Books are ways we record and keep our stories and memories alive. Books powerfully transmit our knowledge, hopes, fears, aspirations, accomplishments, and tragedies. It is fitting then, that this form should be embodied in an artistic pursuit. Book art is exactly that, and one of the best collections I have witnessed is in a small regional museum on Bainbridge Island — a short ferry ride from Seattle. The collection, which contains more than 1,300 original works, was gifted to the museum by Cynthia Sears. The collection continues to grow each year, and selected items are displayed and rotated in an intimate jewel box of a gallery on the second floor. This past summer curators pulled out several pieces in the collection and filled the entire second floor with book art. I was fortunate enough to be on the island while this exhibition was being held. It did not disappoint.
Many of the pieces in this collection appear more like a traditional book until you open them and are caught off guard by the world within. However, I was more intrigued by the works that seemed to challenge the book itself as an object. The work pictured here, entitled Field, was developed by Portland artist Katherine Kuehn to memorialize the souls that perished in the World Trade Tower collapse. The book takes the form of a scroll, mounted to a wall, that contains 2823 French knots (one for each tragic loss) and an entry from David Henry Thoreau’s journal penned on September 11, 1853. The quote contained in the work reveals that Thoreau knew that every observation of nature he made was destined to decay.