L2L February 16, 2018 Peter E. Roberts and Amy Paige Condon

Page Rippers

Curated and Edited by Peter E. Roberts and Amy Paige Condon

Visit Listening to Literature for more information about this book and books from other episodes.

About the Book

Page Rippers 2018 is an art exhibit and book that bring together the works of eighteen local artists and eighteen local writers who were paired and then given prompts inspired by a visit to the library. The project represents the first-ever collaboration between Location Gallery at Austin Hill Realty and The Refinery Writing Studio and was the brainchild of Peter Roberts, director of Location Gallery, after a vacation to Maine last year.

For Page Rippers 2018, each artist worked from a scenario in which someone might find oneself while visiting the library—finding a true love in the stacks, picturing books in the shapes of their subjects, keeping a novel long after it should have been returned. The resulting photograph, drawing, painting, or collage and the original prompt were then assigned to various writers, who constructed brief poems, short stories, or essays to accompany the art.

The companion book will be released on Friday, February 23, at the official book launch and closing of the art auction. Afterward, the book will be on sale through E. Shaver, Bookseller, 326 Bull St.

Gallery profits from the show benefit the Savannah Book Festival. After-production and after-tax proceeds from book sales will go to the artists and writers so that they can continue to create.

About the Curators/Editors

Peter E. Roberts was raised by semi-alcoholic wolves in the tony suburb of Greenfield Hill in Fairfield, Connecticut, and he grew up amid impromptu gatherings of neighbors, extended family, and cronies from the Manhattan commuter train. The ribald, oft-repeated stories from those gatherings led to an early fascination of potentially explosive social situations. Similarly, exposure to a great aunt’s personal cache of Mardi Gras Krewe invitations from the 1930s cemented a lurid interest into how the celebrated night began, why it ended, and who were the guests who may have behaved “badly.” This innate love of storytelling led to a BFA in Video from Savannah College of Art and Design and more than a decade in television advertising and production. Concurrently producing invitations, proclamations and various paperama led to several GraphicDesignUSA Awards and the opening of Blackbird Press.

Amy Paige Condon’s passion for the written word began as soon as she could read. “Just stick a book in her hand,” Amy’s mother told her kindergarten teacher whenever Amy had free time from her coursework. Thus, by the age of 5, Amy’s love of a good story was firmly intact, and she carried this with her through high school, college journalism, and even a career as an urban parks planner — where she honed her persuasive storytelling techniques to get legislation passed. But after sixteen years in the park planning profession, she couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe there were other stories she was meant to tell. So she switched gears and moved with her husband to Savannah in 2009, where she earned a Master of Fine Arts in writing from SCAD. She is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook, as well as The Wiley’s Championship BBQ Cookbook, which was named the best cookbook of 2014 by the National Barbecue News. She helps others with the craft of writing as well. She recently launched The Refinery Writing Studio, and currently she is writing a biography of former Miami News editor Bill Baggs for the University of Georgia Press.