Seattle Art Book Fair
ABOUT SEATTLE ART BOOK FAIR
The Seattle Art Book Fair is a free annual festival that celebrates independent publishing, book design, and books-as-art. The nonprofit event hosts local, national, and international artists, designers, and organizations and includes exhibitors, talks, workshops, and art installations. The fair is focused on building and expanding the community of booklovers and bookmakers in our region by bringing together seasoned practitioners and newcomers.
Seattle is renowned for its contributions to the arts and cultural communities. It has a long history of supporting books and publishing which led to it being named a UNESCO City of Literature in 2017. The Seattle Art Book Fair is modeled after the original New York and Los Angeles Art Book Fairs (established in 2004 and 2014, respectively), which are run by Printed Matter. Seattle will join a growing number of independent art book fairs on the west coast including the Vancouver Art Book Fair (est. 2006) and the San Francisco Art Book Fair (est. 2016).
The fair is co-organized by Jayme Yen and Tom Eykemans, both of whom have worked in arts, design, education, nonprofits, and publishing for many years in Seattle, along with a dedicated team of volunteers and advisors.
WHAT ARE ART BOOKS?
Art books are a broad category of publications by artists, designers, and makers that reflect on books as a medium and publishing as an artistic practice. Art books often combine type, images, and materials in thoughtful ways that push the possibilities of what books can be. They can take the familiar forms of paperbacks, hardcovers, magazines, journals, and zines. They can feature narrative, poetry, photography, and illustration. They can be handmade, offset-printed, letterpressed, photocopied, screen printed, or risographed. Or, they can take some surprising new form and feature an unexpected medium that allows one to experience the world in a wholly new way.
Admission to the Seattle Art Book Fair is free, to ensure accessibility to our area’s diverse community.