Parallels, a summary of my BFA Thesis.

Read the whole paper and see more images here

What is an artist book? To me, it is when the book is the work of art. They may or may not contain a story, or text. They may or may not be interactive. There are no hard rules here. Because the book is the work, it is created with intent and will be viewed, “read,” and “interpreted” as any other visual artwork. For me it is the perfect combination of sculpture, documentation, and storytelling.

Artist Statement

Journeying through life, the artist’s eye is drawn to corners, edges,

Shadows of the world, of society, seeing the stigmatized, the castoffs.

Pondering similarities between castoff items to people, she notes that each

individual identity is part of the greater whole. She wonders how to give

The castoff a new life.

What do they all have in common?

How is the world affected by castoff materials?

How is society affected by castoff people?

Parallels

She ideates, then begins the work. Yet, how much can one person do?

All are invited to join.

A book with dark purple, textured, and glossy pages, open but facing away, with a black background.
An open book, facing away, with a wooden cover on one side featuring branding burns, the other side covered in brown vinyl, set against a black background.
A book with a curved wood cover, facing away, against a black background.
A book made from white packing peanuts, its pages made from packaging materials inside.

Engrossed in the creative process, I contemplate the parallels between castoff items and cast out people. In the beginning, I felt that every book was like a person with their own personality. As I considered the steps of the creative process, however, I realized that the books are more like relational groups: friends, families. I invite viewers to draw their own parallels as they read some of mine, on this Process Parallels chart.

A chart titled 'PARALLELS' with two columns of text. The left column lists processes of bookmaking. The right column lists some possible social parallels.

Feeling that a stark white pedestal was not good enough for my precious books, I decided to construct a table from castoff materials on which to display them. This step taught me perhaps the most important lesson: that when the items were bound together with one purpose, they became the support for all of the groups. Simultaneously, this structure provided a safe place for the individuals to be found and taken home.

A table with a wooden base, colorful crayon inlay, and black metal supports, covered with an assortment of artist books, in a gallery.
A wooden table displaying a variety of artist books, in a gallery.

“Please take me home and repurpose me.”

Each item rescued from its path to the waste bin is labeled with an invitation for viewers to become participants. I hope that my fellow humans will share images of the ways they used the items they chose.

Mostly, I hope that they took with them the resolve to be kinder people.