Folded Book Art. Chrochet Floor Rug. We've had some really beautiful days here lately. Recently, I made a small kitchen rug for Jon's mom. I like crochet because it's very forgiving. And it's quick. And fun. And relaxing. But mostly forgiving - you can pretty much do your own thing and stuff still turns out great. :) I didn't really use a pattern or anything. Anyway, it worked up in a few hours. This kind of thing is really fun and easy to do. As you can see, I get a lot of help around here... UPDATE: Due to popular request, I've created a vlog tutorial series on this project. Book Mobile. Recycled Book Purse Altered Prodigal Summer by smartdesigning. Nemo Graffiti by ~cocktail-hour on deviantART.
The Book Surgeon (15 pieces) Using knives, tweezers and surgical tools, Brian Dettmer carves one page at a time. Nothing inside the out-of-date encyclopedias, medical journals, illustration books, or dictionaries is relocated or implanted, only removed. Dettmer manipulates the pages and spines to form the shape of his sculptures. He also folds, bends, rolls, and stacks multiple books to create completely original sculptural forms.
"My work is a collaboration with the existing material and its past creators and the completed pieces expose new relationships of the book’s internal elements exactly where they have been since their original conception," he says. "The richness and depth of the book is universally respected yet often undiscovered as the monopoly of the form and relevance of the information fades over time.
Dettmer is originally from Chicago, where he studied at Columbia College. Update: Read our exclusive interview with the Book Surgeon here. Brian Dettmer's website. Everything but the Paper Cut: Eye-popping Ways Artists Use Paper. In the year since the Museum of Art and Design reopened in its new digs on Columbus Circle, they've been delivering consistently compelling shows--from punk-rock lace to radical knitting experiments.
The newest, "Slash: Paper Under the Knife", opened last weekend and runs through April 4, 2010. The focus is paper--and the way contemporary artists have used paper itself as a medium, whether by cutting, tearing, burning, or shredding. In all, the show features 50 artists and a dozen installations made just for the show, including Andreas Kocks's Paperwork #701G (in the Beginning), seen above. Here's a sampling of the other works on display: Mia Pearlman's Eddy: Ferry Staverman, A Space Odesey: A detail of a sprawling work by Andrew Scott Ross, Rocks and Rocks and Caves and Dreams: Lane Twitchell's Peaceable Kingdom (Evening Land): Béatrice Coron, WaterCity: Between the Lines, by Ariana Boussard-Reifel: A book with every single word cut out: