Last year I attended a show my photographer friend, Ann, was participating in at a gallery in Marina del Ray. As I was wandering through the place taking in other artists' creations, I noticed one had a collection of her work in a book. Each page featured a single image. No words. Just a lovely visual journey through her work. As I was thumbing through it, I realized she had simply created and printed a photo book from one of the digital photo printing websites like Shutterfly or Blurb. I thought that was brilliant! I loved it...so much so that when I created my 41 for 41 list, it was one of the first goals I wrote down!
It's not that I want an actual book of my work to be on coffee tables around the world (though now that I say that, why not?!). It's that I want to use this book as a sort of business card/portfolio/show-n-tell piece that I can carry with me (to whip out when someone asks, "what is marbling?"), give away (you can probably bet my mom is going to get one!), or give to someone with whom I intend to do business (like a gallery or juried art show).
My "coffee table book," however, isn't just digital images. In it's 20 pages, half of the work shown is the real deal. In other words, next to a digital image on a two-page spread, I've "tipped in" (or inserted) an original piece. Why? Because I want people to get a feel (literally and figuratively) for a "live" piece. I want them to be able to touch the paper (or canvas or wood) and see up close and personal how the art form behaves on it. And why not just do all original pieces? Because I have some pieces I love but they are no longer in my possession, either having been sold, are for sale, or were used for something like my hand-bound journals.
Right now I have three of these books. I intend to make some tweaks to a few pages and then order another five or 10 to have on hand. I'm thrilled with the way they turned out and can't wait to start putting them into action!
