As children, we're taught to treat books with respect. Don’t write in the margins. Don’t fold down the corners of pages. Don’t break the spines. But what about altering a book into another form of art?
Retired books get a new life in an art exhibit called Altered Books—Altered Worlds at the Kalamazoo Book Arts Center, 326 W. Kalamazoo Avenue, in the Park Trades Center building. The exhibit runs concurrently with Adaptation: Transforming Books into Art at the Kalamazoo Institute of Art. Both exhibits are open to the public through July 31.
“The exhibit at KBAC shows more local artists, emerging as well as established,” says Katie Platte, KBAC's studio manager. “Whereas the Kalamazoo Institute of Art is showing the work of internationally known artists.”
Lorrie Grainger Abdo, KBAC's administrative director as well as participating artist, says the term "altered book" refers to an old book recreated by adding mixed media techniques and changing its form. These transformed books burst at the seams with added fabrics, collages, buttons and beads, drawings, and paintings. Ribbons curl from between pages and new pages fold out from their tucked-in places. Pop-ups and pockets might be add, holding treasure. Pages might be singed or cut or drilled or torn. No rules apply.
“Some of the books are the creations of individual artists,” says Grainger Abdo. “Others are round-robin books, and they're passed from one artist to another, with each artist adding to a few pages before passing the book on to the next person.”
Yet others have sculptures carved into them, or pages cropped into new shapes, so that the final art piece has little resemblance to a traditional book.
“Yes, there are those who object to treating books this way,” Grainger Abdo admits. “But we aren’t defacing new books. These are books that would otherwise be thrown out, so think of it as recycling. Or upcycling. We give them new life.”
Books are often rescued from library discards or book shop remainders. Rather than being turned into pulp, artists turn them into something with renewed value.
The concept of an altered book is not new. They were popular in the Victorian age when readers put memorabilia into favorite tomes, adding clipped art from catalogs, or tucking in tickets or postcards that brought up fond memories of travels and special events.
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