The Ruffled Crow

Girl in the Wood (2008) - Su Blackwell

Most often the beauty of a book is contained within it’s words, sometimes it’s the rich cover or heavy paper, maybe it’s the art- or information-filled photographs.

But a few artists are bringing out a book’s different kind of beauty.

All About House Plants - Julia Feld

Su Blackwell creates some stunning art from old books; beautiful scenes reminiscent of the classic places and tales of youth.

She has also ‘sized up’ her art for commercial installations to great effect.

To my mind’s eye, however, a book is more than just a medium.

Every single book is printed for a reason. It’s not always a good reason, but enough of one to get it to press at least. What is held between the front and back cover is the reason for it’s existence. The very soul of the book.

And in a very interesting way Julia Feld has been baring those souls of select books.

Favoring out-of-date reference books Ms Feld uses various sharp implements and plenty of glue to create these intricacies that bring out the artwork within the book itself.

She’s building quite the gallery of beautiful work. Check it out at her Hokey Stokes! blog.