There have been many attempts to describe this form of art but fundamentally, the ‘book’ is in itself the artistic expression of the artist and quite often reserves the right to refuse to behave as a normal book should and appears very self-aware of its design and is a conscious departure from what we traditionally ‘expect’ from a book. Some contain content as in the case of ‘regular’ books, with a narrative or a poem conjoining image and text; some are mass-produced but most are hand-made and are quite often unique or in limited editions. Some make the shape and the texture and the design of the book their primary concern, whereas others are led by text and the design and content complement each other. They are conceptual art and explore a limitless variety of materials and shapes and colors in their journeys to convey meaning or to contain information.
In Indianapolis we are fortunate to have one of the better collections of Artists’ Book in the country located in the IUPUI’s Herron School of Art’s Library in its own tailor-made alcove, designed to enhance the books’ display.
This collection, put together over the years by dedicated librarians and committed donors, is open to the public and requires only that the handler and viewer comply with the few general rules that apply to the careful handling of any forms of art.
The striking feature of this collection is that each book possesses layer upon layer of narrative invested simply in its design and creation. Entering the main body of the Art Library one’s attention cannot fail to be drawn to the bright and colorful ‘alcove’ that faces you at the far end of the room. There, in blond-wood glazed cabinets, is the ever-changing array of books from the 400 plus collection that the library rotates on a regular basis. Their colors alone are visually seductive; the shapes and designs intriguing.
The books of Julie Chen with their geometric investigations of space, time and the mind, appear like complex board games, sophisticated, precise, and beguiling. Using latticework construction as in ‘The Veil’ in which the artist/author conducts a psychological investigation into the complexity of the human mind, or in ‘Leaving’ where the passport-size accordion construction bears pockets containing the minutiae of travel. Or Chen’s ‘Evidence of Compression’ which appears like a contoured, shell-like rock that is hinged at one side and opens to reveal the ‘heart’ of the rock like a pearl couching text printed on the edges of the contours, and all this on custom made hand-made paper ‘which covers these multitudinous layers’.
Then there’s the totally abstract sense of the ‘book’ as represented by Caryn Miller’s ‘Universe’ which is an open box of stars twisted from texts and diagrams, spilling from its case.
Traditional ‘Children’s Books’ are there also, such as Ed Hutchin’s ‘Out and About’ which traces a frog’s adventure. 3-D Pop-Up books appear with their visual narratives disappearing, like reflecting pools, into the infinite depths of the book’s binding.
The books of Rebecca Goodale feature prominently, this collection being the largest collection of her work outside of her home state of Maine. Goodale’s ‘mission’ is to chronicle the decline of wildlife in Maine in her ‘Endangered Species’ series. These include ‘Four Maine Butterflies’, ‘Taxonomy of Twelve Rare Insects in Maine’, ‘Some of Maine’s Common and Rare Asters and Goldenrods’, ‘Cyperaceae’ and others. Some are detailed examinations of the botany or entomology of the subject matter, executed in stark colors. Others, like ‘Salix’ are tree-like formations of leaves that should be suspended from the ceiling in an arc of foliage. Katy Gilmore’s ‘Signs of Spring’ is a series of color-themed observations of the unfolding of Spring.
Political and social themes appear throughout the collection. Karen Baldner’s ‘German-Jew’ is a poignant series of half-face masks that are peeled away to reveal the common and universal head beneath the perceived superficial racial characteristics. In ‘Children Don’t Count’ by Amos Paul, the theme is the tragic statistic that in 1992 sixty-two children under fourteen years of age were murdered in the Chicago Metropolitan area. Beneath the banner headline of the variation of the African Proverb that it takes a village to raise a child, this ‘book’ states that “It takes an entire community to murder a child” (African-American Proverb).
Some books take the shape of other objects such as kites as in ‘Air Born’ by Ann M. Kresge, which is a collaboration with the poet Melinda Kennedy and kite instructor Tal Streeter and is a representation in bamboo, paper and string of the elements of earth, wind, fire, water and air, each of which is conveyed in poetic form on individual kites.
Perhaps one of the most imaginative artists included in the collection is Ron King of The Circle Press whose work is simultaneously serious and playful. His ‘Tabernacle’, a seven drawer cabinet containing the artifacts of an old typesetter’s tools and materials, commemorating his own ancestors’ involvement in the craft of printing in Tabernacle Street, London. King’s work also includes wire operated puppets as in ‘The Left-Handed Punch’, which is a collaboration with the poet Roy Fisher and is bound in a traditional Punch and Judy striped card case that has the appearance of the Punch and Judy ‘theater’. King’s humorous ‘Turn Over Darling’ shows the figure of a woman embossed into the hand-made paper gradually turning over page by page.
The variety of structures, materials and themes is immense and each book is a portal into the greater and more intricate worlds to which the artist invites us.
The Herron Library Artists’ Book Collection is housed at The Herron Art Library on the campus of IUPUI at 735 West New York St., (Room 117)
Indianapolis, IN 46202
