Karen HanmerKaren HanmerChicago binder, book and installation artist Karen Hanmer’s intimate, playful works fragment and layer text and image to intertwine memory, cultural history, and the history of science. Her work weds the ancient act of book binding with the high tech use of the computer to aid her process. The intimate scale and the gestures of exploration required to travel through each piece evoke the experience of looking through an album, a diary, or the belongings of a loved one. However, her works often take the forms of games or puzzles, and many include witty text.
Hanmer exhibits widely, and her work is included in collections ranging from Tate Britain and the Library of Congress to UCLA and Graceland. Recent solo exhibition venues include Florida Atlantic University, University of the West of England Bristol, and the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County (OH). Recent curated exhibition venues include the Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Brooklyn Museum, Harvard University’s Fogg Museum of Art, the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft and The Center for Book Arts (NYC); and traveling exhibitions sponsored by the Guild of Book Workers, the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists' Guild, and Les Amis de la Reliure d'Art du Canada.
Hanmer is winner of the Jury Prize for Binding in the 2009 Helen Warren DeGolyer American Bookbinding Competition. She holds a degree in Economics from Northwestern University, and has studied with many notable book artists and fine binders. She serves on the editorial board of The Bonefolder, the peer-reviewed online book arts journal. Hanmer curated Marking Time, a triennial exhibition sponsored by the Guild of Book Workers, and is a reviewer for the Guild of Book Workers Journal. She offers workshops and private instruction focusing on a solid foundation in basic binding skills.
Karen Hanmer | 709 Rosedale Road | Glenview, IL 60025 | 847.724.6324 | Home | Contact