This story was updated on Wednesday, April 10th at 10:45 am.
On March 22 and 23, the Spitting Image Art Book Fair held its first student exhibition at Wollman Hall. 21 student exhibitors with a unique variety of styles shared their books and printed ephemera, gave out free prints, and sold their pieces to visitors.
Spitting Image Art Book Fair (SIABF) was founded by Camila Pernisco, a third-year Lang student majoring in literary studies, and a committee that includes New School students Gabriella Acquafredda, Manuela Vieira do Amaral, Alyne Padilla-Robles, Ysa Ancheta, and Ana Krent. The event was presented in collaboration with the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, which featured selections from its on-campus VLC Fellows Library and sold various books from its archive at the event.
The exhibition featured an Artist Talk hosted by Acquafredda on Friday featuring New School alumni Maya Valencia and Sydney Maggin, co-founders of Phase Zero, a self-published print publication based in New York, and Achilleas Ambatzidis, a co-founder of Chuck Magazine. The panel discussed their curatorial and printing processes.
On Saturday, a collage workshop was held with some students quietly focused and others laughing as they created.
The crowd was large and varied, with employees from The New School Archives and Special Collections, students, alumni, and friends having visited. The exhibition space on Friday was loud with chatter and tables crowded with visitors.
The large windows of Wollman Hall lit up the room, inviting visitors to view the exhibitors’ works, even on a rainy Saturday. Puddles filled the streets outside, and a dozen umbrellas were piled in a bin at the entrance of the event. Compared to Friday, attendance decreased, but attention to the event did not falter, “Today is a lot quieter than it was yesterday and I guess it does speak to the triumph of the fair to have people brave the storm,” Acquafredda said.
Ella Boyle, a second-year photography student, came to the exhibition to support her friends and community. “I think it’s really nice that there’s a place where they can show off what they are working on, whether it’s a personal project or related to their school work,” Boyle said.
Student work is typically only shown and discussed during class critiques and workshops, with opportunities for outside perspectives occurring less often. Some students shared their disinterest in relying on social media to share their artwork, seeing it as another intangible experience that can be easily scrolled past. At the exhibit, however, students were given a space to share their art with one another.
A visitor carried a stack of booklets and flyers from desk to desk, another snapped pictures for inspiration from a booklet, and each artist took pride in describing their work. “There’s a community that burst forth in being able to touch and feel a piece of media, even more so be able to make media,” said Acquafredda, a third-year BAFA student studying literary studies and communication design.
Students got the opportunity to hear from people with a desire to interact with their work and learn about the craft.
Lulu Bozzino, a fashion major, exhibited her illustrations over the weekend, “I think that when you present in class, you’re presenting to an audience, but it’s not the same as exhibiting for people who choose to come and see the work you are exhibiting. And I think putting yourself in that environment is really important as an artist,” she said.
The event initially received 50 applicants, and according to Pernisco, “When you get that many applications that first time around, that means there’s a need for it.”
The next iteration of Spitting Image is currently in the works.
Correction: In a previous version of this story, a name was left out from the list of Spitting Image Art Book Fair’s committee members. The story has been updated to include the missing name.
In a previous version of this story, the VLC Fellows Library was incorrectly referred to as the Vera List Fellows Library. The story has been updated to make this correction and to include the full name of the organization.