Meredith Ivey Santaus

I am mainly concerned with the confluence of text and image, or fine art and literature, through the medium of materiality. Artists’ books, bookworks, and livres d’artiste – as well as political graphics, posters, and zines – and their connections to Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, modern graphic and book design, and notions of the cinematic and of montage inform much of my research and writing. Poets, among them Apollinaire and Frank O’Hara, have often acted as collaborators in, even impetuses for, bookworks and their ilk, and thus poetics likewise provides a fascinating and incisive lens. My current inquiry considers the influence and presence of spirituality, spiritualism, and the esoteric on modern print culture, that is, instances of print as a vessel for or immediate expression of the divine and the astral, and print as the core action or event, its material results being then residual. I am also interested in the cooption of language as a State sign, the modern deficiency of language to embody the referent, and alternatives to these phenomena imagined and enacted by twentieth-century artists and authors.

I have also worked as a bookseller and gallery curator for a rare book firm, and maintain an interest in the book market and principles of exhibition. My work in that arena has resulted not only in exhibits, but also relationships with living book artists, lectures, and published catalogues.

Education:
M.A., Ph.D., English, Boston University (in progress)
M.L.I.S., Library Science, Simmons University (2019)
M.Litt. The History of the Book, University of St Andrews (2017)
Dissertation: “William Clark’s Sketch-Maps and the Identity of the Early Republic”
B.A., English and Classics, Wellesley College (2016)

Selection of Exhibits Curated
“Almost at 100: Works by Gunnar Kaldewey,” Bromer Gallery, June 6 – December 6, 202
“Pressing Issues: Voices for Justice in the Book Arts,” Bromer Gallery, May 24 – August 20, 2021
“Robin Price: Spirit Compass,” Bromer Gallery, October 1 – December 18, 2020
“Barry Moser: The Storied Artist,” Bromer Gallery, May 17 – August 16, 2019

Recent Presentations
Panelist, “Ticknor Society Collector’s Roundtable: Interactions and Applications for Artists’ Books,” Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair, November 12, 2022
Panelist, “Venues, Interactions, and Critical Resources for Acquisitions,” Collecting Artists’ Books in Academic Libraries Conference, Wellesley College, August 5, 2022
“Book/Art/Work: A New Terminology for Artist Books,” Collecting Artists’ Books in Academic Libraries Conference, Wellesley College, August 3, 2022