She’s retired and she doesn’t knit or crochet and that’s all it took for a local artist to turn to fore-edge book art to discover a pastime where she can explore her creativity in a unique way.
Pat Klassen said she believes this type of artwork is relatively new in this part of the world because whenever she tries to explain it to people, nobody knows what she’s talking about.
It starts with Klassen hunting through all the thrift stores in Prince George for hardcover books that have about 300 pages, have a good spine, and are 21 or 23 cm in height. She likes to upcycle used books, she explained.
After finding the ideal book, the process gets techie.
Klassen has software to get a spreadsheet where she can stretch an image over 15 pages.
“It makes the image really skewed to the point it’s unrecognizable,” Klassen said.
Then she takes her trusty rotary cutter and starts the process of cutting those 15 pages into 150 strips in total. Then after some massive folding, she starts to affix with tape the strips to the edges of the pages.
About six hours later, she’s magically got the image on the book’s edge.
Her Remembrance Day-themed piece is an image of a soldier with Lest We Forget underneath. It’s an image that is timely, classic and familiar and designated as public domain.
Klassen will be donating the artwork to the Legion in time for Remembrance Day in honour of all our local members of the military - past, present and future.
“This type of artwork is not something a lot of people would do,” Klassen said. “But I have got something about books and paper and cutting and it just slipped into my life. I have made more art than I could ever sell. People just haven’t seen it and I’m not one to put myself out there.”
So she would be happy to donate them to a charitable cause for a silent auction or something like, she added.
“I just love doing it,” Klassen said, trying to explain her passion for the art.
“I have my own little corner in my house, my husband made me a special stand, it’s very therapeutic and it’s just what I do.”
For more information email Klassen at [email protected] or visit https://www.etsy.com/shop/pageartdesign.
