“What is an altered book?” you ask. Altered books are art pieces in which an artist has altered the appearance of an exisiting book–by adding to it or taking something away. Sometimes the altered book makes a statement; sometimes it is simply an interesting object to look at, whether beautiful, odd, thought-provoking, etc. Often, the altered book relates in subject to the subject of the original book.
As part of The Year of the Book, the Library currently has on display altered books created by students in Professor Megan Quinn’s ART124 class, Three-Dimensional Design, and three altered books by LeClaire artist Tricia Coulson and her daughter Lexis Graap of Denver, Colorado.
Among the altered books created by students are Jessica Prozialeck’s stunning sculpture of a Picasso-like, green, curly-headed figure reading the book Pablo Picasso, and Anita Gribble’s humorous sculpture of an old-fashioned typewriter, keys askew, surrounded by balled-up paper, coffee mug, and the book The Student Writer.
Tricia took as her original book, volume “A” of an old encyclopedia, and illustrated various words in it: abacus, alchemy, Alice in Wonderland, angel, etc. Lexis created more personal altered books, working with a children’s board book and a calendar in a search for meaning and identity.
