By Eleanor Granstrom
One month ago, from March 8th to 13th, graduate student Poojana Prasanna presented her MFA thesis A Portrait of Home in North Hall, where the University of Iowa’s Center for the Book (UICB) is housed. Established in 1986, the center offers an MFA in book arts, a graduate certificate, and joint degrees with other programs at the university. UICB also offers several classes for undergraduate students, such as “Intro to Book Arts” and “Book Design for Publishing.”
But what does a degree in book arts entail?
“The MFA book arts program is a three-year fine arts program where we focus on book making,” Prasanna explained. “The term ‘book’ has a lot of different definitions, but, in general, when we’re talking about book arts we’re thinking about the intention behind material and content as well as the final output. We look at books as the art themselves and not just as a container of text and images.”
For Prasanna, the process is just as important as the final result. “That’s why I love calligraphy. You’re putting pen to paper, and your focus is on forming those letters...that’s also why I love printing. I love dealing with small metal pieces for letterpress because then I’m not worried about prepositions.”
The UICB has four main facilities, all located in North Hall; the Kolarik Bookbinding Studio, a digital lab, the Research and Production Paper Facility, and two letterpress studios. Most of Prasanna’s first year in the program was spent learning how to use the variety of equipment in the center.
“From the second year onwards, I really delved into bringing my ideas to life,” she said.
Made up of four books, A Portrait of Home celebrates parts of campus and time that became “anchors” to Prasanna after she moved to Iowa City from India three years ago to pursue a degree in book arts. Each piece of paper, each design, each letter of her thesis was created by Prasanna herself using the center's equipment.
Prasanna’s interest in book arts stemmed from her background working in graphic design at a children’s books publishing house. Now? “I want to have my own space, a studio, hopefully owning my own press... The goal is always to continue making books and having an artistic practice, but I also want to get into research and delve deeper into book history in India.”
While many graduate students begin their own studio practices, selling books to collectors, libraries, and museums, others go on to become teachers or museum staff. They work on curating and conserving written works. Students who graduate with a joint degree often go on to work in libraries, special collections, or publishing.
“It extends into multiple fields...A book could be anything at the end of the day,” Prasanna said.
Want to learn more about the University of Iowa’s Center for the Book? Interested in applying to their graduate degree program? Go to https://uicb.uiowa.edu/ to learn more!