“Verdigris” Artists’ books are fun to open and amazingly complex to create. But to peep inside one of these handmade books is to anticipate opening up a mysterious little world.
Ocean Township resident Richard Burton, who goes by his initials R.D. Burton, is a book artist who conceptualizes his own little worlds. He follows in a long tradition of artists who create limited-edition art books. That tradition goes at least as far back as the poet/artist William Blake in the late 1700s through early 1800s.
“My books are designed to unfold and fold, to expand and collapse, to flip and flop, and to open and close. The works I create are more sculptural than traditional books, and in some the concept of ‘book’ is pushed to unusual formats,” Burton notes in his artist statement.
The October exhibit at the Art Alliance in Red Bank will feature Burton’s book art in the window as well as the works of collage artists and artists whose work fits the theme “Telling Tales” on the walls of the gallery on Monmouth Street.
Burton is well known locally as an art teacher and the chair of the art department at Shore Regional High School, a position that he held for 40 years. He coordinated the Teen Arts Festival, the N.J. Young Playwrights Festival and the Artists-in-Residence Program. Before becoming a book artist, he was a potter who taught various aspects of pottery making through the Monmouth County Park System.
“Dexterity Book #1” Burton’s book-making process has developed over the years. He was introduced to book making when he took a book arts course at Peters Valley Craft Center in Layton in Sussex County because he was interested in paper.
“I made a couple of books, but I didn’t have much time until I retired two years ago,” he explained.
He added, “Working with paper is neater than pottery, and I like the instant gratification.”
Once he retired, he joined the Baird Center Book Art Roundtable in South Orange, where he meets with other book artists to share ideas, collaborate on projects, arrange for exhibits and just generally support each other.
“Joining Baird has opened me up. In the past, I added images to my book structures by using collage. I now use a computer and various software programs for that purpose,” he said, explaining that by using digital tools he can place the images so that they are more closely integrated into the book structure.
Although his work is tied to a long tradition of bookmaking, he enjoys the idea of combining traditional bookmaking techniques with the tools and materials of the 21st century.
“My books tend to use a single image as a starting point,” he said. “That image could be a photograph I took, or a piece of vintage paper ephemera. From there I add other images either related or in juxtaposition to the initial image. The challenge is to join the images with a book structure that produces a unified artwork.”
Burton’s subject matter is eclectic and ranges from historical themes to very personal visions, such as the book titled “Verdigris,” the name of the river near his birthplace in Kansas. A wrapped accordion book, it opens up with pull-out pages that are cut out and layered with recessed frames.
One of the first books he made was a traditional Codex book made of handmade paper with an abstract design on the cover and stitched in a case binding. He has also experimented with a number of tunnel books that are flat until you pull out the cover and open it like an accordion. One of his tunnel books is titled “Gold.” It was inspired by a trip to Colorado, where his saw an abandoned gold mine. He photographed the mine and then found other photographs and objects that fit his theme. At that point, he scanned the photos into Photoshop, printed them out and hand cut them.
“You have to plan ahead,” he said, adding that each book takes a long time to create.
Another of his tunnel books is actually about a tunnel, New York’s Lincoln Tunnel. It includes images of Lincoln as well as photographs of the approach to the Lincoln Tunnel on the cover.
“The images have to fit the content of the book,” he said.
He explained that there are dozens of book structures besides the tunnel books. They include accordion books, flag books, pop-up books, scrolls and foldout books, sculptural books, clamshell books and flip-flop books. They are now considered a distinct genre taught in art schools like The Center for Book Art in New York City.
The art form has evolved from creating a book to illustrate words. Sometimes these books have words, but just as often the images in the book tell the story. When William Blake (1757-1827) created his beautiful books like the “Songs of Innocence and Experience,” he wanted to illustrate his poems. Oftentimes, these hybrid books were a collaboration between a poet and an artist. Like Blake, the poet wanted to create a work of art to illustrate his ideas.
Dieter Roth in Europe and Ed Ruscha in the U.S. are credited with defining the modern artists’ book during the mid- to late 20th century.
Ruscha deconstructed the book and created books with holes that allowed the viewer to see more than one page at the same time. He printed his first book, “26 Gasoline Stations,” in an edition of 400, but it grew to 4,000 copies by the end of the 1960s.
Roth was the first artist to reuse found books, printer’s end papers and newspaper.
Artists’ books began to proliferate in the social and political activism of the ’60s and ’70s. Artists’ books became part of the explosion of experimental forms. There is still some debate over whether book art is an art form or a craft, but there is no denying that it is creative, conceptual and, for the most part, original and imaginative.