Workshop Experience: Altered Books

In her book of essays titled Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader, author Anne Fadiman muses that there is more than one way to love a book: There is courtly love, in which the devoted reader regards the physical book itself, not just the words within, as sacred; and there is carnal love, in which the reader sees the physical book merely as a vessel for the concepts contained inside. But there is also a third form of love not considered by Fadiman, a sort that would have most bibliophiles sweating under their full–spectrum reading lamps. Yes, I am talking about altered book love, a concept wrought with controversy in some reading circles.

Courtly lovers are those who read a book so gingerly that its spine will not crack; they cherish their books, coddle and protect them. In their view, the use of anything other than a proper bookmark to keep one’s place is an unforgivable offense. The body of the book – covers, spine, pages – is as valuable as the thoughts, facts and adventures within.

Those whose love is carnal will consume a book’s contents and willingly sacrifice the physical form in pursuit of the words inside. Thomas Jefferson, for example, dismembered a priceless first edition of Plutarch’s works in Greek, then interleaved its pages with those translated into English. Some in Fadiman’s own family, she divulges, fall into this category. Her father would tear chapters out of a book he was reading to render it lighter for air travel. Fadiman says this about her family’s penchant for devouring books:

“To us, a book’s words were holy, but the paper, cloth, cardboard, glue, thread, and ink that contained them were a mere vessel, and it was no sacrilege to treat them as wantonly as desire and pragmatism dictated. Hard use was a sign not of disrespect but of intimacy.”

Now what of this third category of book love, the one not mentioned in Ann Fadiman’s essay? There are those who look upon a book in its traditional form and recognize it as a vehicle for creative expression. These are book lovers who fearlessly dive between the pages and slice through bindings; cut away at text; put brush, pen, chalk and glue to page. There may be some folding, burning, and outright dismantling and reconstruction. (Breathe deep, you courtly lovers, I can sense your panic.) The idea is to transform the familiar form and its contents, rather than destroy them in the process. The end result is a work of art, an homage to the book. Altered book artists love books in such a manner, and Jennifer Erin Hughes is among them.

Jennifer is a printmaker, book artist, and a teacher at the Eliot School. On January 7th, six of us gathered on the second floor of the yellow schoolhouse for an afternoon of instruction on book manipulation in Jennifer’s“Altered Books” workshop. Though not a totally new experience for me (there was a minor bit of book dismantling going on in last November’s Collage Workshop), I confess I’ve had a tendency for courtly book love for much of my life. I allow myself exceptions, and mark and dog-ear textbooks, manuals or grocery store paperbacks (you know the ones) with less guilt. But I can’t fully shake my reverence for printed and bound text, and taking this class was a way for me to challenge my own perceptions and explore new avenues of creativity.

At the start of class, we watched as Jennifer deftly dismantled both hardcover and paperback books. She described different types of bindings and why they are used. She showed us how to cut through layers of pages, discussed her preference for certain tools and  archival materials, and gave us wide range of suggestions for manipulation and transformation. We looked at examples of work by other book artists. With our primer complete, we were free to experiment and manipulate books we had brought to class, or those Jennifer provided for us, with a multitude of supplies and tools.

As with any class of this kind, a big part of the learning experience happened in the dialog among the participants. People tend to question and contemplate together, not only talking about process but also about each other’s lives, and no doubt this verbal exploration is as important as the physical one.

I was glad to have two of my former classmates from November’s Collage Workshop with me in Altered Books, including Boston collage and assemblage artist Amy Hitchcock, who also teaches at the Eliot School (her upcoming Winter Assemblage with Found Objects class is already full, but keep an eye out for her in our Spring/Summer catalog, due out at the end of February.)

Amy Hitchcock's creation from the Altered Books Workshop

Heather finished not one, but TWO projects!

Jennifer’s class was informative and fun. What of my reservations about this process of altering books? In the end I was able to shed some of my inhibitions–and, after all, isn’t that a sign of true love?

Jennifer has more classes coming up this winter. Learn bookbinding techniques in February’s class Do-Si-Do & French Doors, and March’s Case Binding Workshop.

Visit Jennifer Erin Hughes’s web site here.

Here are some interesting book-art links to check out:

If you follow us on Facebook, you may have seen our link to this article on the mysterious paper sculptures that appeared in libraries in Scotland recently. Very intriguing, and elegant examples of altered book art.

The Boston Atheneum is currently featuring an exhibit called Artists Books: Books by Artists that runs through March 3rd, 2012.

~ Kelly Knight