New Ann Arbor art book fair will spotlight small presses and local artists

This story is part of a series about arts and culture in Washtenaw County. It is made possible by the Ann Arbor Art Center, Destination Ann Arbor, Larry and Lucie Nisson, the University of Michigan Arts Initiative, and the University Musical Society.

The upcoming Paper Paper Art Book Fair is “not an art fair and it’s not a book fair—it’s an art book fair,” says Hannah Burr, the Ann Arbor-based artist and writer who organized the event.

Thefair will be held from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on May 2 and 12 p.m.-5 p.m. on May 3 at the CLUSTER Museum, 307 N. Main St. in Ann Arbor.

The event will include a button-making station, a zine swap, and a few dozen art book vendors, from notable independent publishers like McSweeney’s to individual artists. In Burr’s words, it’s “a mashup of artists and independent presses” rather than “big, institutional art publishers.”

Burr, who organized the event in collaboration with CLUSTER co-founders Kim DeBord, Thea A. Eck, and Chien-An Yuan, says she was partly inspired by other fairs she’s attended as an artist.

“I’ve made some of my best friends [at fairs], and all sorts of excellent opportunities have come [as a result] — and I just want to make that available [to others],” she says.

The fair is focused less on the content of a given book (or zine) than on the book itself as a physical, visual object. So while it isn’t exactly a specialty craft fair on fine binding, say, topics like risograph printing and letterpress printing will be considered fair game.

Burr says the fair is “a big experiment.” This will be the first year it’s been held, but she’s hoping to make it a recurring event.

“I wanted to create a new opportunity for people who are … bootstrapping it. They’re doing it on their own,” she says.

She hopes to see the fair amplify distribution and reach for small artists and calls it “a way to give a voice to people who would otherwise not have a platform or money or the reach.”

In Burr’s estimation, McSweeney’s is the largest, most well-known vendor planning to attend. But plenty of smaller print shops and arts organizations will be present, including Detroit-based BULK Space. Burr describes BULK Space as “a very inclusive space” focused on “community empowerment work.”

“BULK Space does a lot of outreach and creates opportunities for … local Detroiters to work with presses and make their own zines — and basically be able to have their own voices,” she adds.

Plus, Burr will have a table of her own work at the fair (likely attended to by a friend, since she’ll be busy running the event).

As an artist who frequently works in solitude, she says she appreciates the chance to “see what people’s reactions are” in real time.

That in itself is “a new way to think about art,” Burr insists — that is, “thinking about it incredibly locally, rather than [thinking], ‘Somebody somewhere is going to like it and buy it anonymously online, or through Amazon, or something like that.’”

Community-building is especially important to Burr, and it helped inspire the idea for the zine swap, which she says “everybody can participate in, whether you have a table or not.”

Since the Paper Paper Art Fair will be held during the University of Michigan’s graduation weekend, and since CLUSTER Museum is located close to Kerrytown, Burr suggests making a day of the event by grabbing a meal on the way or checking out the Ann Arbor Farmers Market.

“This is a really lovely family event to go to,” she says.