Altered Book Art (Photo/Susan Hoerth)
There seems to have been a recent spike in the number of altered book artists in recent years. Altered book art is when an artist takes a hardcover or paperback book and through multiple techniques varying from burning, cutting, collaging, etc, the artist changes both the appearance and meaning of the book.
Susan Hoerth is an altered book artist.
Hoerth is primarily self-taught but has had some training in ceramics, Raku ware and drawing at the John Michael Kohler Art Center in Wisconsin. In her altered books she primarily uses vintage items, some of which she has collected over the years through her travels.
“I have been collecting small items for over 15 years,” she said.
She has been to Europe, Egypt, China and the Middle East. During her travels, she will collect items that catch her eye. What especially appeals to her is the color, shape and texture of the item.
“I find colors interesting [in] each place I visit. I love to look for old pieces of metal and jewelry, paper and books,” she said. “I love to shop at vintage and small shops with secondhand goods.”
Hoerth has worked in several mediums, such as ceramics and drawing, but when she began visiting secondhand shops and looking into dumpsters to find various items, she started tinkering with the idea of transforming a book.
Alice in Wonderland, 1909 (Photo/Susan Hoerth)
“The more things I found, the more I understood the story time tells, the beauty age itself gives all thing. Books became so interesting–illustrations of age, the color and smell.
“I found [books] one of the most discarded items in the trash and secondhand stores. I started carving books for collages to add elements along with discarded small items, and then began using them for the canvas.”
With each piece that she designs, she adds what she calls “ordinary moments in life.” She will incorporate common items of everyday use such as a button, old watch parts or paper tickets into her work as a way to show a sporadic moment in life and the small fleeting item only remembered during that small moment.
“I want to create a contrast, so that the item becomes immortal in the art,” she said.
Land of OZ, Czech Published Book (Photo/Susan Hoerth)
It takes up to six weeks to complete a single book, but she says it depends “…on the book, finding it, reading it, researching the time period….”
Hoerth restricts herself to books dated before 1923.
“They cannot be first editions, they need to be illustrated and occasionally I will do a book made in a foreign country, like ‘The Land of OZ’,” she said.
Hoerth has had her work exhibited several times. She has had a gallery showing of her colored pencil drawings at the Art House Locally. Her ceramics works have been exhibited in Milwaukee, WI and her altered book art has been exhibited in McAllen.
Follow Susan Hoerth on Twitter via @sdhoerth or visit her blog Abandoned Attic to see her latest work. You can also buy Hoerth’s altered book art via her Etsy here.
