"The Anachronist", portrait by Roxane Zargham.
Red Charming, established 1999, is the production label for all work created by Emily K. Larned. The name itself is an imaginary bad translation meaning "an object or an aesthetic which combines the cerebral with the visually pleasing." While over the years projects have included zines, artist books, letterpress printed ephemera, clothing, limited edition multiples, animations, posters, prints, and typefaces, emphasis remains on the book form, creative re-use of existing materials, handmade processes, and autonomous workshop production.
bio-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Having made zines continuously since 1993 (Muffin Bones 1993-98, Memorytown USA 1998-01, Parfait 2003- ), Emily K. Larned began producing artist books in 1998. She earned an MFA in Graphic Design from Yale School of Art in 2008 and a BA with High Honors in Studio Art from Wesleyan University in 2000. Since 2000 Larned has been an active member of Booklyn, a not-for-profit artist alliance based in Brooklyn, NY; she served as Board Vice President from 2003-2008 and is currently Board President. Her artist books are collected by over sixty public collections, including MoMA, the Getty, Tate Britain, the Walker Art Center, and the Smithsonian. Parsons School of Design Gimbel Library hosted her solo show Retrospective Red Charming in 2004, and her work has been included in many group exhibitions, including in 2006 Euclid to e-books: ideal books moving ideas at Hofstra Museum, in 2005 The Artist Turns to the Book at the Getty Center and in 2004 Open House: Working in Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Museum. She teaches and lectures widely, including workshops and presentations at the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, Smith College, the Independent Publishing Resource Center, the UPENN MFA program, and Art New England at Bennington College. As of June 2008 Red Charming is located in two sites: a letterpress printing and bookbinding studio in Bridgeport, CT and a research and development office in Brooklyn, NY.
collections---------------------------------------------------------------
Amherst College
Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, La Jolla
Brooklyn Museum
Bucknell University
California College of Arts and Crafts
Carnegie Mellon University
Chapman University
Columbia University
Connecticut College
Dartmouth College
Duke University
Florida Atlantic University
Getty Research Institute
Harvard University
Hofstra University
Indiana University, Bloomington
Lafayette College
Library of Alexandria, Egypt
Library of Congress
London College of Printing Elephant & Castle, UK
Long Island University
Middlebury College
Mills College
Mount Holyoke College
Multnomah County Public Library
Museum of Modern Art
New York Public Library
New York University
Oberlin College
Occidental College
Ohio University
Otis College of Art & Design
Pacific Northwest College of Art
Reed College
Scripps College
Smith College
Smithsonian Institution
Stanford University
Swarthmore College
Tate Britain, UK
Temple University
Trinity College
University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, San Diego
University of Colorado, Boulder
University of Connecticut, Storrs
University of Iowa, Iowa City
University of Kansas, Lawrence
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
University of Missouri, Columbia
University of Missouri, Kansas City
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
University of Southern California
University of Vermont, Burlington
University of Washington, Seattle
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Victoria & Albert Museum, UK
Walker Art Center
Wellesley College
Wesleyan University
Williams College
Yale University
solo exhibitions----------------------------------------------------------
2004
Retrospective Red Charming Parsons School of Design Gimbel Library, New York, NY
2000
Seeing (75 Books) Wesleyan University Zilkha Gallery, Middletown, CT
selected group exhibitions------------------------------------------------
2008
Left right up down under over around in between in front behind in out and back again MFA Graphic Design Thesis Exhibition, Green Hall Gallery, Yale School of Art, New Haven CT
2007
From Ptolemy to GPS Olin Library, Wesleyan University, Middletown CT
Reading Books Broekhuis Bookshop, Enschede, the Netherlands
Off the Page The Greenhouse, Guernsey, Channel Islands
2006
Yale School of Art First Year Show, Green Hall Gallery, Yale School of Art, New Haven CT
100 Artists’ Books, University of Southern California, Los Angeles CA
Spotlight on Special Collections, Occidental College, CA
Construct, Florida Atlantic University, FL
Euclid to e-books: ideal books moving ideas, Hofstra Museum, Hempstead NY (catalogue)
printROOM, Bureau Gallery, Salford/Manchester UK
Treasures of the John Wilson Room, Multnomah County Public Library, Portland OR
2005
The Artist Turns to the Book, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles CA
Artists’ Books: Alternative Voices in the Watkinson, Trinity College, Hartford CT
History of Artist Books, The Seoul International Book Arts Fair, South Korea
PrintROOM Printing Matters, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
2004
Open House: Working in Brooklyn Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (catalogue)
Making Meaning: the Artist Book H&R Block Artspace, Kansas Ciy Art Insitute, MO
Binding Structures: Book Artists Look Back Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA
(Self) Publish or Perish Open Space Arts Society, Victoria, BC, Canada
2003
bibliocosmos, Reed College, Portland OR
printROOM, ROOM, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Page Me, SPACES Gallery, Cleveland OH
(Re)Readings: Artists’ Books Now, Gallery Lux, San Francisco CA
2002
Space 1026: Scratch off the Serial Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA
Rare Books of the Future Center for Book Arts, New York, NY
2001
Blind Collaboration PABA (Photo Art Book Art) Gallery, New Haven, CT
Bookmobile Project / Projet Mobilivre airstream trailer traveling exhibition, North American tour
Drive Slowly, Appear Quickly Space 1026, Philadelphia PA