The Book

The Book project was inspired by Gail Gilbert, the art librarian at the University of Louisville Library, when she gave me a bag of books she was discarding. She thought I could tear them up and make collages or an art project. I told her I was not a collage artist and, being a book designer, I could not tear them up. After months of them sitting in my basement and Gail saying, "Do something with them," I made my first deconstruction and collage. I continued making them for fun and it grew into a body of work. I looked at the book from its beginnings to the current and emerging world of the Kindle and other electronic tablets, intuitively keeping in mind the sacred word, censorship, holding an object, its tactile way, even the smell of a book, etc. That is how it began. Then I decided to make a limited edition of 20 books, all by hand—hand-sewn and hand-bound, using hand-set type, letterpress, and tipped-in photographs—and a box made of cherry wood to house the book. That sold out at once. After that project, I continued to make collages and decided to do a coffee table book that people from all walks of life could afford, enjoy, and experience.