Baker & Whitehill Competition at RISD Celebrates Art of Book-Making

Dozens of books made from paper, along with unexpected materials such as yarn and even menstrual products, were on display in glass cases in the Fleet Library at RISD, where artists and book lovers gathered for the 11th annual Baker & Whitehill Student Artists’ Book Contest awards ceremony. Each year, Special Collections at Fleet Library hosts the juried contest to promote creative book-making at RISD. 

Surpassing the yearly average of 45 entries, the library received 65 submissions this year from students across 10 departments. This year’s juror was Roger S. Williams, a Rhode Island-based book and paper conservator. He’s the head of conservation at Brown University Libraries and the John Carter Brown Library, where he oversees the care and health of all special collection materials. 

“I like counteracting the serious and sometimes somber work of book conservation with silliness,” Williams says. “Books can be fun! It was such a challenge to choose the winners. I was extremely impressed with all of the work.” 

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Cindy Zhao BRDD 29 EFS won the $500 Grand Purchase Prize for her book I Was Built to Be a Mountain Not a Creek. Zhao used menstrual pads as flippable pages to tackle the ongoing social stigma of menstrual shaming, and the book attempts to explore the definition of femininity as a whole. 

“I put a lot of work into this project, and I feel very glad to share it,” she says. “I have always been fascinated by femininity. My inspiration for this piece was how menstrual pads already come folded, so whenever I’ve opened one, I’ve thought about how it’s just like a book.” 

How to Crochet, a how-to book by sophomore Koji Hellman 27 GD, is completely crocheted. The book includes instructions on fundamental stitches along with a crochet hook and yarn for the reader. The $375 Laurie Whitehall Purchase Prize was awarded to Hellman for excellence in storytelling or format. 

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The $375 Librarian’s Choice Purchase Prize was presented by Special Collections Librarian Emma Metcalfe Hurst to Roxy Bridges 25 TX for her book Consideration for the Sun, a collection of cyanotypes representing the full lunar cycle. “It’s a way to look at temporality through the blue of faded past and distance,” the artist explains, “and making the book was a way to ground myself in natural cycles.”

First-year student Cecilia Fu 28 EFS received the American Printing History Purchase Prize, a $375 award, for her interactive book Worth a Burger?, which explores income inequality. Through the simple act of buying a McDonald’s burger, the book highlights stark differences in purchasing power and labor value.

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The $100 Honorable Mention was awarded to grad student Yuqi Liu MFA 26 PR for her book Beyond the Eyes—a piece created using a microscope to unveil the intricate patterns and textures of mushrooms, revealing a hidden world beyond the human eye. 

“Artists’ books can be interesting for so many reasons,” Williams says. “I love the way this year’s entries played with structure and challenged the very meaning of what it is to be a book.”

The prize-winning books become part of the library’s permanent artists’ book collection. All entries will be on exhibit on the first and second floors of the library from mid-February through mid-May and can also be viewed online. 

Kaylee Pugliese / book photos courtesy Fleet Library
February 25, 2025