Library Card Project: DJ Gaskin

As part of our ongoing Library Card Project and our Five Questions series, we've interviewed book artist DJ Gaskin, who used her cards to create "The Librarian's Diary." Gaskin says she "takes inspiration from nature, loves textures, and thrives on trying new things with unusual materials." Here's a look into her project:

What do you make?
I make art with paper. I work in collage, often with acrylic paint, using handmade, commercial and found papers and objects; but my greatest love is book arts… handmade journals and artist books. Most recently I’m focused on making books with recycled materials, using food boxes cut up into the cover-spine unit, with text pages of brown paper bags, collaging covers and text pages, adding inside pockets and other features. Also in my bookmaking repertoire are mini-book necklaces.

Why did you want to participate in the Library Card Project?
I love books, libraries, art, and a good challenge. And, I love the quaintness of these old cards. Using them to make a piece of art is preserving that beautiful antiquity in a timeless way.

How did you use your library cards?
The context, and my interests, merged perfectly for this: I had to make some kind of book using these cards. I loved that my batch of cards’ subjects are all about art. I drew from the library and book and art themes and came up with an artist book I call "The Librarian’s Diary," letting my imagination take me to where I thought hers might go during idle library desk time. To make this book, I started with a discarded food box – this one once held baker’s chocolate squares – collaged papers over the box-cover, used scrap bookbinder’s tape to group the cards together as six-card tape-folded signatures, and attached the signatures to the spine with long stitch. I took advantage of the catalog rod holes and added holes in the covers, inserted eyelets, and strung ribbon through the entire book of holes as a closure.

Where do you get your inspiration?
Nature and natural materials, shapes and textures everywhere, odd objects I pick up at flea markets, anything! Like a photographer sees the world in an imagined photographic frame, I see the world and everything in it as potential ideas for a new collage painting or a new way to make a book out of unexpected materials. I love to experiment and am totally unafraid. Even when something doesn’t work out as I’d like, it’s always a learning experience and almost always enjoyable regardless of the outcome.

What is your favorite/most read art, craft or design book?
Oh my, so many! I’m an avid collector/reader/studier of books on the craft of acrylic painting, fine-art collage and, especially, bookmaking. Browsing through the Masters series gives me incredible inspiration – Masters Collage, and Masters Book Arts (from Lark Crafts/Books). I love looking at these amazing creations to unpuzzle how they were made and try my own versions or spin off on a new idea in my own style. A couple of my favorite instructional books are Cover to Cover: Creative Techniques for Making Beautiful Books, Journals & Albums by Shereen LaPlantz) and How to Make Books: Fold, Cut & Stitch Your way to a One-of-a-Kind Book by Esther K. Smith.

View more Library Card Project entries. Five Questions is a brief Q&A about books and craft, with people who love and use the American Craft Council Library.