Occasionally the Snarky Quilter wanders off topic. This post is one of those times. It’s inspired by Art Made From Books, by Laura Heyenga.
As someone who used to work around books I know the pain of discarding old, outdated, in bad condition books. Heyenga’s book shows how old books can become raw material for artists. I suppose just about anything can become an artistic medium. Here are photos of creations that caught my eye.
Anonymous @beathhigh for publication of “The Impossible Dead” by Ian Rankin
Arian Dylan “The Order and the Chaos”
Pablo Lehmann “Baroque Letters (E)”
Nicholas Jones “Greek Art”
I think this one, made from a book about guess what, looks like prairie points gone rogue.
Pablo Lehmann “Cut Out Screen 1”
The text used in the above is from a work by Jacques Derrida, father of deconstructionism. I assume that’s the artist’s little joke.
Su Blackwell “Alice – A Mad Tea Party”
Su Blackwell “The Snow Queen”
Su Blackwell”Red Riding Hood”
Lisa Kokin “Panacea Plus”
The flowers are made from the spines of self-help books.
If you want to look at more book art, try these websites:
http://weburbanist.com/2008/09/10/10-brilliant-book-artists/
http://mentalfloss.com/article/53465/13-sculptures-made-out-books
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/book-paper-sculptures/
http://www.inspirationgreen.com/index.php?q=art-from-old-books.html
I’ve seen quite a lot of this sort of art from old books lately–and I haven’t seen any that i don’t like! I especially like the ones with a little wink and grin, like the Derrida-based one and the Panacea Plus. It totally blows me away, both the creativity and the skill involved in these!
It’s certainly an area where craft enables art, but the results are definitely art.
Man, these are extraordinary! Stunning creations – I think my favourite is “Baroque Letters (E)”. Can’t begin to imagine how long some of them must have taken to construct …
I know what you mean about the amount of time these creations must have taken. The book I took them from doesn’t give away too many of the artists’ trade secrets, understandably.
I absolutely Love these! thanks for making my day. I am a book lover and sell the occasional book online after done with them. And sadly there are those that no one will take because of the condition they are in.
THis art work is not only another ‘life’ for them, but beautiful in the interpretation, and expression. Love it. Great place for expression.
I was floored at the creativity of these when I first saw them.
Wow! Thanks for finding those!
When I start to grouse about the crap online, I try to remember websites like the ones I link to.