Show Description:
Bookbinder and book artist, Mel Antuna Hewitt, is inviting the
community to join her in exploring the creation and decoding of
communication through artist books. "Communications"
showcases new and old works that transcend and question
traditional forms of communication and how we consume them
by engaging viewers with books of enormous size and others that
force the question “How is that a book?”
Since their invention, books have been the long standing medium
of choice for keeping and disseminating the world’s
communications. Traditionally books house words and phrases
formed by letters printed onto sheets of paper which are collected
and bound between two covers. But humans have invented many
different techniques, such as Morse code and semaphores, to be
able to communicate with one another in order to express
thoughts, opinions, and information. Some are visual, others felt,
and others still were only meant to be heard. What happens when
we use a different form of communication and combine it with
something that is maybe on the outskirts of what we generally
define as “book?” In "Communications," Mel challenges the
concept of the book, pushing the boundaries of how we carry,
share, and save those communications.
Artist Statements:
I am a book artist. I believe that the book object itself is a work of
art as much as the content within. It is my goal to reengage
individuals with the magic of books. In my books I attempt to force
a new view on what a book is, specifically by changing how the
viewer interacts with it. It becomes an experience; one that I hope
furthers the definition of "book." I accomplish this by bending the
traditional view of books and creating one-of-a-kind-experiences. I play with this idea by creating structures that enable the book to
be viewed and interacted with as a piece of art, such as being
hung on a wall or displayed on a pedestal, but still also function as
a book does, with pages that can be turned or collapsed down
and put on a bookshelf. My work ranges from printmaking to
sculptural artist books to finely bound leather tomes. It is my
mission to explore the narrative of the book: as an art piece and as
a means of holding and conveying knowledge.
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