Julie Chen has made hundreds of books. But she’s not an author. She’s a book artist.
“Book art really is about using the book form, in all its various iterations, as an art medium. The way someone might make art film or sculpture or a print,” Chen told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”
“The reader really has to interact with the book in various ways,” she added. “They’re not just turning pages but doing other actions in order to find the content.”
Chen’s books often have moveable structures, three-dimensional aspects and surprise endings. Her book art has few words but still tells dramatic stories.
Chen is an internationally renowned book artist and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has been publishing limited edition artists’ books under Flying Fish Press for more than 30 years.
Her work is housed in collections in the Library of Congress and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. In Wisconsin, visitors to the Kohler Art Library in Madison can view and interact with some of Chen’s pieces themselves, with the help of a librarian.
Her next project is based on a 19th-century pop-up book master, Lothar Meggendorfer.
What is book art?
Chen said there is a difference between “book art” and “book arts.” Book arts (with the “s”) refers to the craft and technique of making books — so printing, binding and paper-making.
Book art is transforming a book into artwork. Rather than a book being the thing that houses text, the book is the sculpture or the painting.
Chen’s pieces are known for being highly interactive.