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Diane Stemper,
Richmond, IN. Road Food, 1988, mixed media, found placemats,
xerox, 10.5"diameter
Pat Baldwin,
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, Micromacrocosm, 1989, letterpress
collage, 2.25 x 2.75", 5" wide fully opened
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Give a visual definition
...I think that any definition is problematic. I am only
able to answer the question with more difficult questions: What
is a book? What is art (and/or what is an artist)? Perhaps for teaching
purposes, it is best to show various examples that fulfill the many
definitions that you will no doubt receive from this query. -
Janice Esther Westley Braun, Special Collections Librarian, Mills
College
Whether artists use the form conventionally, or tweak it one
way or the other, interpretation and inspiration comes from a
deep connection to "experience" with books. Artists add depth
and breadth to the definition of the form.
- Catherine Kanner, The Melville Press
The attempt to define the genre limits the possibilities. How
much better to show a variety of books to start a conversation
about the issue, rather than presenting a definition. Showing
what artist's books HAVE been sparks the imagination. -
Susan King, Paradise Press
I see most artists' books as self contained galleries, each
page being a wall and the whole book as being the show.-
Edith Abeyta, artist
Definitions from "book" perspective
The previous definitions based on the word "artist"
are more concerned with artistic freedoms and philosophy. The group
of definitions that come from the vantage point of the word "book"
are more concrete. They derive their meaning from either the physical
characteristics of a book or from the structural integrity of the
object and that it relates to an accepted idea of what constitutes
a book.
Physical characteristics of a book
My definition of not just the artists book, but book in
general is an object which contains. The definition of what a book
is simple: A book consists of a number of piece of paper sewn together,
and bound with a cover. That my friends is a book. A scroll is not
a book. It is a scroll. Nor are commas floating down a river. A
number of things have been called books, which aren't books. It's
like calling a fish a pen - they have no similarities beyond common
shape. A chiseled stone is not a book, not until you bind a number
of them together in the form of pages. Sorry, that's the facts.
- Yara Ferreira Cluver, artist, instructor
A book is a three-dimensional, functional object. ... a book
is something which I can hold in my hand while turning pages/leaves
which have something upon them which can impart additional information
to me. - Jack C.Thompson, Thompson Conservation Laboratory
I have seen poor workmanship excused with the phrase, "it's art"
or dismissed as irrelevant. If I look at a print, I expect it
to be well crafted, if I look at a painting, a collage, a sculpture
I expect the same. ... if you want to create "artist's books please
do. ... but please have a solid foundation in the craft of the
book. - Perter Verheyen, conservator, Syracuse University
Library, fine design bindings
Structural integrity
To me equally important in the making of a work of art
are the materials one uses, craftsmanship, the content, and the
way in which all this is put together. If you ignore the importance
of any one of these, you end up with something inferior. - Shireen
Holman, printmaker, book artist
Not everything can be a book. That doesn't make it non-art, just
not a book. - Perter Verheyen, conservator, Syracuse
University Library, fine design bindings
Book as an art, and an artist's book are two completely different
things. An artist's book can be made by somebody who does not
know the book structure. For him/her a form or an image of a book
is used to convey a certain message that is not connected with
book as a medium. Book as an art must combine two equally important
elements: an intellectual and artistic message. In other words
the expression and form must melt together. In an artist's book,
the symbol or an image of a book serves only as an excuse for
expressing some other idea. In an artist's book the EXPRESSION
is a primary concern. In book that is an art both EXPRESSION ,and
STRUCTURE are equally important. Artist's book? [A] Piece where
bookish shapes, objects or book symbols serve as a form of artistic
expression.
- Ksenia Kopystynska, Ars Libri Studio
An artist's book is a form of art that alludes to traditional
book characteristics in one or more ways. - Lilias
Ford, Salt Winds Yankee Barn Workshop
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