Art Made from Books: Altered, Sculpted,
Carved, Transformed
by
Laura Heyenga (Compiler), Brian Dettmer (Preface), Alyson Kuhn (Introduction)
Books
are a work of art in and of themselves. Writers are artists carefully selecting
their words, displaying them within pages of paper bound between two
covers. Some artists have taken the book
as art to the next level, creating sculptures, jewelry, and even clothes from
the physical book itself. Commonly
called “altering books,” the craft is the subject of a new book titled Art Made from Books: Altered, Sculpted,
Carved, Transformed.
Altered
books aren’t a new idea. Preface author
Brian Dettmer says, “There has been a long tradition of art about the book, of
art representing books, of artists’ books and even altered books; however, in
the last five years I have noticed a huge rise in practicing artists and a more
interested audience.” He also talks
about how the rise of the Internet has made some books obsolete, and altering
books gives them a new purpose and life.
Filled
with color photographs of the artists’ pieces, the book is a beautiful
collection showcasing their work. The book also contains an informative
introduction by Alyson Kuhn about the various processes of making altered
books, the different directions artists take in creating them, and other
tidbits about the craft.
One of
the artists featured is Jeremy May. His
specialty is making jewelry from pages of books. The book says, “[May’s] process is
methodical: after reading the book, he selects a distinctive quote that
inspires the design of the piece; he then removes a selection of pages,
laminating with additional recycled colored paper and then polishing them to a
high gloss.” The result is a truly
unique and beautiful work of art that celebrates the book itself. To see more of Jeremy May’s work, visit his
website at http://littlefly.co.uk/.
Jeremy
May is just one of the dozens of wonderful artists highlighted in this
book. To see the rest of the artists and
their amazing work, check out Art Made
from Books. You can find it with the
call number TT896.3 .H49 2013.