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Bonnie O'Connell: A Retrospective from UNO Libraries' Collection

The exhibit, Bonnie O'Connell: A Retrospective from UNO Libraries' Collection, runs April 2 to July 15, 2019, on the first floor of Criss Library.

  • published: 2019/04/02
  • contact: Amy Schindler, Director of Archives & Special Collections - Archives and Special Collections
  • phone: 402.554.6046
  • email: acschindler@unomaha.edu

Criss Library – Selections from the body of work of letterpress printer, book artist, and educator Bonnie O'Connell will be on display in UNO Libraries’ Archives & Special Collections from April 2 through July 15, 2019 with a closing reception on July 11, 2019 at 5:00 PM. Guests may also enjoy a reception for displays from Frogman's Workshop and UNO students in the UNO Art Gallery in the Weber Fine Arts Building.

The exhibit features over thirty of O'Connell’s books and broadsides from the 1970s to the present from O'Connell's Penumbra Press, UNO's Abattoir Editions, Gibraltar Editions, and other presses. The items on display represent more than half of the works by O'Connell available in the collection of UNO Libraries' Archives and Special Collections.

The work of Bonnie O'Connell includes fine press editions, artists' books, posters for gallery shows, letterpress prints created for portfolio exchanges, letterpress printing for student works, and more. On display is the the artists' book The Anti-Warhol Museum: Proposals for the Socially Responsible Disposal of Warholia (1993) co-published by Nexus Press and referenced in A Century of Artists' Books by Johanna Drucker (1995). Also on display are Penumbra Press books O'Connell published with U.S. Poet Laureates Rita Dove (Ten Poems) and Ted Kooser (A Decade of Ted Kooser Valentines, 1987-1996).

All items on display are from Archives & Special Collections’ Fine Arts Press Collection. The collection includes over 1,000 fine arts press books and broadsides mostly from the United States.

Curated by Director of Archives & Special Collections Amy Schindler with assistance from practicum students Laura Magana and Rachel Vanness. The exhibit opens April 2, 2019, and runs through July 15, 2019, on the lower level of Criss Library in Archives & Special Collections. The exhibit is open Monday-Friday 8 AM – 5 PM and by appointment.