Create

My artist/librarian upbringing definitely has something to do with my love of literary-inspired creations and art that involves books in its many forms. Of course, throw some travel ephemera in there too, and now you’ve really got my interest.

For most of my 30-odd years, I’ve focused on the literary side of things — reading and writing are activities as routine as brushing my teeth. I’m a voracious reader, and my written creations have been primarily works of words — a few published articles and a large collection of personal journals chock full of musings, observations and dreams.

As far as the visual arts, my role has been primarily that of an appreciative admirer.

But recently, I’ve begun dabbling in some creations of my own, inspired by my growing interest in book art. I made my first artistic book in February 2008, at a McNally Jackson event with Esther K. Smith, of Purgatory Pie Press and author of How to Make Books. Soon after, I found myself hard at work on a book art project that became a gift for friends and I took Esther’s course at Cooper Union in the summer of 2008. I enjoy visiting the The Center for Book Arts, and particularly enjoyed their 2008 exhibit, Mapping Correspondence, which reminded me of my dad’s 2007 art exhibit, in which security envelopes played a large part.

I love projects where words, art and travel themes converge and I imagine I’ll be creating more of my own in the future. After Esther’s class (in which I realized I’m not that great with a needle and thread!) I was inspired to create unique scrapbooks of the months I lived in Australia – I used old examination booklets from college and transformed them into a visual history. (photos to come) I plan to do something similar for my 2007 China trip, next project on the list!

There will be more on this topic from me in the future. Recent readings have fueled my imagination and I’m feeling super creative these days. I’m also realizing that the scrapbook projects I did during my teen and college years were simply an earlier version of this craft. Lewis Hyde’s book The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World as well as Colour by Victoria Finlay, have both been big inspirations for me. More soon.

Till then, why not draw some inspiration from the creative spirit of my pal (and former neighbor) Danamarie Hosler at greenstarstudio. (I recently became the owner of this original painting she did.) Or do, indulge in this fabulous collection of hand-crafted book-related gifts. (If there was only more time to troll the treasures on Etsy!)

~ updated March 2009 (some links still need to be fixed

PS: I also like to create in the kitchen!