Florida Artists’ Book Prize 2006

by Onajídé Shabaka

The Florida Artists’ Book Prize was jointly established in 1997 by Broward County Libraries Division’s Bienes Museum of the Modern Book and the Florida Center for the Book. Serving on the jury this tenth year of the competition were: Arthur Jaffe of the Mata and Arthur Jaffe Collection: Books as Aesthetic Objects (Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL); Ruth and Marvin Sackner of the Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry (Miami, FL); and Jean Trebbi, retired director of the Florida Center for the Book (Fort Lauderdale, FL). Serving as facilitators were Eileen McNally, current director of the Florida Center for the Book (Fort Lauderdale, FL); and Jim Findlay, librarian of the Bienes Museum of the Modern Book (Fort Lauderdale, FL).

This year’s ninth annual prize of $2,000 was awarded to Thomas Brian Virgin (Miami, Florida), for his book: “Right There”. Twenty-five other artists’ books were entered in the competition by eighteen different Florida artists. All of the books of the annual Florida Artists' Book Prize selected for the exhibition are shown here in their entirety and a few of them are even shown using moving images. An exhibition of a selection of the entries and an award ceremony will be held in the early Spring of 2007, in the Bienes Museum of the Modern Book: The Dianne and Michael Bienes Special Collections and Rare Book Library, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Since 1988, Broward County Library has worked toward creating a state-of-the-art literary center where rare books and special collections would be housed, preserved and shared in conjunction with a place for related lectures, programs and exhibits. Through the personal involvement and generosity of Fort Lauderdale philanthropists Dianne and Michael Bienes, this celebration of the printed book as an art form and purveyor of culture has been realized. Support was provided through a grant from the Broward Public Library Foundation. Additional support for the project was provided by the Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, and the Florida Arts Council.

Artists' books are some of the much unique objects made by artists and, we in S. Florida are lucky enough to have very strong supporters of the medium. If you haven't seen the Bienes Collection or, the Jaffe Collection, you are missing something that will totally expand your thinking as to what artists can do and how they can conceive of a book.

2006 Florida Artists’ Book Prize Exhibition
March 20-May 11, 2007

Bienes Book Prize Exhibition 2007