The Maier Museum of Art
at Randolph College

Tennille Davis Shuster – Please Wear This Book

Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College’s 112th Annual Exhibition
Back to Front: Artists’ Books by Women

Tennille Davis Shuster, Please Wear This Book, 2020, handset type letterpress printed onto disposable masks; covers crafted from hand-marbled papers evocative of the virus, 7 ¼ x 4 ½ x  ¾ in., Books 3 & 16 from an edition of 19, Courtesy of the artist

Tennille Davis Shuster, Please Wear This Book, 2020, handset type letterpress printed onto disposable masks; covers crafted from hand-marbled papers evocative of the virus, 7 ¼ x 4 ½ x  ¾ in., Books 3 & 16 from an edition of 19, Courtesy of the artist

See this book in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpuZaeJKEGA&t=8s

Tennille Davis Shuster created a book out of disposal surgical masks to raise money for COVID-19 relief and inspire mask-wearing in her community. Each page of the handmade book is printed with a single word in the lower right corner. As you turn the pages, they read, “No One Can Do Everything But Everyone Can Do Something.” The masks in Shuster’s book may be unbound and worn. She printed each word on the white side of the mask, so it wouldn’t be visible if someone chose to wear it.

BIOGRAPHY

Artist Tennille Davis Shuster

Tennille Davis Shuster

Tennille Davis Shuster, M.F.A., is an Associate Professor in the Performing and Visual Arts Department who worked professionally as an illustrator and graphic designer for over a decade. An interest in letterpress printing, non-traditional binding methods and paper marbling fuel her desire to elevate graphic design – a format often characterized by ephemerality and frequently confined by commerce – to a more precious and self-expressive outcome. This objective is made evident in her many artist’s book editions, altered book sculptures, marbled art, and letterpress printed broadsides.

Shuster has received several awards, including the Florida Artists’ Book Prize. Her work has been published in numerous publications including American Craft and American Libraries magazines and For the Love of Letterpress (A&C Black Publishing). Shuster’s book art is internationally exhibited and resides in public and private collections including the Iraq National Library, Duke University’s Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library, the Jaffe Center for Book Arts, and the Bienes Museum of the Modern Book, among others.

In addition to being an educator and book artist, Shuster also maintains an active freelance design practice for such clients as: the National Retail Federation, Florida Theatre League, Broward County Libraries, Town of Palm Beach, City of Sunrise, and more. Projects include the design of calendars, invitations, newsletters, logos, maps, brochures, posters and postcards.