There is something lovely about getting a new book; protecting the cover, trying to keep it crease free while you tear into the meaty text, ingesting each word, illustrating the story in your mind as you faithfully follow the narrative. When you reach the last sentence, you tuck your friend on a shelf where it waits to be revisited, borrowed, or perhaps for you to walk by, tracing your finger down its spine as you reminisce over the time you once spent together. Maybe it is this brief, albeit intimate relationship we create with these friends, these stories, these collections of poetry, that make books such a powerful medium. But books, as it turns out, are not just for logophiles anymore.
There’s something called Book Art, which you can experience for yourself by visiting the Turning Pages exhibit on the 7th floor of the Glickman Family Library, on display until March 19. Book Art, as its title suggests, means books as an art object. Books are already art, you may say, carefully crafted literary works by an author as artist. But this is different. Artist’s books come in a variety of structures and formats: traditional, unfolding accordion, boxes, fans and pop-ups. And while careful attention is paid in the creation of the binding, it’s the combination of its content and form that help generate its meaning.
Inspiration can come from anywhere, a pet, flora/fauna, current events or even a sardine luncheon, evidenced by the work on display in Turning Pages. These book artists, like the first people to transform ancient scrolls into the standard book design we know today, are redesigning books to suit their personal vision.
Turning Pages is the maiden exhibition of the new Kate Cheney Chappell Center for Book Arts at USM. The Center was established this fall through a gift from Kate Cheney Chappell, USM alum from ’83. Chappell studied book art under well-known Maine book artist and USM faculty member Rebecca Goodale, the Program Coordinator of The Center.
For this first exhibit Goodale felt it was important to pull from USM’s own rich resources by inviting nearly 40 former students and USM alumni, all of whom are still actively creating artist’s books, to display their work. Goodale believes that the work on display is a testament to the power of education’s lasting impact on one’s life. Some of these artists were students of Goodale’s nearly 20 years ago and still continue to make books. Some artists in this exhibit are now in distinguished permanent collections, some are represented by galleries, and some teach Book Arts to students ranging from kindergarten through college.
You’ll find the Turning Pages exhibit on the seventh floor of USM’s Glickman Family Library, just to the left of the elevator in the Great Reading Room. One exterior wall of the room is made up of glass cases where some of the artists books are displayed. The rest can be found hanging on the wall or encased inside.
One hanging piece, Gyrus Repercussus, by Cat Schwenk of Freeport is a framed wall piece. At first glance, it’s as if you’re looking at a mounted entomology exhibit. Under the glass are seven carefully pinned butterflies, their bodies, like origami, formed from pages of maps. Perhaps a visual representation of the “butterfly effect,” colorful land masses and bathymetric circles make up the scale wing design, enhanced with dots of paint.
USM alum Frank Turek of Portland has included his piece, Escapade, which is like an exhibit within an exhibit. The original cover of a book entitled Personal History becomes the new cover for Turek’s work. The previous contents hollowed out, a box is installed in its stead to make room for new material: images and compartments holding antiquated treasures. Escapade sets the reader up for an adventure. Although the piece can’t be touched, from this side of the glass one can imagine holding the book, opening the compartments and embarking on a process of discovery.
The Turning Pages exhibit will hopefully challenge your understanding of what a book is. Part of the enjoyment of reading a book can be the tactile experience, holding the book at a distance most comfortable for you, flipping its pages. And although these books can’t be held, seemingly frozen on one page under glass, I promise you, they can still be read.
There’s a different kind of literacy involved that requires the deciphering of images coupled with, or instead of, words. You don’t need to be able to read Arabic, for example, in order to understand the transparency text pages of Sue Walker’s piece, Biblioclasm 3. And Ellen Roberts’ piece, Chords of Ideas, might engage your knowledge of color. As with most gallery art, the meaning you translate can be personal and unique. And as with most good books you find yourself more enriched by the experience of reading them.
The next exhibit sponsored by the Kate Cheney Chappell Center for Book Arts is Studying Books: Book Arts at Maine Colleges and Universities opens March 20 in the 7th Floor Reading Room of the Glickman Family Library. The exhibit will showcase the work of students from 10 different schools across the state.
For more information on the Kate Cheney Chappel Center for Book Arts, including a calendar of future exhibits, lectures and workshops, please visit
http://usm.maine.edu/cas/bookarts.html