The Appeal of Books

It’s not exactly a secret: I love books. I’m always reading them, I’ve done so for ages, and there’s no signs of stopping. I’ll read the back of a cereal box if I have to! So, of course, books call to me, not just as a refuge to lose myself in, but as a source for materials and as an art form.

In a recent art chat, I was reminded of a great point: the physicality of the book is what’s key: that you can hold the book, turn the pages, get a sense of the whole at any time — the weight of the book, the number of pages. Don’t get me wrong — I love my e-readers too. But something about that physical aspect tracks for me, especially when art enters the realm. How about you?

Old Books

Beyond the physical sense, there’s something about old books. The idea of how many people have held them is inspiring, much as I think about any landscape, or my genealogy — so many people have been there before me.

And how best should we honour them? An old book led to a, uh, heated discussion! This book — VERY old, gifted to me from my mother-in-law — did not have content worth noting, but just its sheer age is stunning: it was published in 1675.

Well. Clearly, this book called out to be included in my collage, but the horror that arose when I suggested it? Family was against it, friends were split. Collage artists had my back, of course. There’s a lot of energy, juice, what have you, in the sheer age of those pages.

I have another in the wings, a gift of an ancient Aesop’s Fables. Should I scan first, collage on top, or just rip & tear? Such delightful choices!

Books as Fodder

Sometimes, the decision is not that hard: the book isn’t that old, or way too big to be a base for a project. I’m thinking of:

• Encyclopedias
• Atlases
• Instruction manuals
• Textbooks

I’ve got many examples of all of those, including a full encyclopedia set. The paper is great to tear up and paste elsewhere, but is also good for printing onto, and THEN pasting elsewhere.

I’m up for sharing, too: lots more of those books available — just say the word!

Altered Books

Oh, look at this: my mom converted a few used books into this folded format, and they look amazing just sitting on a shelf. No collage necessary!

And when I said I’d gathered some favorite board books for collages, another uproar ensued!

Now, I did NOT use the treasured books saved from our kid’s childhood. Come on! But I DID buy copies from used bookstores, heck yeah. And then dug into this free class from Drew Steinbrecher to completely cover the sturdy pages with collage elements.

The book I picked was a favourite of mine, when I was little, too. Wrapping the memories and history with new visuals is powerful. And I have plenty of collage fodder ready for the next book — which one shall it be?

New Books

Some books, considered as fodder, are just too good to rip up, like this lovely old spelling workbook. While I could have scanned the pages as is, I just started collaging and marking directly in the book, as if to complete the exercises.

The way the collages on each page spoke to each other, as a conversation of sorts, reminded me of a similar project, my Pandemic Pairs, in which I also worked on opposing pages.

Like that project, I sent these collages through the scanner, and worked them up further as digital collage, preserving the page break and working on the full spread as one.

But this time, a different result called out: I could make it back into a book! I’ve sent the finished digital collages off to be their own book, available on Blurb.com. The project itself is documented here: Spelling It Out.

Now, I can think about my next book-as-sketchbook. Could it be this one? Or is that just repeating myself? Not everything needs to become a project, maybe. But this one called to me from a used book store in Vancouver, and came home with me. It’s a good find — maybe it will have its own, unique result.