Epicenter

When the Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts was established in 1994, its threefold mission was to educate, exhibit, and publish in the realm of book and paper arts. Now that the education and exhibition sectors are humming along nicely, we are at last turning our formidable powers to the task of publishing. Hence, epicenter.

epicenter is the new publishing endeavor of the Center. Its mission is to publish unusual, elegant, pithy, artful, and well-crafted books, multiples, and ephemera. Conventional publishing houses strive to publish books that are like other books that have proved popular. epicenter will publish books that are like no other books. Our books will be peculiar. Our books will be like earthquakes wrapped up as Christmas presents. There will be no niche marketing. Our books are the books you never knew you wanted (but once you have held them in your hands, they will never leave your head).

epicenter is comprised of two divisions (two halves of a whole, like a brain, or a pair of Siamese twins). The first is the fine print projects division. This sector will produce fine press books, artists books, paper art, artists multiples, and ephemera. These projects will be made by hand, mostly on the premises of the Center, by Center artists and artists-in-residence. They will be produced in small editions, using the finest materials and techniques at our command. The second division is devoted to producing unusual trade books and printed matter in large editions suitable for mass distribution.

We believe that books are useless without readers. epicenter will strive to get these books into hands and homes and libraries and museums across the world. We will do this through relentless and wily promotion and by distributing our work through every means possible. epicenter expands the Center’s mission of enlarging understanding of the book and paper arts beyond our physical boundaries and into the rest of the planet. Everything that bears the epicenter logo is an ambassador for the Center and the arts of the book.

Center Contact Information
Book and Paper Office: 312-344-6630, book&paper@colum.edu
Gina Ordaz, Admininstrative Assistant, 312-344-6631
Bill Drendel, Exhibitions Coordinator, 312-344-6684

1104 S. Wabash, 2nd Fl
Chicago, IL 60605