. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: Alluvium Press, 2016.
N7433.4 .W517 R58 2016, Rare

Artist's statement: "RIVERINE is an artist's book and fragmented essay about a riparian landscape in New Orleans, LA called the 'batture.' Accompanied by letterpress printed imagery and textures of industrial structures and nature that inhabit this landscape located between the man-made levee and Mississippi River along the margins of the city, the book's text shifts and flows with each page-turn. It pays homage to communities that have existed on the batture in homes on stilts throughout history and the liminal experience of living in a place that is neither water nor solid ground, undefinable and always changing."

The Diener

Serpas, Martha. The Diener. San Diego, Calif.: Brighton Press, [2011].
PS3619 .E77 D54 2011 LARF, Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections

Michelle Burgess of Brighton Press collaborated with Louisiana poet Martha Serpas in this work. Etching and letterpress printing on handmade paper. Bronze cast sculpture is part of the enclosure for this work by Brighton Press.

See this book in action on the Brighton Press website.

A City as Once Seen

Klipper, Stuart. A City as Once Seen. Colorado Springs, Colo.: The Press at Colorado College, 2009.
F379 .N543 K6 2009 OVER, Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections

Panoramic photographs of New Orleans architecture prior to Hurricane Katrina.This photo depicts the house of Fats Domino. "For more than four decades, Domino lived quietly in New Orleans' working class Lower 9th Ward." The text discusses his time in New Orleans, and that only Hurricane Katrina could make him leave.

Small dress with book sewn inside

Island Girl

Banks, Alisa. Island Girl. Dallas, Tex.: A B Press, 2008.
N7433.4 .B36 I85 2008 FLAT, Rare

"Island Girl re-tells a story of longing, rejection, acceptance and pride that my mother, who grew up on the False River in Louisiana, often told us. It is in the form of one of the floursack dresses the children wore."--Alicia Banks

Accordion and tunnel structure in the shape of a Louisiana shot gun style house.

Poule Aye

Banks, Alisa. Poule Aye. Dallas, Tex.: A B Press, 2008.
N7433.4 .B36 P68 2008, Rare

Accordion and tunnel book structure exploring the artist's father's sense of place in Louisiana. The tunnel book reveals a shotgun style house and a 'field of text' represented by the accordion structure.

Storm Sequence

Banks, Alisa. Storm Sequence. Dallas, Texas: A Bee Press, 2011.
N7433.4 .B36 S76 2011 FLAT, Rare

A shrine-shaped sculptural book that outlines the spirit of a protective ritual the author's Aunt, who lives in Pointe Coupee Parish, would perform when a bad hurricane was expected. 

cyanotype photography of trees

Blood Migration

Metoyer, John. Blood Migration. [South Dennis, Mass.]: 21st, published by Steven Albahari, [c2008].
PS3613 .E86 B56 2008 LARF, Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections

Photographs by John Metoyer, ancestor of Marie Thérèse Coincoin Metoyer, the first freed enslaved person to build and operate a plantation. She called the buildings on the property Yucca House and African House. Later, the property became Melrose Plantation, where Clementine Hunter worked and began painting. John Metoyer pairs autobiographical poetry with platinum, palladium, kallitype and cyanotype photographic prints.

Two tipped on prints. The first shows a New Orleans courtyard with stairs. The second shows a large live oak tree.

Original etchings and dry-points, by Carl Hancock

Hancock, James Carl. Original etchings and dry-points, by Carl Hancock. circa 1940.
NE2225 .H3 A42 FLAT, Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collection

An album-bound collection of 24 etchings and dry-points. James Carl Hancock worked primarily in Louisiana and Arkansas and focused on landscapes and historic buildings. This collection of prints focuses on New Orleans.

Provide Website Feedback
Accessibility Statement