Books as art: National tour displays a wide variety within unique art form

What do Czech beads, deer fur and a pink prom dress have in common?

They are among the peculiar materials employed by three local book artists — Madelyn Garrett, Marnie Powers-Torrey and Toni Nelson — for their juried pieces in "The Guild of Book Workers 100th Anniversary Exhibition," on display at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts through March 18.

With 60 works in the traveling show, Garrett, head of Rare Books and founder of the Marriott Library's Book Arts program, emphasized how extraordinary it was for Utah to be so well represented.

"I think it says a lot about the caliber of the programming offered by our Book Arts Program," said Garrett. "I am proud that we will be so well represented as this exhibition travels across the country."

The trio also received particular mention in the exhibition review in the February/March issue of American Craft magazine, a periodical known and respected nationally and internationally.

Yet while the 60 books in the exhibit are a wonderful assortment of the eccentric, impish, traditional and new, many potential exhibit patrons may not be sure exactly what to expect from a book arts display.

Historically, the guild's major focus (started in 1906 in New York City) was on bookbinding. Over the years it has grown to promote hand papermaking and decorating, printing, calligraphy and illumination, and the conservation, preservation and restoration of older book materials.

It has also become quite progressive in its approach to what a book can be.

For example, Powers-Torrey — Book Arts program studio manager at the University of Utah and Red Butte Press printer — engages viewers with "The Warm-Blooded Book," a poem written by the artist that describes the experience of reading and handling a book. Each stanza addresses one of the five senses and is bound in deer fur.

"Actually just four of the senses," Torrey explained in a telephone interview. "I don't encourage you to eat the book. The fifth section draws everything together."

Not only did Powers-Torrey write and bind the book, she also took the photographs, printed them in a Van Dyke brown process (which involves coating the paper yourself with chemicals), set the type and printed the piece by letterpress.

"Many artists do it all, actually," she said. "That's the quintessential artist book."

Nelson — a long-time volunteer for the U.'s Book Arts program — created a book that is certain to make you stop and take notice. Its title is perhaps the most entertaining and catchy in the entire exhibit: "I Wish I'd Been a Slutty Girl, Among Other High School Regrets."