Book Arts Tuesday-Altered Visions at 23 Sandy Gallery

23 Sandy Gallery in Portland, OR kicks off fall with Altered Visions, a curated collection of altered books. This exhibition explores a wide range of materials, structures and concepts used by artists who are creating art made from books. Books by this select group of gallery artists have been excavated, folded, glued, painted, waxed, collaged, crystallized, pinned, rebound, fluffed and carved to make completely new sculptural works of art.

The above book is by Mary Bennett and is titled Le Rime by Francesco Patrarca.

Mary Bennett is a conceptual artist working with book arts, printmaking and art projects that engage the public on issues of community, social justice and the environment.

Regarding her work with found materials, including vintage books, Bennett says, “It’s very important for me to start with materials that have had a former life. I want them to have been something else, and I want to transform or reconfigure them to make something different. I don’t care if you recognize it or not, this former life, and I almost always use text.”

Boise Weekly recently called Mary Bennett a “book arts pioneer” who alters an object by “Transforming its traditional origins both emphasizing her source’s former life while challenging the viewer to reconsider the same.”

View the online catalog.