"Collage This" by Fred Free
Altered book, 52 pages, 6x8 inches.
1/13/06-1/31/06

...A few years back I bought a book called "collage" from a book sale at my local library. It was a how-to-do-it book you might give your mother if she wanted to learn how to make collages...

In the new altered books series (starts today!), I'm going to mostly let the books speak for themselves. I was thinking I was going to ask the artist questions about the book, but you know what? I am going to leave every book open to interpretation. When there is a whole collection of works that has one cohesive message or theme, they tell a story or evoke a feeling. That's why collage books are so great—seeing everything in one place is so much more impressive than a single piece on its own.

So about the books: I hope to feature all kinds of gluebooks, mini-books, altered books, collage books, art journals... Whatever you would like to call them, they will be here. I'll give you a little bit of information about the book, such as the title, who made it, how large it is and any special qualities it has. Maybe I will describe certain experiments or techniques used. But that's it, you can read the books on your own.

As you can tell I am super excited about this particular feature.

PS. Look forward to tomorrow's interview with Rebecca Trawick.