BIMA is now open daily 10am-5pm.

A time to reflect

As the museum reopens more fully this spring, and we again sense the pleasure of being a gathering place with art as the centering experience, we are also called to reflect.

We continue to be profoundly grateful for the generosity of our extended community. Through gifts of time, talent and resources, efforts large and small, deep commitment and hard work, and a thousand strokes of luck, BIMA has been able to reopen when many other arts organizations remain shuttered. We are grateful to be here, conscious of our good fortune, and are working to help other organizations back to their feet—reminded every day that we can pay forward this gratitude by fostering connection, healing, challenge, and inspiration through art.

This moment is also one of profound change, marked by unfathomable and continued examples of racial and social injustice, inequity, and violence across the US. BIMA’s response to this inflection point begins with self-inquiry and a commitment to make visible the values that we hold close. With that, we’re working to do and be better, to cultivate and support safe spaces, and to ensure that all voices are heard, valued, and welcomed.

As we lean into this learning, we turn first to the artists who can lead the way for us all. As a museum, we are both privileged and responsible to be the best spotlight, platform, and petri dish that we can, particularly for contemporary artists of the Puget Sound region. In BIMA’s front Beacon window right now hangs “Song for Generations” a particularly relevant piece of work by artist Michelle Kumata, a comment on the legacy of harm related to the Japanese American incarceration. This work captures the complexities of a shameful and wrenching historical trauma within this community and the country while serving as a poignant reminder that racially motivated violence still exists. At BIMA, we are proud to champion and support voices like hers, voices that help keep these issues present in our minds and hearts as a foundation to mitigating harm.

Thank you for joining us at the museum, for immersing yourself in the pleasures and perspectives of the artists we showcase, for sharing the values we hold, for lending a hand as we put our cultural community back together, and for working together to lean into the work that we have in front of us.

Artist’s Book Collection

About BIMA's Artist's Book Collection

BIMA is proud of its commitment to feature and display the unique and burgeoning world of Artist’s Books. A fairly recent trend in the art world, Artist’s Books are a fast-growing art form that the public is beginning to notice. BIMA’s goal is to help make this unique medium more visible and accessible.

BIMA’s Artist’s Books exhibition changes three times throughout the year. Due to its participatory form, Artist’s Books are suited to starting conversations as opposed to being used to share opinions. Come see for yourself and join the conversation!

 

What is an Artist’s Book?

BIMA defines an Artist’s Book as a three-dimensional art object—usually one-of-a-kind or in limited edition—which reveals or tells its story over time using a combination of content and form and involves the agency or participation of the viewer.

Artist’s Books combine various art forms and media, including drawing, painting, printmaking, collage, gluing and binding, sculpture, photography, textiles, creative writing, and storytelling.

“Artist’s Books are the Trojan Horse of the art world… you don’t know exactly what is inside until it is revealed.”

— Cynthia Sears, BIMA Founder

A view into the Sherry Grover Gallery, BIMA's home for its Artist's Book Collection

The Sherry Grover Gallery

Enter a gallery unlike any other. Marvel at the ingenuity and artistry of an art form that has a unique ability to tell stories—so personal and passionately told that they can be felt viscerally.

Surround yourself in the warmth of the cherry cabinets, glowing with work by artists from around the globe. Inspired by the passion for the art form of BIMA’s Founder, Cynthia Sears, BIMA’s Sherry Grover Gallery is home to more than 1,300 Artist’s Books and the collection keeps growing.

Artist's Books Unshelved Videos

Take a dive into the artform of artist’s books with a video series exploring selected pieces from the Cynthia Sears Artist’s Books Collection. New episodes are released on the first and third Saturday of each month on BIMA’s YouTube channel.

Artist's Books Unshelved Library

A peek into the collection

Fish Frenzy
Mare Blocker, Hell’s Carousel: The Merry-Go-Round of Bad Behavior, 1999.
Russell MagBeast
Lois Morrison, Jacob's Cattle, 2016
Elsi Vassdal Ellis, When the Veil Becomes the Apron, 2016.
Artist's Book by Mary Jeanne Linford
Julie Chen, Octopus, 1992
Charles Hobson, Mermaid: An Epic Salish Merwoman Story as brought forward by Paul Cheokten Wagner, 2015-16.
Donald Glaister-Brooklyn Bridge-A Love Story
Linda & Tracy Smith, Phoenix, 2013-14, printed and hand-cut paper, text by Tracy Smith.
FishFrenzy
Mare Blocker, Hell’s Carousel: The Merry-Go-Round of Bad Behavior, 1999.
Russell MagBeast
Lois Morrison, Jacob's Cattle, 2016.
Elsi Vassdal Ellis, When the Veil Becomes the Apron, 2016.
Artist's Book by Mary Jeanne Linford
Mortal Salt
Julie Chen, Octopus, 1992
Charles Hobson, Mermaid: An Epic Salish Merwoman Story as brought forward by Paul Cheokten Wagner, 2015-16.
Donald Glaister, Brooklyn Bridge-A Love Story
Linda & Tracy Smith, Phoenix, 2013-14, printed and hand-cut paper, text by Tracy Smith.

Who is in the collection?

BIMA’s Artist’s Book collection features the work of hundreds of artists including Julie Chen, Suzanne Moore, Philip Zimmerman, Ben Blount, Tia Blassingame, Diane Jacobs, Mare Blocker, Joann Pohlman, Fred Hagstrom, Lois Morrison, Clarissa Sligh, Aimee Lee, Kyoko Matsunaga, Elsi Vassdal-Ellis, Susan King, Claire Van Vliet, Catherine Alice Michaelis, Alisa Banks, Ellen Knudson, Katherine Ng, Peter Rutledge Koch, Karen Kunc, Jessica Spring, and Charles Hobson.