Nava Atlas
Nava Atlas is a Hudson Valley, NY–based book artist, author and illustrator whose work explores the topics of gender roles, cultural bias and animal rights. Her work is often sculptural, using found objects and engaging in the fine art and publishing fields, simultaneously. Her current projects include The Narcissist's Library, Hell's Kitchen, Greeting from the Pasture and Unwedding: Why You Can't Get Married; earlier works are Encyclopedia of Regrets, Magdalene Laundries: A Cross to Bear, Je Reve, Things Women Shelve, My Mother’s Stories, and Served with Bagels and Locks. Nava also worked in a studio residency at Mass MOCA and at the Sim Residency in Reykjavic, Iceland.
Education
Nava Atlas got her B.F.A. from the University of Michigan in 1977 and her M.A. in Art Studio in 2007 from the State University of New York at New Paltz.Book art
Atlas makes artists' books, often experimenting with the physical form and incorporating found materials. They are typically produced as limited editions. A number of her works explore women's experience and the constraints of traditional gender roles; Secret Recipes for the Modern Wife, Sluts & Studs, Tomcats & Trollops, labeling Hillary, Hand Jobs, Deconstructing Elsie, Why You Can't Get Married: an Unwedding Album, The Completely-from-Scratch Steer-to-Sirloin Beef Slaughter Guide and Cookbook, and Any Man Gets Tired of Toast All the Time. Postal Angst is an album of imaginary postage stamps. She also makes unique altered books — an example is Love and Marriage, a 1950s comic book in which all the dialogue has been replaced with next text by Atlas — and installations that feature text.Her work has been exhibited widely across the United States and abroad and is the collections of many public collections, including at the Brooklyn Museum, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Victoria and Albert Museum, Wichita Art Museum, and many other institutions. and an archive of her papers is housed in the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture at Duke University.
The limited editionDear Literary Ladies was expanded into the traditionally published Literary Ladies' Guide to the Writing Life. Atlas then launched - an extensive website on classic women authors and their literature.
Cookbooks
Atlas, who has been vegan for many years, has also written and illustrated vegetarian and vegan cookbooks. Her first cookbook, Vegetariana, came out in 1984. Other titles include 5-Ingredient Vegan, Plant Power, Wild About Greens, Vegan Holiday Kitchen, and The Vegetarian Family Cookbook. She created TheVeganAtlas.com, a site featuring vegan recipes, lifestyle, and travel.Installations/Exhibits
Selected Exhibitions
''Read Me: Artist’s Books, Altered Books, and Related Installations (2014)''
Concourse/Discourse Gallery''In Retrospect (2010-2012)''
A traveling exhibit featuring three contemporary artists Nava Atlas, Maureen Cummins, and Ann Lovett, exploring present-day culture through a historic lens. This show visited Abcedarian Gallery, Hope College - De Pree Gallery, SUNY Ulster - Muroff-Kotler Gallery, Lafayette College - Skillman Library Gallery, Visual Studies Workshop - Siskind Gallery, Wells College - String Room Gallery, College of New Rochelle - Castle Gallery''The Radwaste and Stonehenge Books'' ''(1985-1989)''
A traveling exhibition featuring Nava Atlas and Chaim Tabak starting at the Wichita Art Museum and moving to Carnegie Center for the Arts, Washburn University - Mulvane Art Center, Pittsburg State University - University Gallery, Emporia State University - University Gallery, SUNY at New Paltz - College Art Gallery, SUNY at Alfred - Nelson Fosdick Gallery, and SUNY at Oswego, Tyler Art GallerySelected Group Exhibitions
2017
The Sexual Politics of Meat'This exhibition commemorated the 25th anniversary of the publication of Carol J. Adams's book The Sexual Politics of Meat. The show, taking place at The Animal Museum in Los Angeles, CA from February 25 – April 30, 2017 was curated by three artists, Kathryn Eddy, Janell O’Rourke & L.A. Watson and featured eco-feminist work by fourteen contemporary women artists, challenging the question of “How does someone become something''?”.
2016
“Earth SOS” - Flomenhaft Gallery, NYC“The Measure of All Things: Rethinking Humanism through Art” - The University at Buffalo, NY
2014
"Book Power" - 23 Sandy Gallery“Unintended Consequences” - Slusser Gallery at the University of Michigan
“Reimagining Rosa Parks” - Prince George’s Community College
2013
“Art History: Redux” - Weatherspoon Art Museum“From Bande Dessinée to Artist’s Book: Testing the Limits of Franco-Belgian Comics” - Center for Book Arts, NYC
“I Do” - Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY
“Is This Freedom?” - Wiseman Gallery, Rogue Community College
“Post-Racial U.S.” - New Mexico State University Art Gallery
“Under the Wings of Artemis: The Crossroads of Scholarship and Art” - University of Washington Libraries
''“A Seat at the Table: An Exploration Through Artist’s Books” - WOCA Projects
2011
“With Food in Mind” - Center for Book Arts“The Book: A Contemporary View” - Delaware Center for Contemporary Art
2010
“Fit to Be Bound” - Everson Museum of Art“Pages” - La Tienda Exhibition Gallery
“Pop-Up Now!” - 23 Sandy Gallery
“Book + Art: Artist’s Books from the Sallie Bingham Center” - Duke University, Perkins Library Gallery
2009
“Bookends: The Book as Art” - Pyramid Atlantic Art Center“Analog catalog: Investigating the Permanent Collection” - Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art
2008
“Dog-Eared: Revealing the Content of Artist’s Books” - Purdue University“Beyond Reading: Books as Art” - Suffolk Museum
“Are We There Yet? 40 Years of Feminism” - ARC Gallery & Educational Foundation
“Conceptually Bound” - Victoria Arts Connection Gallery, Pacific Festival of the Book, The Mohr Gallery, The Community School of Music and Art
2007
“Conceptually Bound” - Cal. State University - Univ. Art Gallery“Artist’s Books 2007” - Cuesta College
“The Female Gaze” - Iona College
"Book in Hand" - Arts + Literature Laboratory
2006
"Do Not Fold, Bend, Spindle, or Mutilate” - Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science"Collaborative Concepts"
2005 and earlier
“Recent Acquisitions” - College Art Gallery“Book Arts” - Hand in Hand Galleries
“Humor, Wit, and Whimsy” - Bowie State College
“Painted Surfaces” - Albany Institute of History and Art
“Brooklyn Artists” - Brooklyn Museum