An emerging idea

Rifrákt, a nomadic collective of artists that first met a year ago in printmaker Carolyn Hulbert’s Jamaica Plain living room, has taken other routes to showing their art. They have mounted exhibits in people’s homes, taken over Hallway Gallery in JP for the month of April when its owner got married, and now they’ve published a hard-cover, coffee-table book of 56 pages, “25 Emerging Boston Artists 2010.’’

“We didn’t know how big it was going to be,’’ says Hulbert, 25, in a conversation with her Rifrákt cofounder, photographer Stephanie Goode, 27. The two have met for a bite to eat in Fort Point Channel, where Hulbert works full time as a receptionist at a law firm and Goode retouches photography for an online shopping site.

“As far as I know, nobody has tried to publish a book like this before, at least in Boston,’’ says James Manning, an independent curator who penned the introduction. “It’s ambitious of them.’’

It’s actually pretty simple and relatively inexpensive to create an impressive book. The group self-published the work on www.blurb.com. It cost them the price of design software and a barcode — all told, about $150, Goode estimates, plus the sweat equity that went into designing the book and deciding whom to include.

“Ten years ago, the book costs would have been astronomical,’’ Manning points out.

The downside to self-pub lishing is that all the production costs must be covered by the buyer. You can purchase a copy of “25 Emerging Boston Artists 2010’’ at www.blurb.com for $80.95 with a dust jacket, or $84.95 with images printed on the cover itself. (The sales page is also accessible via www.rifrakt.com). The cover sports a bright abstracted map of metropolitan Boston. Each book is made only after it’s ordered — it costs $70.95 or $74.95 to produce — and Rifrákt has added the extra $10 to each copy, which members intend to donate to the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

The book’s glossy pages feature three images of work by each of the 25 artists, as well as an artist’s statement and contact information. Many of those featured in the book are relatively unknown, some just out of art school. But the presentation is handsome, and the art is, by and large, a pleasure to peruse. There are a few familiar names. Painters Rachel Mello and Scott Listfield, who are both in the book, were named Massachusetts Cultural Council fellowship finalists this year.

Listfield had never heard of Rifrákt when he stumbled over its call for submissions a few months ago in Big RED & Shiny, an online Boston arts magazine that published its last issue this month (www.bigredandshiny.com). He sent in the $15 application fee to be considered.

“The idea of taking this technology — you couldn’t create your own book five or 10 years ago — I thought it was a fantastic idea,’’ Listfield says. “It shows initiative. It gets good art out there. It gets their name out there.’’

When he first saw the ad, Listfield continues, “I thought, maybe it will be small time. Will it help me? And then it occurred to me that I’d be annoyed if a book came out with that name and I wasn’t in it.’’

Not everyone in the book belongs to Rifrákt, which has seven active members who put out calls for submissions and winnowed respondents down to the final 25. The book, like Rifrákt’s exhibition projects, took some business sense and organizational acumen to implement, and Goode and Hulbert are the administrative engine behind the collective. They oversee and delegate tasks to mount exhibits, and now to produce a book: collecting artists’ statements and turning them into grammatically polished writing, designing and publishing the book.

“You can just do the art,’’ Goode allows, “but then nobody knows who you are.’’

“The point was to reach people who don’t know there are so many artists reaching for something in Boston,’’ Hulbert says. “There’s college and art school, and then there’s the professional art scene, and it’s a big jump. We’re trying to create the middle ground.’’

Rifrákt has certainly created momentum for itself. Next month, the group is mounting the inaugural show for Voltage Coffee and Art in Kendall Square, and “Green,’’ an exhibit at Boston’s West End Library. It’s creating a buzz, which turns out to be much easier today then it was back in the days of the storied alternative galleries.

“I don’t see there being another huge warehouse space anytime soon,’’ says Manning, who admits he is hopeful about the resurgence of an underground art scene. “But with Facebook and Twitter, you can get the word out and promote things, and people can survive without a physical space.’’

Rifrákt held a launch party for “25 Emerging Boston Artists 2010’’ earlier this month, and put the word out electronically. “Our goal was 100 for the launch party, and we had about 80,’’ Goode says.

Rifrákt’s two ringleaders are already considering the possibility of “25 Emerging Boston Artists 2011.’’

Cate McQuaid can be reached at cmcq@speakeasy.net.