Joy Campbell

Campbell, a native New Mexican and former English and Speech teacher, lives with her husband and toy poodle, Jeni. She enjoys taking art and computer classes at the Santa Fe Community College.

Artist Statement

What is Book Art? It is a handmade work of art conceived and developed as a book. The art piece may contain text, images, collage, drawings, paintings, ornate stitching, beading, found objects, organic matter, computer technology, calligraphy, and more.

My art books are representative of a wide variety of structures and formats from the traditional codex to accordion books, scrolls, tunnel books, flag books, and even altered books. The use of uncommon materials is a characteristic of artists’ books. Atypical substances that I make use of are glass, wood, leather, metal, stone, bone, polymer clay, etc. Text in my books is varied: pen and ink drawings, watercolor, sumi-e, calligraphy, and transferred photo images.

I enjoy altering existing books that have been discarded and headed to a landfill. An altered book by definition is any book that has been recycled by creative means into a work of art. They can be rebound, painted, cut, burned, folded, collaged, gold-leafed, rubber stamped, drilled, or otherwise adorned.

Recently, I have been creating wall hanging pieces that are made entirely from recycled materials that have been found or purchased from thrift stores or Restores. The most recent are found wood panels adorned with altered pages from recycled books, stones, metal, and wood chips. I like the idea of taking discarded materials and transforming them or recycling them into something beautiful in the form of an art piece.