The Creative Arts Therapy Gallery is open on Monday and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. It is located on the second floor of the Student Union room S27. The art is set up and taken down on Mondays to replace the old work with new work. The art in the photos provided were up until Oct. 31. New art will be available for both viewing and interaction until Nov. 7.

The art is created by the Crafts I & II classes and these classes explore the art of book making and look at art movements like book making.

“I was interested to see how students would integrate the tradition of bookmaking, contemporary art concepts, and push the boundaries of what is considered a ‘book’”, said Creative Arts Therapy Instructor, Terri Giller. Giller said “I was delighted to see how original and thoughtful these pieces were, despite [being] given the same instructions.”

Juliana Haug, a creative arts therapy major, based her book on the idea of “open when” letters. Haug said, “I wanted to create a sculpture journal of ‘open when’ letters. To accomplish this vision, I made a total of 12 scrapbook pages that hold images and quotes based off of the letter. For example, my “open when it is Winter” page has a lot of blue tones, snowflakes, sparkles, etcetera.”

Haug used binding techniques called the kettle stitch and whip with natural and synthetic materials. She explained, “The ‘future-toji’ form was introduced and commonly used when bookbinding. After placing each page on top of one another, they were sewn together… the stitches going through blank margins next to the loose edges. In this way, the sewn edges form the spine. This stringbound style is what I chose to finish my project. To add the element of sculpture, my journal is able to stand on its own, propped open to invite outside viewers to thumb through the pages.”

Jacob Pierce, a studio art major, used his book to tell a personal story. Pierce said, “The project really opened up my eyes, because for the longest time, even while in college, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do with my life, I just knew that I liked to create art. so I decided to tell a story with all the pieces of work that have influenced me through my whole art journey.” Pierce discovered that through this decision making process, pottery making was a family business.

Creed Kidney, The Trumpet’s online editor and creative arts therapy major said, “My book doesn’t primarily have a function, per se, other than to simply be a book that is able to be filled by – something. This was my first experience with bookmaking, so I wanted to do something that was as basic as possible but also gave me room for creative and inspirational freedom. I drew my inspiration primarily from old, hand-bound books of medieval times, stuff that’s fairly foundational and simple in construction but still maintains a sense of elegance. I really enjoyed this process, and I hope to do more of it in the future. From making my own paper to actually stitching my book together by hand, I love when an artistic project or experience gives you a sense of intimacy with your craft; I think that’s inherent in all art, but this was specifically powerful.”

Taylor Nelson, another creative arts therapy major, said, “The function of my book is just for people to kind of learn about the zodiac signs. I think the book could either live as an art object as well as provide entertainment to the audience. I got my inspiration for this book through my love/fascination with everything zodiac/astrology-related. The book is sort of handmade, I altered an old sketchbook I had. I ripped out some pages and painted some pages black, and I made the covers. I didn’t really have an intended audience in mind, just whoever enjoys astrology/learning more about their zodiac. I want the audience to flip through the pages and find their zodiac and maybe learn something they maybe didn’t know or weren’t aware of before.”

For more information, contact Giller at [email protected].