ing. As an outgrowth from the feminist art movement, such "writing of one's own story" often gives voice to the "other" in societyl and perhaps has even initiated the present day celebration of multicultural pluralities. These identities are hidden inside books yet revealing in content, where artists/authors can tell their own narrative without editors and publishing houses. Also, book arts are a beneficiary of the search for alternatives to the "exclusiveess" of the art scene, arid of the develoment of alternative sites for exhibitions and work sites, as well as the artist's cooperatives of the 1980's, with the book form as the ultimate self-contained exhibition alternative, bypassing publishers, curators, jurors; with portability, easy transport, exchange, reasonableness in scale and cost; artist's books are seen as an alternative form itself, yet understandable, one in which everyone can related to the playful changes and challenges made to an intimately known form. Finally, there is a stream that I call "retro - humanistic," which is an instinctual acknowledgment of the need for hands to "make," to construct objects from scratch, to have power in one's hands to make a form that we know is culturally significant and classical. This ability is directly counterpoint to the distance of the machine, the screen, the increased immobility and illusion of our computer age, and the contrary isolation and depersonalization of our disjointed mobile society. It acknowledges a strength that is in our being to shape the world with our hands. In America the book arts movements have largely been outside academe, in the workshops, not-for-profit co-operatives and centers that have grown up as places for continuing arts - non-programmatic, offering weekend concentrations, summer "get-aways" to learn something "handson", often following after or along with the trends of the handmade paper movement that grew in the 1970's. Important centres with proven longevity - 25 years or so - are the New York Center for Book Arts; Pyramid Atlantic in Riverdale, Maryland; the Minnesota Center for Book Arts in Minneapolis; the Chicago Center For Book and Paper Arts; the Women's Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY; Pacific Center for Book Arts, in San Francisco; and Nexus Press in Atlanta, Georgia, to name a few. Several of these institutions have recently announced exciting plans for new permanent homes through building purchases, indicating the commitment and support of members, including artists and patrons. A vital aspect to many of these independent art centers has been internship residencies for emerging artists, as well as publication awards for artist's books, wich help to foster growth, experimentation and opportunties for artists. Also, there are a large number of summer crafts programs which include offerings of' book arts courses, some of these include: the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina; the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine; Art New England, Bennington College, Vermont; Anderson Ranch in Aspen, Colorado; and

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