Book Collages

I always enjoy looking at Lisa Kokin‘s book art. This is one of her “book collages,” Love Always Juanita. She has a nice explanation of her process

In my never-ending quest to find different ways to eviscerate books, I stumbled upon the book collage. First I find a book which interests me, either for some element of text, image or marginalia, or for the look of the book itself. Sometimes I remove some of the pages and glue and/or sew the book open to the particular page of interest. Other times I remove all the pages and use the inside covers as the collage surface. I build upon what initially interests me by layering images and text from the same or other books, found photos, and other small objects, using a variety of collage and transfer techniques. Often I scrape away and dig into the surface as well. Many of the books have sculptural protrusions and extensions because I feel that the shape of books should not be limited to a rectangle.

I am particularly attracted to the lowest of literary life forms, the Discarded Library Book. My favorites have “DISCARD” stamped on the inside front covers, and as if this isn’t insult enough, “DISCARD” stamped here and there on the inside as well. The largest number of book collages come from a series of citizenship workbooks tossed away by my local public library and rescued from extinction by an acquaintance who works there. These little volumes make all sorts of statements and promises about our country which are belied by history and current events. “Why do we elect honest men to office?” A statement like this is all I need to get my itchy fingers cutting, pasting, altering and subverting.

Lisa Kokin, Love Always, Juanita

Laura Wait

I recently met Laura Wait, a calligrapher and book artist here in Santa Fe. She showed me a video of her latest book—she’d made it by setting up all the pages on a table and walking slowly around the table using her iphone to capture them. The pages weren’t in order yet, but it was a wonderful eyeful. I don’t really make books like that (mine have a specific order from the beginning), but I have often wanted to show a mockup to someone and don’t have a good way to do that when they aren’t here in Santa Fe. I’m going to experiment with making a video of turning the pages of a book I’m working on and see how that pans out.
In the meantime, here are some pictures from Laura’s book Artis Litterarius (the art of words). She says it’s an homage to words, with covers like altar pieces. The words she’s used concern writing and parts of something (snippet, palimplsest). See all the pages in the book here or check out her website or her books on Vamp & Tramp.

Laura Wait, Artis Litterarius Laura Wait, Artis Litterarius Laura Wait, Artis Litterarius Laura Wait, Artis Litterarius

Pinocchio Tunnel Book

Linda Toigo has a book of quasi tunnel books with scenes from Pinocchio. Each page is made 3d with layered cutouts. She says the story “has a very strong dark side: death, failure, deception and fear are always present throughout the narration. Here I used the technique of linocut to keep this feeling of rough imperfection.” See more of her books here.

Pages from Linda Toigo’s Pinocchio

To Bee or Not To Bee

Until I moved to Santa Fe, I didn’t pay much attention to bees. Then my sister started raising them in her back yard and regaling me with stories about becoming a beekeeper. The flowers she made from wax from one of the hives even won a prize at her local state fair. So when I planted my garden here, I included native plants that bees like. And I’m regularly on the look-out for bee related things my sister might like. This one-of-a-kind book by Elise Guidoux and Karen Koshgarian is called To Bee or Not to Bee and tells about the life and death of the honeybee in 12 miniature books, housed in a handmade honeycomb. See more here.

To Bee or Not To Bee by Elise Guidoux and Karen Koshgarian

Gallery Accordion Book

In addition to getting ready for the Holiday Fair in San Francisco this week, I’ve been working on plans to teach this accordion book structure to the Santa Fe Book Arts Group on January 11. The Gallery Book is a variation on an accordion fold book and is a great way to showcase small photos, bits of decorated paper, calligraphy, collage, or small pieces of artwork. My friend Cathy made the one below to show off her friend’s paste paper and under that is an example by Margy O’Brien called Sky Watch.

Gallery Book Example

Margy O’Brien’s Sky Watch.