Kress Fellow Ivy Drew tells America’s complex story through her exhibition of artists’ books

“An Artist’s America: Toward a More Perfect Union” will be on view at the Haas Family Arts Library from June 8 through Nov. 8. The exhibition features 30 artists’ books from Yale Library Special Collections—including photography, accordion-style, flag-style, and pop-up books—to commemorate the country’s 250th anniversary. Curator De’Ivyion “Ivy” Drew selected objects that communicate the cultural, socioeconomical, and polticial complexities of the American experience.

“I wanted to curate something creative and informative about this historic milestone in our country,” Drew said. “The subtitle, ‘Toward a More Perfect Union,’ gives additional meaning to the books I chose. I want to inspire visitors as they navigate the space to think about how we can be more in union with one another—especially in the midst of a very divisive culture and divisive language narratives.”

Drew is the 28th Kress Fellow in Art Librarianship since the program began in 1997. Barbara Rockenbach, Stephen F. Gates ’68 University Librarian, was the second in 1998. “The Kress Fellowship was truly transformative for me,” Rockenbach said. “It shaped the course of my career and deepened my connection to Yale and to New Haven.

“The fellowship offers emerging art librarians a rare opportunity to engage deeply with collections, community, and creative practice. Seeing Ivy build on that legacy with such a thoughtful and ambitious exhibition speaks to the enduring impact of the program and its importance to the future of the field.”

Centered at Haas Arts Library, the Kress Fellowship in Art Librarianship supports recent graduates from Library and Information Science master’s programs who want to pursue a career in art librarianship. During a 12-month appointment, the fellow works on-site with Haas Arts Library staff and the staff of the Yale Center for British Art’s archives department to develop projects and participate in activities that align with the fellow’s professional interests and with the library’s needs and priorities.

“This fellowship is singular and has helped accelerate so many great careers,” said Heather Gendron, director of Haas Arts Library. “It’s a delight to see the fellows flourish and take on leadership positions in the field year after year. Yale Library is honored to be part of this ongoing endeavor in partnership with the Kress Foundation.” 

Finding the theme

Drew, who is from Raleigh, North Carolina, holds a BA in studio art practice and a MS in Library Science from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She also has experience as an art educator in North Carolina public libraries. She wanted to bring those skills and experiences to her fellowship project.

As Drew began planning, Gendron suggested that she meet with Michael Morand, director of Community Engagement at Beinecke Library. Morand, who is on New Haven’s America 250 Commission, told Drew about the many local cultural organizations that are planning America 250 programs this year. That conversation inspired Drew to create an exhibition around the same national theme.

She compiled a list of 180 possible artists’ books to feature in the exhibition. She and Gendron worked together to trim the list to 30.

“Some of these books have never been on exhibit before so we are bringing them from our collection into the light, allowing us to witness together, mourn together, and work together to really think about the next 250 years and what they may have in store and about the promise of a better world.”

Drew is only the second Kress Fellow in the 28-year history of the program to mount an exhibition as her fellowship project. The first was Vanessa Kam in 2000–01, whose exhibition featured books by Latin American and Latino/a artists.

“Pursuing this exhibition has been one of the greatest projects I have ever done,” Drew said. “It has shown me a lot about the library and how we can activate the library space to make it engaging and culturally relevant for visitors. The objects in my exhibition highlight the ways in which art is conversational, art is enlightening, art is politically relevant—a tool to help change policy or transform our world. That is what I am hoping my Kress fellowship will do.”

Designing the exhibition

“An Artist’s America” is organized chronologically around 15 topics, spanning from pre-colonial America to the present day. The exhibition opens with the case “Indigenous History and Identity.” On display is a multimedia work by Indigenous artist Allison Leialoha Milham, centering on Hawai’i’s last queen, Lili’uokalani, who was removed by an American military coup in 1893. “This history is inherently important,” Drew said, “because the Indigenous experience predates what we culturally understand to be American.”

Many of the featured book artists, who are working in the 2000s, incorporated historical narratives into their books to convey how ongoing struggles have been viewed throughout our country’s history. The case “Slavery / Enslavement” features Fred Hagstrom’s “The Little Book of Slavery,” which tells the story of the Transatlantic slave trade through antislavery publications of the period. This case also includes a 2021 visual adaptation of the Negro Motorist Green Book guide, which outlined safe routes for Black travelers during the Jim Crow era. “White Privilege Likes,” a response to the 2017 neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, features Confederate imagery and a flip-book-like effect of a Civil War general riding on horseback.

In later cases, the exhibition seques into the themes of the U.S.-Mexico border and migration, global imperialism, significant presidential administrations, and significant wars, recounted firsthand in text and images by American military personnel. Artists also explore the hyphenated-American experience—and how to navigate those experiences creatively—and advocate for art as activism and a means to transform hate.

“Toward a more perfect union”

The final case “Tragedy and Transformation,” is the largest in the exhibition. “I wanted folks to leave with a big idea,” Drew said. Alongside mixed-media representations of the Bill of Rights—one printed on paper made from recycled cotton American flags and blue jeans—is artist Werner Pfeiffer’s book “Out of the Sky: Remembering 9/11.” A  woodcut sculpture of two towers is paired with two volumes containing the names of the thousands of people lost in 2001.

“I have this 9/11 tribute at the end because it was an American event that transformed U.S. policies, in terms of travel, surveillance, and prejudice,” Drew said.

“It was important for me to present the exhibition this way so that we don’t look away from the horrors of our country but instead look to the artists who use creativity and honesty to empower us as fellow citizens and neighbors to think about how we can become a more perfect union, about a world and an America that are yet to exist. How can we see and acknowledge past tragedies and transform them into possibilities? What is America in the next 250 years?”

“An Artist’s America: Toward a More Perfect Union” opens on Mon., June 8, and is on view at Haas Arts Library through Nov. 8. Join Ivy Drew for a curator’s tour at 3:30 p.m. on Tues., June 9.

Learn more about the Kress Fellowship in Art Librarianship.

—Deborah Cannarella

Images: Kress Fellow Ivy Drew, photo by Jackie Gleisner; pages from “America: a Hymnal” by Bethany Collins, Samuel Francis Smith, and Matt Austin (2017) and“War Story: Vietnam Veterans 1984–1989” by Don Unrau (1989), Haas Family Arts Library