Grounded in history and fostered by experimentation, Book Art at Mills offers an unprecedented opportunity for students to explore and create traditional and contemporary artists' books in this rapidly evolving field. Mills has offered pioneering curriculum in book art since the early 1980s; today students receive grounding in the conceptual, theoretical, historical and craft foundations of contemporary artists' bookmaking through classes that combine scholarly study and studio work.

Mills students can choose from a broad array of classes in various studio aspects of book art, from letterpress printing and experimental printmaking to the study of traditional and contemporary book structures. The facilities of the Eucalyptus Press and the Florence Walter Bindery provide ample equipment and materials for hands-on work. In the F.W. Olin Library students can examine books that range from the Nuremberg Chronicle and the Kelmscott Chaucer to the most contemporary bookworks as context and inspiration for their own creative works.

Undergraduate women can take individual classes, complete the book art minor, or choose to combine book art with another field of study by creating an interdisciplinary college major. Recent college majors have incorporated subjects as diverse as studio art, anthropology and sociology, and creative writing.

Graduate women and men in creative writing, literature, visual arts, music, and dance can enroll in book art classes as a way of integrating their interests in the complex form of the book, publishing their own writing and images, or exploring the possibilities for alternative means of expression. MFA students in creative writing have the opportunity to apply for graduate teaching assistantships in book art after their first year of study.

Book art students at Mills can track contemporary trends through the many visiting professionals and scholars who come to campus or who visit the Bay Area. The Mills College Center for the Book, while not affiliated with the Book Art Program, sponsors exhibitions, lectures, and panels throughout the year that students can attend. Recent guest artists to the Book Art Program or the Mills College Center for the Book include the preeminent type designers Hermann Zapf and Gudrun Zapf von Hesse, actor and printer Gloria Stuart, paper engineer Andrew Baron, and members of the Kelsey Street Press. The Book Art Program has welcomed artists such as Susan King, Helen Mirra, Susan Johanknecht, Sarah Bodman, Tom Sowden, and many other local, national and international artists whose primary practice is with artists' books.

Programs at San Francisco Center for the Book, the Grabhorn Institute, the Codex Foundation, and many other Bay Area institutions also give students the opportunity to meet outstanding professionals in the field of book art. Field trips, internships, and exhibitions abound in the Bay Area, which has a long and rich history in the practice of book art.