By Victoria Starbuck, Staff Writer

Published in print Feb. 4, 2015

How would you describe a book? Would it be pages of paper bound together on one side that convey a message from the author to the reader? Step inside the Hodges Special Collections and University Archives and you will find that this basic codex definition of a book can hardly be passed off as universal. The Special Collections is filled with a wide range of books that vary from the codex format that dominates in our society.

Referred to by Special Collections Specialist, Carolyn Shankle, as a conveyor belt book, After Water Aerobics by Lois Morrison exemplifies the concept of an Artist’s Book. Wider than it is tall, the book’s boxlike shape mimics the visual structure of a swimming pool. This outer structure can be likened to the surface of a pool that reflects the sunbeams that shine upon it during a humid summer afternoon. Waves are lapping up in reaction to the cannonballs of divers, their bodies parting the water to escape the steamy air.

But if Morrison’s book can be compared to one in codex form, this watery box is merely the cover. It is once the reader has lifted his or her eyes from the captivating waves that the contents of the book appear. Sitting on top of the box with their torsos exposed are the swimmers who so deftly escaped the heat. As the reader turns the yellow crank attached to the side of the box, the pages of Morrison’s book begin to unfold. The ladies with their swimming caps wade by as individual signs, which when combined form sentences, create room between the swimmers. With each crank the reader not only reads about the water aerobics class but also experiences it. The strain of moving the conveyor belt that holds the exercisers and signs mimics that of the water tension when submerged in a pool.

In contrast to Morrison’s After Water Aerobics, Morris Cox’s seasonal quartet of Artist’s Books appears more similar to codex form. However, each of the books in The Four Seasons. Am Impression of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter: a Landscape Panorama contains one continuous sheet of paper that depicts the transition of the corresponding season. This series took Cox eighteen months to complete, working only with the homemade press placed on his kitchen counter. Spring, a favorite as Shankle points out, is filled with the bloom of each year while hills roll over the folds that create the illusion of pages until finally resting in a valley beneath the large, yellow glowing sun. Cox achieves greater detail with the use of natural elements to create texture on the landscapes. With Winter, the reader glides along the continuous sheet while the iciness of the page spreads into the room.

Standing no more than two inches in height is Ed Hutckin’s Turtle Talk. Starting in box format, the inner thoughts of the turtle are revealed just as the creature would emerge from the shell fondly referred to as his home. At the center of the box sits a tiny hand painted turtle from Mexico, who bobs his head along as if to affirm the verity of the book’s verses.

The Birthday Project, a work by UNCG Art Department Assistant Professor Sheryl Oring, functions as an addendum to her one of her performance works. This production involved interacting with individuals who composed birthday letters to President Bush during his time in office. The letters compiled from various states are strung together to create the book. Oring’s book places the reader in the position of recipient and in those moments of immersion it is as if the reader has assumed the role of President Bush himself. 

The Hodges Special Collections and University Archives is home to a vast array of books. The Artist’s Books in this collection help provide inside into a format of immersive reading. These books provide readers not only with the ability to see what the author is conveying but also to experience the book as it twists and turns with every word or idea created by the author.