Why Alter Books? December 7, 2007

Someone on one of our groups asked this question recently. To paraphrase them: Why not just create art in a blank new book; why use an existing pre-printed book?

It’s a question that comes up fairly often. None of my close friends are into art at all, so I’ve had all too often the experience of telling someone about my work to be greeted with the look of horror and the gasped, “You did what to a book?”

I certainly understand the sentiment behind the question. There is definitely something taboo and a little shocking about the idea of altering (some might even say desecrating) a book.

It’s not the medium for everyone. Many people absolutely cannot get past the idea that they are destroying something valuable, even if it is to create something else that is valuable in its own right.

There are many other ways to showcase creativity that don’t involve starting with an existing book. And there are many book artists out there that make their own blank books to showcase their art in.

Still, asking an altered book artist, “Why not just use a blank book?” seems to me like asking a rubberstamper, “Why not just draw all your images?” It comes down to whether we’re focusing on the medium or the message in our work.

Some artists can communicate their message in any medium; their creativity allows them to explore the boundaries of many different types of work. If Picasso were alive today, would he still be working in oils, or would he perhaps be making collages in Photoshop?

On the other hand, some artists depend on the medium, using the limitations and the possibilities of it to create something unique and beautiful. Think of Shakespeare’s sonnets - would he have been as renowned had he been writing free verse?

Starting with a printed book allows an artist opportunities that a blank book, even a beautifully handmade blank book, simply does not afford - opportunities to interact with the original text, to engage (in a way) with the original author in something of a collaborative effort, even to incorporate the input of previous owners of the book who may have left their own marks in it.

No one is forced to be an altered book artist, but that is a choice for the individual artist to make. This is a legitimate medium, and it is a different one from art created in blank books. Both are equally valid and valuable expressions of creativity and many artists engage in both.

Why such a passionate defense of altered books? Because I can honestly say that this form of art helped transform my life.

I spent the first 24 years of my life thinking I had no artistic talents whatsoever - because I couldn’t draw or paint realistic images, and in the circles I was in, that was the only kind of art that was considered of any worth.

I vividly remember the day I was browsing in Barnes and Noble and came across this book. I spent over an hour fo rapidly growing excitement looking at all the beautiful art pictured in it. For the first time, I thought, “I can do this!”

My first experiments with this medium were horribly amateurish - think ballpoint doodles and infantile found poetry. I had no art supplies - I’d never done anything art-related before!

But even those first halting steps were incredibly freeing and empowering to me - I was making art! And I knew that with practice and better tools, I would even soon be able to make beautiful art.

I look at the gorgeous work of some of the artists on the various groups, and I know that I’m not in the same league as they are. Even if they’re new to the medium, they’ve been engaged creatively for years (some of them for decades). I’m just a baby compared to them.

But there’s meaning and message in my work - it’s not something that anyone else could do, which is what being an artist is all about. It might take me years to get to the level that some of these people are at today, but I get better with every day and every new piece I make.

I could not make that same claim in any other medium. I’m not ever going to be a great drawer or painter or sculptor - those are the kind of media where you do need years to hone your talent, and unless you start young or have a truly incredible gift, you’re just not going to get there.

Mixed media art (of which altered books are a facet), on the other hand, is much more forgiving to the novice, since it works with many already formed objects. There is still technique involved, and you still have a learning curve, but it’s not nearly as steep as those for the traditional fine arts. You can get your message across with far less blood, sweat and tears than you can in traditional media.

This is not to say, of course, that there aren’t masters in mixed media art as well, who have spent many long years honing their craft. Their work is as accomplished as any oil or watercolor painter out there. It is as difficult a process to become a great mixed media artist as it is to become a great painter or sculptor.
My point, though, is that it is easier to become “good” at mixed media art than it is to achieve that same level of proficiency in a more traditional medium.

Some might say that this is a bad thing. I read an article just yesterday talking about the importance of investing your time in things of value even though it will take longer to get to the point of mastery. I certainly admire all the artists who do persevere in traditional media and come up with something powerful and beautiful.

However, each of us has a message; we all have something to express that only we can. I say that anything that helps people voice that inner message can only be for the good.If I had to restrict myself to drawing or oils or watercolors or sculpture, chances are that I would never create anything at all. I would certainly not create anything with significant meaning or beauty. And that would be a loss - to me and to those (very few perhaps) who view my art.