We took a trip down to Toronto Reference library at Bloor and Yonge for George Walkers Bookbinding class, fall of 2011 and were able to select any book we wanted (that was up for adoption) and alter it. I grabbed a high school biology book, who could resist microscopic imagery...
Well I couldn't.
The idea I had was, The Book as a Specimen.
As Egon so elegantly states in the film Ghostbusters, "Print is dead," he couldn't be more right - Ebooks, Ejournals, E ... everything - divorcing the analog process of images and words to digital reproductions on your iphone, thus forcing the traditional printed book into obsoletion -
Becoming specimen like,
(great time to pursue a career in printing I must say).
Even now, limited addition books are sought out by collectors, pending on the author or illustrator - so I wanted to marry the lingo of science to the printed book.
Specimen and book
Book as a Specimen
Shadow box, Coptic Stitched Book, Watercolor Painting on Mylar
1'x2.5'x1'
2010
First, I constructed a shadow box out of recycled wood which I found in my dads garage (thanks dad!) After the box was complete, I began the construction of the booklet, now knowing the approx size I was allotted. I went with a Coptic style stitch for the book for aesthetic reasons, not so much to do with the content of the piece.
Inside
Inside the book their are a series of paintings that either were completed on Mylar, or watercolor paper. It varies from watercolor washes to ink drawings that resemble some of the microscopic matter I witnessed in the high-school biology book.
Happy.
