The Joyful Body of the Word: Betsy Davids and the Book
On view: September 26–December 20, 2026
Opening Reception: October 2, 6–8 pm
The Joyful Body of the Word: Betsy Davids and the Book presents the works of influential Bay Area artist Betsy Davids, spanning her career across letterpress, writing, and artists books. With a focus on rereading and reperforming Davids’ contributions to the ever-evolving art of the Book, the exhibition includes works from the 1970s to today and a series of reading performances. Davids established letterpress education at CCA(C) and her creative pedagogies shaped the work of many artists and publishers. Her Rebis Press editions, in partnership with James Petrillo, are widely recognized as innovative in the early history of the artist book; Davids’ aspiration to make books ‘in real time’ alongside the experiences they document, and her radical commitment to the everyday continues across her one-of-a-kind works. Her deep engagement with dreaming, journey, and pilgrimage – in both personal and literary senses – endures through six decades of artistic production.
A series of artist pairings highlight Davids’ influence, conversations, and collaborations from her early teaching practice to the present; these include works by Johanna Drucker, Mimi Pond, Michael Henninger, Casey Gardner, Alisa Golden, Nikki Thompson and the late artists Ed Moore and Nance O’Banion, recognizing Davids’ legacy and introducing her to a new generation of students and makers.
SFCB will produce a full color exhibition catalog, which will include new essays by Anthea Black and Johanna Drucker, additional materials related to Davids’ work, and a bibiliography.
Opening Reception
Join us for the opening reception for The Joyful Body of the Word!
October 2nd from 6–8 pm, with remarks at 7. Light refreshments will be served.
About the Curator
Anthea Black (b. 1981) is a Canadian artist, art publisher, and curator based in San Francisco and Winnipeg. Her studio work takes the form of artist’s books, limited edition publications, drawing, and textiles to address queer-feminist histories, materiality, and archives. Black has exhibited in Canada, the US, Korea, France, Germany, The Netherlands, and Norway, and her artist's books and artist publishing work are represented in over 65 library special collections and galleries. Black’s curatorial work includes The Embodied Press: Queer Abstraction and the Artist’s Book, Deeper Reading: Three Bay Area Book Artists, for the National Museum of Women in the Arts Women to Watch program, No Place: Queer Geographies on Screen, PLEASURE CRAFT and SUPERSTRING. Black's writing on contemporary art, craft, and performance appears in numerous publications, including “In the making: Queer Publishing andTranspedagogies,” Art Journal special issue on Trans Visual Culture and “Women in Print: feminism’s collective artist’s book spaces,” in Art and Feminisms: Histories, Methods, and Legacies (Routledge). She is co-editor of The New Politics of the Handmade: Craft, Art and Design (Bloomsbury Visual Culture) and HANDBOOK: Supporting Queer and Trans Students in Art and Design Education. Black’s third book, The Embodied Press: queer liberation and the artist’s book focuses on the contributions of queer and transgender artists to artist’s book field from the 1950s to today.
Black is Associate Professor of Printmedia and Graduate Fine Arts at California College of the Arts, and the Yozo Hamaguchi endowed Curator of Printmedia Awards and Programs.
