'Altered and Folded' Exhibit Features Books Made by Architecture School Students

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This altered book, made by fifth-year architecture student Erica Blansit, is part of the “Altered and Folded” exhibit, which opens Thursday at the University of Arkansas Student Gallery in Bentonville.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The connection between art and architecture becomes evident in a collection of books, made by Fay Jones School of Architecture students, which will be featured in an exhibit that opens Thursday at the University of Arkansas Student Gallery.

“Altered and Folded” will be on display from Oct. 14-28 at the gallery, located at 114 W. Central Ave., in Bentonville. Also known as sUgAR, the gallery showcases the work of students, faculty and visiting artists in the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, interior design and art.

The more than 30 pieces in the exhibit were created in an Experimental Bookmaking course, taught this semester by Laura Terry, an associate professor of architecture and a visual artist.

Since taking a bookmaking course as a graduate student at the Savannah College of Art and Design, Terry has seen a connection between the “structure” of a book and the “structure” of architecture. Folding, for example, is a term architects often use to describe how spatial enclosures are made. This course shows students a way to apply what they’ve learned in their studios to other, more open-ended creative endeavors.

“One of the most important aspects of successful book art is finding the right format for communicating the idea or information,” she said. “There are four primary book types, and each of those types communicates information, both written and visual, in a different way.”

The two projects featured in the exhibit are altered books – in which each student found a hardcover book and transformed it in some way – and folded books, which are books of their own design created using only folded paper for the pages. Each altered book displayed will also be accompanied by a two-signature pamphlet the student made that served as notes, ideas and drawings for the altering process.

Terry encouraged students to start to pay attention to how they make something – whether a drawing, book or design project. Most of the students are fourth- and fifth-year students, who possess enough design experience to begin to formulate a way of working or thinking. “I am hopeful that this course will help them discover that and refine it,” Terry said.

Fifth-year architecture student Andrew Arkell created this folded book, which is part of the “Altered and Folded” exhibit at the University of Arkansas Student Gallery in Bentonville. Arkell is also a student in the university’s Honors College.

Most of the students chose to work with paper since they were familiar with its qualities, such as how it feels, folds and holds ink. Others experimented with other materials, such as the student who used fabric for a folded book so that she could stitch her image onto the pages.

For one altered book, a student selected an old book for a teacher’s course on laundry. The book was fascinating and dated, clearly directed to a female audience. “The student removed all the pages and folded them using origami into different clothes, then made wire hangers and turned the cover into a closet. It is so simple and so beautiful,” Terry said.

For a folded book, another student highlighted his award-winning project from the Mexico Urban Studio. “The book is beautiful because the folds are inward, so the outside of the paper is white,” Terry said. “But when unfolded, the image emerges, dark and rich from all the graphite and drawing.”

One student, who recently returned from a trip to Rwanda with her studio, made a beautiful folded book using watercolor images of traditional fabric patterns she’d seen there. The fabric and patterns are part of her personal memory of the experience.

“I have found that students enjoy bringing their personal experiences into the books. So the imagery may be a way to exhibit drawings they have made, but in a way that is more artful than architectural,” she said.

Terry said she hopes that people who see this exhibit think differently afterward about books. “We have talked about digital books and e-readers and how that is different from a physical book. The students agree there is a place for both, but I do think they have already gained an appreciation for the book as an art form,” she said. “That makes me smile.”

Gallery hours are from 2-6 p.m. Thursdays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and from 1-5 p.m. Sundays. Admission is free. For more information, contact Cambry Pierce-Duperier-Newton at cpierced@uark.edu or Kat Wilson at kaw010@uark.edu, call (479) 273-5305 or visit the sUgAR Facebook page.