𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐤, 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑜𝑜𝑘 /  by Rachel Simmons

On October 9th from 7-8 pm EST along with Steven Daiber from @aquiesredtrilliumpress I’ll be talking about my recent artist’s books as part of 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓑𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓪𝓼 𝓐𝓻𝓽: ᴿᴼᶜᴷ ᴾᴬᴾᴱᴿ ˢᶜᴵˢˢ ᴼᴿˢ exhibition 𝕒 𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕓𝕖𝕥𝕨𝕖𝕖𝕟 @decatur_arts_alliance and hosted by the @gacntr4thebook #artistsbooks #artandwriting #creativewriting #bookartist #bookasart #bookart ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ 𝓣𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓿𝓲𝓻𝓽𝓾𝓪𝓵 𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝓲𝓼 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓮! Registration link in my profile and check out talks happening the week before and the week after by Denise Stephenson, Donna Stepien, Servane Briand, Sally Chapman and Suze Woolf

S Apostrophe S Reading Series /  by Rachel Simmons

I’m participating in the next @sas.reading.series on October 2nd along with Alex Benedict, Twyla Sampaco and Susan Viguers. This FREE virtual program, organized by @gorhamab and @newlightspress 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔  𝓫𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓪𝓻𝓽𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓼 𝓪𝓷 𝓸𝓹𝓹𝓸𝓻𝓽𝓾𝓷𝓲𝓽𝔂 𝓽𝓸 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭-𝓯𝓻𝓸𝓶 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓲𝓻 𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓴 in the vein of a literary reading, but with a visual object as its origin. After two years of doing public readings solo and with friends @chrissykolaya and @vidhuaggarwal_wall , I’ve really been enjoying this new way of sharing my work, as both ᗩᑎ ᗩᖇTIᔕT ᗩᑎᗪ ᗯᖇITᗴᖇ, and I can’t wait to see how the other 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜 approach their task. I’ll be sharing a new video artist’s book, 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒚 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒅 that I’ve been editing since its debut at Edition/Basel residency earlier this summer (clip on the last slide) and here’s a bit about it:

“.....the text—both handwritten and spoken— is interwoven with footage of one of the many public fountains in Basel, Switzerland in which swimming is allowed in water sourced from the nearby Rhein river. Through writing and drawings inspired by and adapted from Patterns in the Void: Why Nothing is Important by astronomer/author Sten F. Odenwald,  Simmons explores Odenwald’s philosophical and scientific efforts to define the Void for his readers, while simultaneously expressing her sense of confusion and frustration about our limitations in seeking answers to unanswerable questions.”

The Society for Speculation Presents the World Ahead at RMA /  by Rachel Simmons

Friday, September 27, 2024
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (ET)
Rollins Museum of Art
Winter Park FL 32789

We’re all tempted, seduced by the question: what will happen next? Join artist Rachel Simmons and writer Chrissy Kolaya for a presentation on The World Ahead, their collaborative artists’ book project about prediction, fortune-telling and other ways of guessing the future! 

As part of this talk, Simmons and Kolaya will share samples from this three-book series in progress and discuss the inspiration, process, and collaboration. They will also invite the audience to participate in an interactive prediction game. This program is in connection with the exhibition Critical Reading: Book Arts in Dialogue with the Collection, which is co-curated by Simmons.

The World Ahead is a found text and collage series of artists’ books using text from the Economist magazine’s The World Ahead issue, described by its editors as a “guide to the coming year,” including “future gazing analysis, predictions and speculation.” This series of experimental artist’s books is an attempt to challenge the idea that we can ever meaningfully predict or make sense and order out of an uncertain future. This project has been awarded support from the University of Central Florida’s Women and Gender Studies Program’s Gloria Anzaldúa Research Excellence Award. 

The Society for Speculation presents The World Ahead /  by Rachel Simmons

Orlando writers and artists, you’re invited to a super fun night of reading artists’ books and predicting the future! 

The Society for Speculation presents: The World Ahead: a talk on a new collaborative project from artist Rachel Simmons and writer Chrissy Kolaya 


Saturday, June 29, 7-9 p.m. Kerouac House (1418 Clouser Ave, Orlando)

Free and open to the public

Chance of Pain, 2024, limited edition artist’s book by Chrissy Kolaya and Rachel Simmons

We’re all tempted, seduced by the question: what will happen next? Join us as we share a new creative project about predictions, fortune telling, and other ways of guessing the future! 

“The World Ahead” is a found text and collage series of artists’ books using text from the Economist magazine’s “The World Ahead” issue, described by its editors as a “guide to the coming year,” including “future gazing analysis, predictions and speculation.” This series of experimental artist’s books is an attempt to challenge the idea that we can ever meaningfully predict or make sense and order out of an uncertain future. 

What If? 2024, limited edition artist’s book by Chrissy Kolaya and Rachel Simmons

As part of this talk, we'll share samples from this three-book series in progress and discuss our inspiration, process, and collaboration. We'll also invite the audience to participate in an interactive prediction game!


This project has been awarded support from the University of Central Florida’s Women and Gender Studies Program’s Gloria Anzaldúa Research Excellence Award.

#kerouachouse #publicreading #bookasart #bookart #writer #bookartists #artistsbooks #handmadebooks #collaborativeart #prediction 

Critical Reading: Book Art in Dialogue with the Collection /  by Rachel Simmons

In conjunction with the 2024 meeting of CBAA The Association for Book Art Education, the Rollins Museum of Art is presenting an exhibition examining the concept of critical reading. This exhibition will feature text-based contemporary works from the Rollins Book Arts Collection, the Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art and juried submissions from CBAA members. Artists’ books have emerged over the last 50 years as a unique form of interdisciplinary contemporary art with a special relationship to what is commonly understood as “the book.” As such, these art objects utilize our shared experiences with reading--both for pleasure and knowledge—and our understanding of books as vessels for sharing expertise in an infinite array of topics. As practitioners of a complex interdisciplinary practice, book artists are uniquely positioned to interrogate cultural assumptions about books, and by extension—our experiences with reading and knowledge—through a critical lens. 

While some book artists seek to dismantle the book as a symbol of authority or singularity, echoing the practice of critical reading from other disciplines, others critique what is going on in contemporary life through a wide range of research topics & personal experiences. Others challenge our preconceptions about the act of reading by pushing experimental methods of communication and comprehension by asking readers to take an active role in making sense of a text, or by producing texts that are designed to provoke and confound. Book art is a genre of investigation, interrogation and renewal that both embraces its link to this important object that changed the trajectory of human evolution—the book—while taking a critical view of that same object through its common use and significance. The real power in these objects is their unique ability to feel both familiar and foreign, to invite the reader into a space where they can engage with an internal reassessment of their previous experiences with books, and their understanding of what it means to read a book. 

This exhibition will include works by contemporary artists working in various media such as Rirkrit Tiravanija and Fred Tomaselli who examine how the representation of language is layered with multiple interpretive possibilities, as well as pieces by William Kentridge and Richard Baker that consider the book as object while conveying the multivalent stories contained within them. Artist’s books from the Rollins Book Arts Collection as well as by members of CBAA The Association for Book Art Education will activate dialogues across media with works from the museum’s collection, providing opportunities to engage in critical reading from diverse perspectives. This synergy between this array of objects-- paintings, drawings, videos, sculptures and artists’ books—will underscore the power of language in its multiple forms to challenge expectations about representation and content.  

Critical Reading is co-curated by Gisela Carbonell, Ph.D., Curator at the Rollins Museum of Art and Prof. Rachel Simmons, Art and Art History Department at Rollins College.  

Chance of Pain, collaborative artist's book /  by Rachel Simmons

This new limited edition artists’ book, Chance of Pain, was made in collaboration with writer @chrissykolaya and is being shown @fieldprojects in NYC for the upcoming exhibition of artist’s books and zine titled “Traces” on view April 30-May 5, 2024. It’s been so much fun to work on this project, which emerged from a series of poems Chrissy adapted from articles from The Economist's "The Year Ahead" issue, but also from our shared interest in predictions and the future, as well as the nostalgic quality of photographs from 1970’s Nat Geo magazines. This lotus fold accordion invites the reader to make sense of random found imagery paired with the language of prediction.

Read More

CBAA The Association for Book Art Education Meeting at Rollins College /  by Rachel Simmons

Critical Reading, CBAA @ Rollins

June 7–8, 2024
Co-hosts: Prof. Rachel Simmons (Rollins College), Prof. Ben Rinehart (Lawrence University)

Under the theme Critical Reading, the 2024 CBAA biennial meeting will include a keynote presentation, a members meeting, a museum exhibition featuring CBAA members’ work, papermaking and community zine activities, as well as a field trip to Flying Horse Editions. This gathering, held in person at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida June 7–8, 2024, presents an opportunity for our community to reconnect in person for the first time since January of 2020. The exhibition, Critical Reading: Book Art in Dialogue with the Collection will be on view at the Rollins Museum of Art with an exclusive evening reception for attendees. The exhibition will explore the ways in which text—whether literally or metaphorically—functions as image and vice versa, and will feature text-centric works from the Rollins Book Arts Collection, the Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art and juried submissions from CBAA members. Members can submit works for consideration until September 28th through Submittable. Board and member meetings will also be conducted as well as a papermaking activity with Ben Rinehart, and a collaborative typewriter zine project with members of the Book Arts Guild of Central Florida. Attendees will also have the chance to tour downtown Winter Park, view contemporary art at the Alfond Inn, and visit Flying Horse Editions in downtown Orlando for happy hour printing and an exhibition of artists’ books presented by David Benjamin and Chris Saclolo from The University of Central Florida’s Library Special Collections.

We are looking for volunteers. Learn more and register.

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IN THIS MOMENT: THE BOOK AS WITNESS /  by Rachel Simmons

Thrilled to have my limited edition artist’s book, “Dream of the Golden Empress” featured in this incredible exhibition curated by Julie Chen at the Environmental Design Library in Berkeley, CA. “In This Moment: The Book As Witness” brings together artists’ books which speak to the most pressing issues of the day including politics, climate change and equity.

Jan 10 through Mar 3, 2024

Type out loud /  by Rachel Simmons

Type Out Loud

January 11, 2024 - February 9, 2024

Location: UCF Art Gallery

Honored to have my recent letterpress work featured in this upcoming group show TYPE OUT LOUD alongside friends and respected colleagues Ben Blount, Rick Griffin and Amos Kennedy Jr.

Please join me for the Opening Reception on Thursday, January 11 from 5-7 pm at the University of Central Florida Art Gallery.


Curated by Ashley Taylor & Dori Griffin

Exhibition Dates:

January 11 – February 9, 2024

“Broadside: A single sheet of paper printed on one side only. AKA: poster. Broadsides have been a popular ephemeral format for distributing news, announcements, advertisements, social commentary, and ballads for centuries.

This exhibition highlights the social role broadsides play in communicating messages to public audiences. Designed to be plastered onto walls as a disposable form of street literature, broadsides in fact record our cultural histories. The posters in this show introduce the history of the broadside, showcase the design and print process, and survey how contemporary poster design informs our own visual culture.

Typographic broadsides can be a powerful, artistic form of broadcasting social, political, and cultural messages.“ -curators’ statement

#letterpress #letterpressprinting  #printmaking #legoprints  #creativewriting #bookartists #bookart #artistsbooks#reliefprintmaking

#broadsides #posters #letterpresslove #typeoutloud #artasresistance #artasactivism #protestposters #graphicdesign

Artist's Talk for "The Book as Art v.11: Myth & Magic" /  by Rachel Simmons

Hello friends! I was invited by the Georgia Center of the Book to speak about my creative practice, and my limited edition artist’s book Dream of the Golden Empress which was awarded third prize by this year’s jurors. The talk was recorded and also included talks by Cindy Marsh and Patty Kennedy-Zafred.

My thanks to the staff at the Georgia Center for the Book and those at the Decatur Alliance for the Arts for including my work in this exhibition and for hosting these talks!

FALL 2023 EXHIBITIONS /  by Rachel Simmons

I’m honored to have my new limited edition artist’s book Dream of the Golden Empress included in two juried exhibitions—the first to open is Dreams at the University of Puget Sound, Collins Memorial Library in Tacoma, WA and the second is The Book As Art v.11: Myth and Magic at the Georgia Center for the Book, at the Dekalb Library in Decatur, GA. Update: Dream of the Golden Empress was awarded third place at The Book As Art v.11: Myth and Magic!

Dreams runs from August 20 through November 17, 2023. Learn more at https://23sandy.com/pages/dreams

Myth and Magic runs from September 7-October 30, 2023. Learn more at https://decaturartsalliance.org/book-as-art/

My limited edition collaborative artist’s book with Lee Lines, Visible Climate: Postcards from America’s Changing Landscapes will be in view at the Arrowmont School of Craft in Gaitlinburg, TN as part of the exhibition, Degrees of Commitment on display in the Sandra Blain Galleries from September 4- December 16, 2023. Learn more at https://www.arrowmont.org/visit/galleries/exhibition-schedule/

Also on view are Orlova, Visible Climate: Postcards from America's Changing Landscapes, and Antarctica: An Explorer's Archive at the Rochester Public Library’s 2023 International Art of the Book show.  The exhibit will run from September 18, 2023 through January 8, 2024 at the Rochester Oublic Library in Rochester, NY. For more info, visit https://ffrpl.libraryweb.org/juried-shows/

Reading of “Dream of the Golden Empress” at the Frost Art Museum, FIU, Miami, FL /  by Rachel Simmons

I had the opportunity to read from my artist’s book, Dream of the Golden Empress, on August 10, 2023 at the Frost Art Museum at Florida International University in Miami, FL. Reading aloud from my artists’ books is relatively new part of my practice, but so far, it’s been so rewarding to highlight my identity as both a writer and artist. I’m still working on the performative aspect of reading in public, but I love seeing the audience react to the writing as they watch images of the book in motion. A reading also offers a different avenue into the work, helping viewers make connections between writing and art and text as image as they get to know the unique genre of contemporary art known as book arts.

Here’s a portion of the reading I did in Miami (video courtesy of Lua Hancock). https://youtu.be/4rIZGKlysbo

New Impressions 2023 at Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum /  by Rachel Simmons

My work, FREEDOM EMPRESS OVER BARREN GOLDEN COURTS, was featured in “New Impressions 2023” at Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, an annual exhibition of letterpress prints demonstrating innovation and experimentation in the field. You can view a virtual 360 version of the show here https://artspaces.kunstmatrix.com/en/exhibition/11661937/new-impressions-2023

Here’s a bit about how this print series emerged:

FREEDOM EMPRESS OVER BARREN GOLDEN COURTS, 20 3/8 “ X 13”

This first print in the series began as I was putting away loads of wood type after a class demo. Jumbled letters on a galley almost spelled “Empress,” a word which immediately intrigued me. As I gathered more type, other words emerged until I had the phrase FREEDOM EMPRESS OVER BARREN GOLDEN COURTS. My found object/collage approach to writing has its origins in working with erasure poetry for many years. The printing process involved running pressure plates under each sheet to purposely disrupt the impression, and layering shifted transparent color runs across Thai Kozo paper. Back in my home studio, I cut some of the prints apart and layered them vertically to further disrupt and rebuild the text.



PURGE EMPIRES UNDER LIMINAL VIOLENT TWILIGHT 20 3/4” X 13”

The second print in the series took the language of the first and built upon it, again by reusing type that was already set. The phrase PURGE EMPIRES UNDER LIMINAL VIOLENT TWILIGHT emerged and I began printing on our Vandercook Universal I. The process involved running pressure plates under each sheet to purposely disrupt the impression, and layering shifted transparent color runs across Thai Kozo paper. Back in my home studio, I cut some of the prints apart and layered them horizontally to further disrupt and rebuild the text.




TWILIGHT FREEDOM 20 1/4” X 13”

The third print in the series takes impressions from the first two and layers them together. The type was printed on the Vandercook Universal I and the process involved running pressure plates under each sheet to purposely disrupt the impression, and layering shifted transparent color runs across Thai Kozo paper. Back in my home studio, I cut some of the prints apart and layered them together. I found it interesting to see how words like EMPRESS and EMPIRES had established visual and etymological resonance, but others like LIMINAL and BARREN were at first, dissonant, but quickly formed a new mental image. The tension between the two different texts forced into a single image forces the viewer to forge connections between the two original phrases.

Wor(l)dbuilding: A Creative Community Workshop With Vidhu Aggarwal and Rachel Simmons /  by Rachel Simmons

Vidhu Aggarwal and I are sharing recent work and leading a creative workshop this Thursday, August 10th from 6-8 pm at the Frost Art Museum in Miami. This event is part of Tertulia Nights and is free and open to the public! We hope you can join us for a fun evening of book art, reading and wor(l) building exercises through creative ideation and hand lettering. We’ll have all the cool pens and markers for participants to try as they work on visualizing words and phrases.

Handout for the workshop


Wor(l)dbuilding: A Creative Community Workshop with Vidhu Aggarwal and Rachel Simmons.

In this interactive creative workshop, we’ll explore ways to invent, visualize and speak new words. Lead by poet Vidhu Aggarwal and visual artist Rachel Simmons, this activity encourages participants to investigate how ideas become words, words form images, and images build communities. After reading and sharing our work, we will work together to invent new words and visualize how they might appear on signs, menus, and posters in our imaginary community.

#worldbuilding #poetry #creativewriting #bookartists #bookart #writers #communitybuilding #frostmuseumofart #publicreading  #handlettering #textasimage

Pocosin School of Fine Craft: Visual Journals Workshop /  by Rachel Simmons

Exciting news! I’ll be teaching a virtual visual journals workshop through Pocosin Arts: School of Fine Craft this September. We’ll meet over the course of three weeks to explore creative self-reflection through mixed media journaling.

To learn more, click on my profile or use this link https://pocosinarts.org/product/creative-self-reflection-through-visual-journals/

Space is limited, so secure your spot as soon as you can!

Creative Self-Reflection Through Visual Journals with Rachel Simmons

Stuck in a creative rut or just need time to reflect on your life? This hands-on workshop explores the connections between creativity, self-reflection and mindfulness through the visual journal, a unique fusion of creative writing and art. Learn how to use techniques like erasure poetry, guided memory & sensory writing, hand lettering, watercolor, drawing, monotype, stamping and collage as tools for self-reflection and expression.

By the end of the workshop, each participant will have completed at least three visual journal spreads, gained new skills in mixed media art and creative writing, and discovered a sense of artistic renewal and connection.

We’ll meet on Zoom from 4 to 6 pm EST on these dates:

Saturday September 16

Saturday September 23

Saturday September 30

#visualjournals #creativewriting #visualjournal #visualjournaling #journaling #mixedmedia #mixedmediajournal #sketchbook #journalart #bookart #bookartist #selfreflection #creativity #collage #drawing #weeklywriting #writingprompts #creativepractice #relfection #mindfulness #pocsosinschooloffinecraft