Tag: 3rd Annual Book Art Contest

Book and art lovers can rejoice because the 3rd Annual Book Art Contest is once again bringing the two together. The contest encourages participants to “play, think, create, innovate, repurpose, and sculpt” discarded books, librarian Georgann Kurtz-Shaw explains. The library began the contest began for three major reasons according to Kurtz-Shaw. The first reason was simple. “We thought the contest would be fun,” she says. The library wanted host an event each semester that brings people into the library to show them it’s more than “a storehouse for books and computer.” The next reason for the start was actually the inspiration from Professor Steve Heilmer’s class Juxtaposynthesis. “In this class Prof Heilmer asks students to transform something commonplace into something new and beautiful—into a work of art,” Kurtz-Shaw tells. The library displayed the class’s work for several years in the library for a larger audience, which ended up sparking the Book Art Contest for the library. The extensive book-weeding project the library started a few years ago also contributed to the contest. “It seemed a shame to send boxes of books that no one wanted off to a recycling center,” Kurtz-Shaw revealed, “the book art contest gives some of the library’s withdrawn books another life.”