Octavofest, Northeast Ohio’s celebration of book and paper arts is back for 2017, bigger and better than ever. This year’s program adds new partners, and extends its activities throughout the year, many reflecting this year’s theme: celebrating the art of children’s books.

Emily Martin of the Naughty Dog Press will make several presentations at Cleveland State University (CSU) and Oberlin College. Among the diverse projects designed by Ms. Martin is the Pantone Postcard project. She sent 100 Pantone Postcards to artists around the country, each of whom returned an altered postcard with original art. Many of her works, including whimsical movable books, will appear in pop-up exhibitions around the community.

Also new this year, Benjamin Sapp, Director of the Mazza Museum of International Art from Picture Books, will be presenting locally. The Mazza, in Findlay, houses the world’s most diverse collection of original art from children’s books.

Octavofest will, as always, include demonstrations, workshops, lectures, and exhibitions. Among them will be a display in the atrium of the CSU Library of pop-up and movable books. Work by members of Art Books Cleveland will appear at The Morgan Paper Conservatory, Notre Dame College, the lobby of The Galleries at Cleveland State, and the Shaker Heights Public Library. For a second year, the Sterling Branch of the Cleveland Public Library will display works made by children in the Promise Neighborhood during the six months leading up to the October festival.

The Promise Neighborhood project and others extend Octavofest beyond October. On May 5th, Waterloo Arts, in conjunction with its Editorial Vigia exhibition of artist books from Cuba, hosted a WatchART! demonstration. In June, CSU’s new AHA! Festival will also include a WatchART! These are opportunities to watch book artists work, try out small projects, and see the range of projects that characterize book and paper arts. September brings the Northeast Ohio Bibliophilic Society book fair.

As Louis Adrean, Head of Research and Programs at the Ingalls Library of the Cleveland Museum of Art notes, “As Octavofest approaches its  tenth anniversary in 2018, we reflect on past activities and look to the future of book arts in Northeast Ohio. The diverse collections of University Circle are a cornerstone for book arts in the region, and University Circle institutions are enthusiastic participants in this exciting and expanding celebration.”

For more information, visit http://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/octavofest/2017/

or http://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/octavofest/