sense of color. She does something new in
each of her books, but they are all instantly
recognizable as ‘Julies.’ ”
Chen’s hallmark is “her ability to com-
bine innovative structures with content,”
says Sandra Kroupa, the book arts and rare
books curator at the University of Wash-
ington Libraries Special Collections Divi-
sion since 1968. “People tend to think of
book arts as easier to ‘get,’ initially, because
we all sort of know what books are, or think
we do,” Kroupa says. “I make a point of
never defining the word ‘book,’ because as
a librarian and a curator, I feel it’s up to art-
ists to be defining that. And people like Julie
are on the cutting edge of pushing whatever
the boundaries are.”
By taking the familiar form to imagina-
tive heights, Chen turns raw emotion into
universal experience.^
Guide to Higher
Learning
(2009) simulates an impossibly
difficult math exam as an elaborate board
game that first stirs confidence, then confu-
sion, then despair as it unfolds. In the end,
the answer is equanimity. “You realize you
don’t understand what’s going on and you
never will,” Chen says. “But by that point
036 american craft apr/may 11
Below:
A Guide to Higher
Learning,
2009
letterpress-
printed paper
3.1 x 11 x 11 in.
Right: Chen worked
with mathematicians
and an origami
expert while designing
A Guide to Higher
Learning,
which folds
out onto a 34-square-
inch felt viewing cloth.
www.downmagaz.com
