The form and structure of books get abstracted in in wildly striking ways
I must confess that the concept of book artistry was new to me, before I made my way to Puget Sound Book Artists’ 15th Annual Membership Exhibition, having somehow missed the previous 14. Anyone that’s picked up a pop-up or flip book might be able to make the next logical leap, though — that there are many more forms and structures for books to take than the ones we see every day.
And, so, the Puget Sound Book Artists are highlighting artists who have transformed the bare bones of books into fractals, dioramas, sculptures, and stunning blossoms of origami. The exhibition is currently running at University of Puget Sound, appropriately in the Collins Memorial Library; surrounded by thousands of bog-standard books, the books being exhibited are wild and frequently abstract. One uniting factor among the works is the theme of “15,” which is interpreted in various ways.
One of the first pieces to catch my eye was 15 Questions 15 Women by Judith Christensen, where Christensen asked “15 women aged 29-80 to choose one of 15 questions to answer,” and now displays their answers in Turkish map folds. The effect created is one of little blooms of folded confessions, like notes being passed in class, which then snake their way up an elongated spine.
Here, and elsewhere, I found myself frustrated by the distance imposed on the art and the audience by all of the works being held in glass cases. I understand that many of these pieces aren’t meant to be handled, but still others seemed to want to be flipped through and observed more closely — held, examined, and read like books. I suppose there’s no world where the PSBA would hire a white-gloved intermediary to handle the books for our closer inspection, but one can dream.
Animal Mineral Vegetable 15 by Alicia Bailey is one piece that manages to show off all its pages, such as they are: natural specimens laminated in transparent mica, striking in that way where science can verge on ghostly. House of Dreams by Mari Eckstein Gower is allowed to stretch out, transforming into wonderfully colorful miniature houses, but more remains hidden in the pages. With Brain Waves, Olympia’s own Diane Miller represents her own inner monologue as words spilling out of a plaster head, like dark, curly locks.
One of the most elegantly simple pieces is Journey by Robin Hruska, which tracks the moon’s progression from full to new, or new to full, depending on which side of the book you’re looking at. The starkness of the moon over a roiling horizon makes it feel like a dreamy, long-forgotten picture book from your childhood.
69 artists participated in this exhibition, and the result is a vibrant stew of styles, from the pointedly political to the purely expressionistic, and all of it is well worth your time. If you can’t make it to Tacoma, the exhibition will be coming to Evergreen State College from September 28 to December 12.
Photos courtesy of Puget Sound Book Artists.
WHAT:
Puget Sound Book Artists’ 15th Annual Membership Exhibition
WHEN:
June 4-31: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Mondays and Thursdays: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturdays: 1–5 p.m.
WHERE:
University of Puget Sound, Collins Memorial Library, 1500 N. Warner St. #1021, Tacoma
LEARN MORE:
https://blogs.pugetsound.edu/collinsunbound/puget-sound-book-artists-celebrate-15-years-of-creative-community-with-anniversary-members-exhibition/
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