BRIDGEWATER BULLETIN / PROGRESS ENTERPRISE - For the Week of September 17, 2003
Reprinted by permission of Lighthouse Publishing

TURNING THE PAGE
 Recycling books into works of art

By PAULA LEVY plevy@lighthouse.ns.ca

Jen Worden wants to help others understand her form of artistic expression. As an altered book artist, she takes any old or new book, and transforms it into a work of art.

She picks up one of her altered books in the upstairs studio of her Wentzells Lake home. On its cover is etched the word "Trigonometry," revealing that in its former life, the book was used in the study of mathematics.

She opens the cover revealing a collage of images, designs and colours and across the two pages is stamped the phrase "It's all Greek to Me."

"The first rule of altered books is there are no rules," says Ms Worden. It's the freedom of expression by whatever means that attracted her to the emerging art form. "I really like the idea that you can do whatever you want."

Each of the books that is altered is done so by painting, embellishing, cutting, burning, folding or adding collages, gold-leaves or rubber stamps.

This art doesn't get displayed on the wall. It sits on top of a coffee table or on a shelf and viewers are encouraged to pick it up and explore its contents.

Ms Worden finds her canvas, which is any properly bound book, from thrift stores, used book stores or library sales. Often, the books she uses are destined for the recycling bin.

PAULA LEVY PHOTO - One of Jen Worden's altered books, 'IT'S ALL GREEK TO ME.'

"There are millions of books that are thrown in dumpsters every single day, so in my mind, it's recycling. You're using books that would otherwise be thrown away. How can you fault someone for that?" she questions. Instead of tossing aside a book, Ms Worden turns it into a work of art and breathes new life into what would have been destroyed. Still, the idea that a book is altered can send shivers down some people's spines. "There's a lot of people that really have a hard time with altered books. It's driven into them from the very beginning that you don't write in books, you don't fold down the pages. It's sacred," she says. Ms Worden's job as a web designer with her home business means that she spends most of her time on a computer. Feeling the need for tactile stimulation, two years ago she began searching for a hobby that would permit her to express herself outside a virtual world.

The search led her to various art forms but the one that interested her the most was altered books.

She is now a member of the International Society of Altered Books Artists, a non-profit organization which promotes altered books as an art form. It also provides a forum to exchange skills, experiences and ideas through education, exhibits and events.

"With altered books you have the option of sitting down and holding it, going through it. You can take things out, you can open things. It's very tactile art and that's what really appeals to me," she says. "You have to discover the art by going through it as opposed to it hanging on the wall and looking at it."

In order to share the art of altering books, Jen is offering a workshop on October 18 at Paper Pleasures in Lunenburg. For more information, call 634-7179.