The Blood Book: An Artist’s Book Presentation and Poetry Reading by Michele Burgess and Chard deNiord
Thursday, April 14, 2022, 5:00 PM
Virtual Event
Join with this link: https://go.uvm.edu/bloodbook

The Blood Book, by Michele Burgess/Brighton Press, elaborates on the poem “Where and How Blood Was Made” by Chard deNiord. It explores the provenance of human blood—a concentrate that evolved from the sea “where waters gathered to a clarity that was also sorrow,” its legacy in atavism, evolution, intelligence, and human behavior—as well as the horror and fascination we feel toward it in our collective memory. Poet and artist will discuss their collaboration, inspirations, and challenges in creating this work over a four-year period.

Michele Burgess works in printmaking, painting, sculpture, and book art. She is the director of Brighton Press and collaborates with other artists and poets on projects that involve the book as an art medium. Burgess’s artists’ books are in public collections across the country, including Silver Special Collections Library at the University of Vermont. She teaches in the art departments at San Diego State University and the University of San Diego. Brighton Press will be opening a Vermont studio, gallery, and bookstore in Bellows Falls, Vermont this summer called Art Around Books / Brighton Press East.

Chard deNiord has written six books of poetry, including In My Unknowing (University of Pittsburg Press, 2020). DeNiord retired from teaching at Providence College in 2020 and is now Professor Emeritus of English and Creative Writing. He was the eighth poet laureate of Vermont from 2015-2019 and is a board member of the Sundog Poetry Center in Vermont.

The online presentation is free and open to the public. Join with this link: https://go.uvm.edu/bloodbook. For more information, contact Silver Special Collections by email or call 802-656-2138.