One drawback to a book art exhibit is that viewers can't handle or flip through the book's contents and illustrations. You're stuck with the same open page unless you make arrangements through our Special Collections Librarian, Brea Black, to handle the work, which is something I recommend everyone do! She'll give you gloves and you can go to town, GENTLY. But on display, you're stuck with a rather static idea of what the book actually contains (and does).

Most of the books in our current exhibit, Books Outside the Binding, are "booky" (my unofficial word), meaning they have a cover and pages and are fairly self-explanatory. But then there's Dolph Smith's kinetic book, Roll Your Own, which, while lovely in form and concept, really never has a chance to shine in a display case. In order to experience it, you have to wind it up and let it go, and we simply can't afford to put that much wear and tear on an art piece. That's why I'm so excited the library bought a digital video camera for the staff to use.

A few days before this show opened, exhibit curators Brea Black and Zan Popp asked me to make a short demo of them "rolling their own". Much like popular magnetic poetry seen on refrigerators and coffee shop espresso machines, Smith's book (the cylindrical raffle-like container) and pages (shredded text on paper) leaves a unique narrative each time the reader fills and refills the "vehicle". You never get the same story twice. If a book is defined as a "container of information", you'll be amazed how far book artists can push the boundaries of "cover", "pages" and "story".

So, come see the show! Books Outside the Binding runs through February 13, 2009. It makes for a great afternoon when you need a break from post-holiday madness.