Event Report - The Pitch Project Artist Book Fair

The Pitch Project: Artist Book Fair
Date

by Ashley Doelger

The Artist Book Fair at the Pitch Project consisted of local and regional artists, designers, and makers showcasing and celebrating all forms of book as object and art form. The event was a lot bigger than I expected and felt a little overwhelming having so much to look at. It consisted of two floors with artist’s books, catalogs, monographs, periodicals, and zines presented by more than 25 independent presses, artists, collectives, and universities from ten cities. It was very colorful and exciting, there were so many zines that I wanted to pick up and look through. This event was one of those things where I was going against the saying, 'don't judge a book by its cover' and I was 'judging a book by its cover.'

I noticed a lot of clever pictures and writings in most of the books I did get a chance to flip through.

I liked this book "Strange Paradise" because it had pictures of random, weird things in the world that one might not think to look twice at but were intriguing to me.

 




My favorite artist there was Sarah Sickles. She stood out to me the most because her station was eclectic showcasing stickers, prints, shirts, and magazines. Mostly everything was bright and covered in things that were the color pink. 

I got a chance to talk with Sarah and I really connected with her and her art. The first thing I had to instinctively ask her was, "Is pink your favorite color?" which she responded, "No." My second question was obviously, "Then what's with all the pink?" She told me it's based on the study of how people interpret the color pink. We engaged in a long conversation about the color pink and its stereotypes. It really made me question all things pink and the things associated with the color. The more we talked the more I understood her work, which fascinated me. On her 'Pink Things'  website she explains the magazine and curated Instagram feed by saying, "I view Pink Things as an extension of my fine art practice. It’s a valuable tool giving insight into how others interpret the color pink. It’s a passion project. It’s a platform giving a voice to emerging artists. It’s a place to share related content. It’s a community of artists, writers, and people who feel passionately about the color pink. It’s so young, and I’m trying to let others help shape its destiny. Because I don’t want Pink Things to just be a part of my fine art practice. I want it to be something much more, and it’s definitely on it’s way there."

Sickle offers artists to submit their work to be featured in the magazine or on its Instagram. I'm glad I had the guts to go up to her and strike up a conversation; she is an intriguing woman and I loved getting a chance to talk to her about all things.