Bainbridge Island Museum of Art presented Taking Issue, a selection of sixty-one artists from the Cynthia Sears Collection of Artist’s Books. These original works address some of the artists’ most serious concerns across a spectrum of social and political ideas.

Drawing on their own personal experiences or recording those endured by others, artists create powerful and resonate pieces that deal with war, gun violence, sexual assault, incest, domestic abuse, and historical “therapies” for women. They also deal with the terrible effects of nuclear testing on Indigenous peoples, environmental dangers and potential catastrophes, toxic materials, extinctions, and the importance of access to real and natural foods. The recognition that “words matter,” and the historic use of demeaning terms and their lasting effects are also covered.

These artists aim to attract the viewer’s attention, help them to learn from their past, and encourage them to take action towards improving the present and securing the future.

BIMA is proud of its commitment to feature and display this unique world through the Cynthia Sears Collection of Artist’s Books, with an exhibition that changes three times throughout the year.

Read the Artist’s Books: Chapter 12 – Taking Issue panel.

Featured Artists

• Lynn Agnew & Mary Jeanne Linford
• Lynn Avadenka & Bonnie Jo Campbell 
• Mare Blocker
• Eileen Boxer with Project Report US
• Ginger Burrell
• Lou Cabeen
• Rebecca Chamlee & Dennis Phillips
• MalPina Chan
• Julie Chen
• Maureen Cummins
• Debra Magpie Earling & Peter Rutledge Koch
• Elsi Vassdal Ellis
• Cari Ferraro
• Cheri Gaulke & Sue Mayberry
• Mari Eckstein Gower
• Malini Gupta
• Fred Hagstrom & Joanna Rawson
• Fred Hagstrom & Joel Weisberg 
• Kathy T. Hettinga 
• Charles Hobson & Eavan Boland
• Diane Jacobs
• Stefanie Kalem & Whitney Coffin Shaw 
• Tatana Kellner
• Ellen Knudson
• Nicolas Lampert
• MJ Linford
• Josh MacPhee
• Lise Melhorne-Boe
• Jeffrey Morin
• Jeffrey Morin & Karen Heft
• Lois Morrison
• Bonnie Thompson Norman 
• Eliana Perez
• Jessica Peterson
• Lisa Beth Robinson with Jeffrey Morin & Caren Heft
• Laura Russell
• Jaime Lynn Shafer 
• Lynn Skordal
• Clarissa Sligh
• Daniel Smith & Karen Finneyfrock
• Peggy Smith-Venturi
• Jessica Spring
• Beth Thielen
• Terry Turrentine & Marshall Weber
• Hidde Van Duym
• Claire Van Vliet & Denise Levertov
• Sande Wascher-James 
• Shu Ju Wang
• Marshall Weber & Dana Smith 
• Linda Quartman Younker