Artist Rae Trujillo says she photographed Berlin’s abandoned bicycles, which she viewed as art installations. Berlin Bicycles is part of Hands On 11.
Maybe you prefer to curl up by the fire and read, but there’s something to be said for touching, manipulating and simply gaping at 26 one-of-a-kind artists’ books in the Hands On 11 reception Friday in the Environmental Design Library at UC Berkeley.
California pop/conceptual artist Ed Ruscha’s “Twentysix Gasoline Stations” (1963) and its black-and-white photographs of fueling stations along Route 66 provided the inspiration for the tongue-in-cheek 11th annual Hands On reception, featuring books that are works of art.
The
26 items
on display come from the library’s cache of close to 300 artists’ books purchased with a special endowment — not student fees. Hands On 11 books range from a look at 26 plants to another exploring 26 charging stations, and Beata Wehr’s “23 Proofs for Existence of the Past.”
Matthew Salenger’s “Individualocracy-The Personal Decisions that Govern Sprawl,” is one of the artists’ books in the latest Hands On display.
Beata Wehr’s “23 proofs for existence of the past” is an intriguing archival inkjet print that fits in with the Ruscha theme for Hands On 11.
This section of “Roadmaps,” by Elena Mary Siff, co-founder of Women/Beyond Borders, features a toy model of a pickup truck with lifted tires mounted on ruler-sized, wooden board studded with transparent glass crystals for the centerline.
Artist Paul Johnson’s “House and Secret Garden,” featured in an early Hands On event, presents a multi-colored pop-up house and garden flattened and slipped inside a red envelope. He uses different types of paper hinges so that each of his works can be taken apart with units changed or damaged. He eliminates the spring action of folded paper so his pop-ups open easily and fold flatter than more conventional construction methods.
Blake Garden manager Lauri Twitchell and Peter Suchecki’s book, “On Stones,” is in the library collection. It is composed of two stones encased in two blocks of redwood that serve as book covers, with leather strips as its binding. The title borrows from an ancient text on gemstones.
The Environmental Design Library’s artists’ books collection include’s R.D. Burton’s “Dexterity Pumps,” a booklet made with metal, glass and copper BBs and housed in a hinged aluminum box illustrated with photos of gas pumps and a vintage gas station.
Hands On 9 centered on the theme of Artists’ Books as Representations of Resistance and featured “Assume the Position” by Ginger Burrell. It is based on the positions demanded by thieves and by airport security personnel as travelers go through scanners.
Burrell photographed people with their hands up from behind and digitally manipulated the images to evoke the screening device x-rays. Finally, she added text reflecting what a TSA agent, police officer or robber might say in these situations.
“Fenway Park” by Laura Davidson offers a a view of Fenway Park and the Boston skyline.The images were painted, offset printed, laser cut and pieced together by hand. It was part of the Reading the City Hands On event.
In “City Shields,” Louise Levergneux displays manhole covers collected through miles of walking around Canada, Scotland and the United States. Her book was in Hands On 7.
If Molly Rose had to pick a favorite from Hands On 11, it would be “Roadkill” by John Risseeuw, John Nolt and Beauvais Lyons. It doesn’t deliver quite what you might expect.
Artist Rae Trujillo says she photographed Berlin’s abandoned bicycles, which she viewed as art installations. Berlin Bicycles is part of Hands On 11.
Lauri Twitchell, manager of the College of Environmental Design’s Blake Garden landscape laboratory, said Ruscha has inspired her and many other artists to think about books in a more conceptual way.
“Books can be no longer just about fiction or nonfiction, but also can be thought about as a series of images, sculptures or just hand-held interactive objects,” she said.
Molly Rose, the Environmental Design Library’s circulation supervisor/reserves coordinator, said she doesn’t have a strong favorite in Friday’s lineup, but leans toward “Roadkill.”
“When you first open it, you think it might be about animals as roadkill,” Rose said. “But instead it’s a juxtaposition of quotes from people about their cars versus images and statistics showing the impact of driving on the environment.”
“We keep it casual and fun,” said librarian David Eifler, noting that in addition to being able to view the specialty books temporarily on loan from the College of Environmental Design’s rare books room, of-age visitors will be treated to wine, cheese and crackers.
Two books that see quite a bit of use for Hands On events, other exhibits and classes are “More Garbage,” made of found objects, and “Salvaged material book,” which has a metal cover with a glass insert. Rose said that probably is because they are so sturdy and can stand up to being handled. They are also considered visually interesting and are sure conversation starters.
Lisa Melhorn-Boe used only found items to assemble her book, “More Garbage.” The only new materials were photocopies of pages.
Eifler said the first exhibit of artists’ books a few years ago used the traditional format of placing them behind glass. But he and his organizing committee — Twitchell, Rose and Jennifer Osgood of the Morrison Library — listened to requests from patrons who said they wanted to hold and touch the books.
Osgood handles the graphic design work for Hands On posters. She said she brings to the planning group a background in artists’ books, “not the making of, but all the rest.” In addition, she helps run the biennial
Codex Book Fair and Symposium, she interned at the letterpress print shop/studio of Berkeley book artist Peter Koch and her husband is a letterpress printer and book maker (whose master’s thesis project, a laser-cut book of H.G. Well’s
Invisible Man,
is in the environmental design artists’ book collection).
“On the day of the event, we all help with setup and cleanup,” said Osgood. “I frequently bake from scratch a couple of sweet or savory dishes. It’s all a great deal of fun, and I think we all agree that this committee is one of our favorites. Working on this committee is always a delight, and I’m glad I have the chance to further my work with artists’ books.”
Rose said it has been fun to watch the program grow and the team can’t wait to introduce more people to our collection.