Books, Art, and Book Art
Comments(0) I’ve always been a reader. As a child it was a place to hide. It was a place to begin to untangle the secrets of the adult world. In a one room school house decorum was all. Books kept me far and away from the impulse to misbehavior when the second and third grades were receiving the attention of the teacher.
A couple of weeks ago I went on a book ordering binge. In the last twenty years I’ve worked with textiles. My book cases have become crammed. Still, I need that tactile connection to a book. My textile work has not restarted. I still crave the physical handling of both books and fabrics. The books I’m going to talk about here give me some sense that I can combine both books and fabrics.
This is a lush and seductive book. Page after page of encouragement to paint, stain, illuminate, and write on very large sheets of artist’s paper. By the time I was towards the end I was salivating over the hand made book examples using the paper being produced. I came to the point of wanting much more specific instruction of the actual building of books.
This surfaced in the pile next to my place mat when I put Painted Paper on the bookshelf:
This is one of the most information dense “text” books I’ve ever studied. It will not replace the interaction and community of studying in person with a group of people. It comes as close as possible. I did not study each and every step of every format of book and slip case. My mind could not take in all the information at that point.
I added that book to the book shelf, on the top shelf at the right end where I can find it again easily. This was the next book in the pile:
I think this becomes like the notations on ancient maps, “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here!” This is a compilation of what many artists have done with the book format in the last decade or two.
When I finished Unique Handmade Books I truly felt I had the vision and the manual skills to produce my own books. 5oo Handmade Books has left me reeling in a very good way. I don’t know if I will ever gain this level of skill. To make books that are art is the work of a life time. I am completely blown away.
Now, finally, I have enough perspective on all of this that I can begin to process the information. I am remembering lovely embossed full sheets of Arches 300# paper in my blueprint cabinet. I’m wondering if I can add color and washes and inks to them without destroying the embossing. I can, at least in my mind, envision cutting those large, some day painted, sheets into a book.
