Category: Bookmaking

As a kid, every summer my family spent a week or so at my grandmother’s house. Then these visits only struck me as boring, but now I have very distinct memories — the smell of my grandmother’s hand cream, the pattern on the breakfast juice glasses, the special lunches with laughing cow cheese — but mostly the movies we watched. Despite a time when there were only 3 TV channels and no DVD or VCR, my father (probably suffering much more from the boredom than us kids) herded us into the living room to distract us with the Marx Bros or Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Much later, living in Palo Alto, CA, my sister and I saw Top Hat on a big screen (at the Stanford Theatre) and for the first time I could really see the feathers fly off Ginger’s dress. And now, much much later, I have a boxed set of Astaire/Roger movies on DVD — the perfect distraction when I should be doing some onerous chore.
A couple of weeks ago, I read about the reissue of dance critic Arlene Croce’s book The Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Book. (The mention was in the New Yorker, and the article isn’t online to non-subscribers, but see the New Yorker blog for some more info.) The article, by Joan Acocella, says the book “anatomized the dance routines … plus, it contained two flip books, including what is possibly the couple’s greatest number, ‘Let Yourself Go’ from ‘Follow the Fleet.'” Intrigued, I bought a copy. There are two flip books, both in the upper corner of the pages of the book. Flip forward, and you see “The Waltz in Swing Time” from “Swing Time.” Flip backward and you get “Let Yourself Go.” This week I’ve been very happily reading and watching…

Elsa Mora makes, among other things, minature artist’s books. There’s a couple of examples below. They are all very sweet and I especially appreciate the detail and care she’s put into them, from the structures themselves to the finishing boxes and ribbon wrappings.

Isaac Salazar calls his works “book origami” and says

I see my work as a way to display a meaningful piece of art onto a book that would otherwise sit on a shelf and collect dust; it’s also my way of recycling a book that might otherwise end up in a landfill… If my work also makes people look at a book and even art in a new light then the piece has done its job.

You can see many more on his flickr page.

As I mentioned recently there are now many people selling their bookworks on Etsy. Elena Mary Siff has gotten some of them together to form the The Alchemical Codex Society: Book Artists of Etsy. She’s posted samples of their work here.
The book sculpture to the left is entitled Sleeper on Book Birdie by Daniel Lai. He has many more book sculptures here.

When I started selling on Etsy, there were few bookbinders and even fewer artist’s books listed. Four years later, there are a lot more, including many sculptural bookworks and poetry chapbooks.
One shop I came across the other day features what the artist, Lisa Occhipinti, calls bookmobiles. She makes mobiles from old books, like the one on the left, called Aviatrix and using a copy of Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s “Listen! The Wind.”
You can see all her work here, it includes lots of works made from old books.
Occhipinti also has a book coming out this spring called The Repurposed Library: 33 Craft Projects That Give Old Books New Life. According to the publisher the projects “repurpose orphaned and outdated books from flea markets and library sales and turns them into new art objects and practical items for the home. Her creations range from artfully constructed mobiles, wreaths, and vases, to functional items like shelves, storage boxes, and even a Kindle ‘keeper’ for those who want to replicate the sensation of holding a ‘real’ book while reading from an e-reader.”

Chicago Art Magazine has an interview with book artists Mellisa Jay Craig and Brian Dettmer, by Stephanie Cristello, that starts

Does Book Art Have to Resemble a Book?

No, it’s not just you. First-time interactions with Book Arts can be a strange encounter; the first thing we ask ourselves is how on earth this can be considered a book.

The answer I’ve always gone to is: “It’s a book because the artist says it is” — But that answer seems too easy; I feel like I’m being tricked. These objects are carved, warped, twisted and turned, set on fire, you name it — some are just downright unreadable. So where do we stand when we’re faced with these things?

As an artist myself, I’ve been exposed to Artist’s Books for quite some time. This conversation, of what constitutes a book, is one that gets tossed around between artists pretty frequently. This roundup consists of two artists that work more sculpturally within the realm of Book Arts. So here are three things you need to know about the medium and its role in the third dimension.

Read more here, including the answer to “does it have to be readable.” The image above is of flying books by Melissa Jay Craig