The Bookplate Art Project is a participatory and socially-engaged art project designed to strengthen connections between artists, public libraries and the community.
A selection of commissioned artists along with the wider creative community are invited to create a series of small artworks. These mini-artworks are placed inside books to be discovered by readers at public libraries. Readers have the option to keep or pass on the book plate artwork.
These discovered artworks create a special experience for readers. We share some of these postcard-size artworks on our social media too.
The Project is a different take on the traditional bookplate, which as you may know was originally intended to signify ownership of a book. For the project we ask commissioned artists and the creative community to create artworks that respond to particular books and stories.
Lucky readers who discover a bookplate are encouraged to share their discoveries on social media using the #bookplateartproject hashtag.
2024 Bookplate Art Project – Brisbane
In 2024 twelve artists with a connection to Brisbane were commissioned by the Project to create book plate artworks for Brisbane Libraries. 1000 bookplates were made by commissioned and volunteer artists for readers to discover.
The commissioned artists included five First Nations artists Jody Rallah, Sam Harrison, David Jones and Chelsea Carkeet and Gertrude Benjamin and non-Indigenous artists including photographer Marian Drew, artist Nick Olsen and others.
The Bookplate Art Project was supported by a Creative Sparks Grant. The Creative Sparks Grant Program is an initiative of Brisbane City Council in partnership with the Queensland Government.
Two awards for volunteer artists were proudly supported by Ray White Sherwood | Graceville, supporting local artists and the Corinda Library community.
Arts critic Louise Martin-Chew wrote a piece about the Project in 2024 where she observed that
“the genius of the Bookplate Art Project is predicated on its accidental discovery and reception, the potential of postcard sized artworks to transform the way we might know art and its connection to writing.”