Fisher Hall’s latest, Reimagining the Book: An Exhibition of Artists’ Books, is a stunning collection of 23 student pieces, each an interpretation of what a book is and does. Created throughout the semester in associate professor of studio art Nanette Yannuzzi-Macias’s class, “Reimagining the Book,” the pieces range from childrens’ colorful fairytales and intricate paper-sculptures to large-scale interactive board games.
The exhibit caters to the idea of reading as a personal, private experience and offers a cozy atmosphere with big armchairs and pillowed areas for sitting and browsing through the books. “I think everything [in the show] is open to interpretation, and I think it is really important that people access as much about these books as possible,” senior art history major Lisa Katona said. Katona, along with fellow senior art history major Alexa Dunnington, organized the class exhibit.
Audience interaction is key to this show; many pieces specifically elicit viewers to thumb through pages, play games or to inspect the project more closely. Senior Sarah LePage’s “The Study of Craft” is one such piece that seems to serve as an ode to the artist’s mother and grandmother, who passed on the skills of sewing and needlepoint. A wooden base with translucent plastic covering is lit from within, highlighting the type print on top. The words recall the past; the poem “Stretched Canvas” is an anecdote of a childhood spent sewing. Coming out of the wooden base is a small metal pole to which are attached four or five small “petri” dishes of sorts, containing miscellaneous sewing artifacts — spools of thread, needles and buttons. The piece is striking in its design and very personal in its execution.
There could be confusion about how a piece such as LePage’s fits into general notions of a “book” — a definition the class worked with throughout the semester. “From the very beginning of the semester, Nanette encouraged us to go beyond the traditional concept of the book,” Dunnington said. “We used found books, learned printing techniques, experimented with materials and even made pop-up books… Books can be bound or unbound, old books themselves can be used to make a new ‘book,’ or you can take the idea of moving through the book and transfer that to moving through an installation.”
Instead of feeling limited by one medium, the class explored many avenues of personal expression, which lends the Fisher exhibit a wonderful diversity. “We have been trying to explore different interpretations because a book is not necessarily limited to pages with text which are all bound together,” Katona said. “That is just one kind of book. Being able to explore other options and creating other ideas around the concept of a ‘page’ and trying to experiment with different ‘bindings’ are all just about finding a different way to express an idea.”
Junior Mary Cat Boyett’s “Cards” present the viewer with a set of intricately detailed, animal-themed playing cards; there’s even chairs and mixed nuts to get the party started. An even more provocative interpretation of what a book can be is Dunnington’s “Myth & Identity” — a sculpture made of old government documents banded together in the shape of a Greek column, with a stack of books on top; one book remains open and text is underlined and noted. It is an innovative design; Greek columns aren’t anything new, but Greek columns made out of old documents definitely are. Junior Julia Hamilton’s flowers made from text (“Untitled”) and junior Chana Joffe-Walt’s larger-than-life boardgame, “Who Wants to Be an American” both serve as fresh interpretations of how media influences the most fundamental parts of our lives.

Some of the more “traditional” books are really not traditional at all, instead opting for more eccentric images and stories. Senior Abigail Chapin’s “Art in Clothing Selection” takes a raggedy old book of the same title and turns it into what looks like a doll’s closet. The yellowed pages have been hollowed out to make a miniature closet where various dainty fashions hang from tiny hangers; the clothing is made from pages of an old book, and shoes even collect dust at the bottom. It’s a charming exposé on fashion and our societal obsession with it.
Katona’s pop-up book, “Untitled,” combines black-and-white photographs, cut-out/pop-up shapes and interspersed text that provides a social reflection on the often grievous process of growing up in a world where the female body is an object of constant evaluation from society. The cover flaunts a woman’s black bra, which seems almost humorous at first, but later becomes part of the book’s theme of the struggle for self-acceptance.
Reimagining the Book will be on display in Fisher Hall through next week. All are invited to attend the exhibit’s opening reception on Friday at 7 p.m. Refreshments will be served.