Artists’ Book Show Opens At Bozarts
Pati D’Amico, who along with husband William Warren, are organizers and curators of the artist’s book show, “Stories and Other Configurations,” displays some of the books from the exhibit.
Books from the artist’s book show, “Stories and Other Configurations”
Two of Bill Warren’s artist’s books. Below is an illustration from his book on birds.
An altered book featured in the Bozarts show is a work by Angela G. Clanton based on the book, “The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest.”
Artists’ Book Show Opens At Bozarts
Staff Report
WATER VALLEY – The artists’ book show “Stories and Other Configurations” opens this Friday at Bozarts Gallery.
The show will feature contemporary artists’ books in various media and will include examples of both original handmade books and altered books, according to the exhibit’s organizers and curators, Pati D’Amico and William Warren, both members of the Bozarts Alliance.
D’Amico describes herself as a lover of artists’ books. She began making the books as personal presents to friends. She was encouraged to participate in an Artists’ Book show in the 1990s and has been exhibiting artists’ books ever since.
Artists’ books are “works of art realized in the form of a book,” according to D’Amico. An artists’ book may contain writing, painting, poetry, photography, collage and mixed media so that the book itself becomes a “one of a kind” work of art — perhaps not only to be read but also to be seen as an art object.
The history of artists’ books goes back as far as The Book of Kells, the famously ornamented Gospel book dating from ca 800 AD, she added.
D’Amico was invited to be a guest artist/teacher for 22 sixth grade students at the Martin Luther King School in New Orleans in 2008. The school is located in the Lower Ninth Ward, the area most devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The students were asked to create Artists’ Books relating to their experiences Pre/Post Katrina.
“The altered books created by these students were so well done and so moving that the students’ work was exhibited for two months at the New Orleans Children’s Museum,” she added.
An altered book featured in the Bozarts show is a work by Angela G. Clanton based on the book, “The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest.”
Clanton said that altering a book is a responsibility. “The responsibility is in how the book as an object is transformed that is respectful to the original,” she added.
Along with Clanton, D’Amico and Warren, the other artists featured in the show are Erin Austen Abbott, Gabriella DeLawey, Katrina Geenen, Shirley Hamilton, Lyn Kartiganer, Pat McConald Fowler, and Anissa Wilkinson.
The opening is this Friday from 6-9 p.m. and the show will continue through Nov. 27. The Gallery, located at 403 N. Main St., is open on Fridays and Saturdays from noon until 5 p.m. and by appointment. For additional information call 473-2484.
