For those of you near the University of Iowa Libraries, my piece Lunar Volvelle is featured in this incredible exhibition exploring the art of the book.

Making the Book, Past and Present explores the intersections of history, art, and practicality. What can we learn by placing books, materials, and makers from the Middle Ages through today in conversation with one another? Many techniques and materials common centuries ago still inspire contemporary book artists and bookbinders.  

Curated by Eric Ensley and Emily Martin, this exhibition features a global selection of rare historic books and modern book art. From medieval manuscripts and early modern works to recent book sculptures, pop-ups, and books that move, these Special Collections & Archives materials shown together make a visual feast representing the strong connection between books and makers past and present.

ARTWRKD invites you to explore Nocturne, a series of Monica Ong’s poetic meditations on the things that keep one up at night. In the heart of the gallery, an ambient listening lounge features Ong’s Insomnia Poems read in the style of sleep tapes, where poetry is an oasis of both rest and resistance. In search of cures for sleeplessness, this visual poet leads us through an apothecary of cultural remedies, constellation maps, to her ancestors stargazing back at us through literary art objects and handheld poems. Whether in dreams of memory or by moonlight, these visual poems ask us to slow down for a close reading as they reveal stories long hidden in the dark.

Nocturne: Insomnia and Other Poems
May 31–June 15, 2024

Opening Reception
Fri, May 31 ⟡ 6-9 pm

Poetry Reading & Dialogue
Sat, June 1 ⟡ 1 pm

ArtWRKD Gallery
126 South State Street
Newtown, PA 18940

In celebration of “A Mouth Holds Many Things: A De-Canon Hybrid-Literary Collection” published by Fonograf Editions, Stelo will be presenting an exhibition of selected artworks by contributors in the collection, curated by Jyothi Natarajan and Dao Strom in collaboration with Stelo Arts.

The exhibition shares a curatorial vision with the book in its aim to showcase works by BIPOC women & nonbinary writers, poets, and artists who use multimodal approaches to writing, including visual, embodied, sonic, asemic, and tactile innovations, to contemplate—and complicate—our relationships to language and reading & writing.