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| Pride and Prejudice |
Jodi Harvey-Brown's book sculptures will make your jaw drop. Her Darcy and Elizabeth will make you want to read Pride and Prejudice again — for the umpteenth time. Tom Sawyer, Moby-Dick, Alice in her wonderland, the Old Man from the Old man and the sea and other such famous characters bound out of the pages of the very book that they occupy in words.
Three years ago, Pennsylvania-based Brown bought a box of old books from a yard sale. "One book in the bottom of the box had been crushed by the others," recalls the lover of old books. She started folding the pages to form a design. "Everything grew from there," says the self-taught book-sculptor. "It felt good to make something new from something that was ruined.
Book sculptures are depictions of a story made from the pages of that story. They can be created with the book as part of the sculpture or by taking the pages from the book and creating a free standing sculpture. They can be open or closed book sculptures.
Brown typically uses a scene or character that embodies the book and then fits in other details. "I break everything down to basic shapes, make those shapes from the pages, and then build it back together," she explains. Amount of time required to sculpt depends on the size and detail. Her largest and most detailed sculpture was The mad hatter's tea party . It took her more than a hundred hours. "It was also the most difficult to make. The details on it were so small; making the tea pots and all of the place settings were a challenge," she reveals. Currently, she is working on a large dragon with a mountain scene in the background. She has already spent 80 hours on it and "at least that much more to go". Brown uses scissors and razor knives to sculpt. Till date she has created hundreds of sculptors, but "hasn't kept a count".
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Old man and the sea
Most of Brown's works are commissioned. But when she gets a chance to create something for herself she usually opts for the "fantasy genre. Dragons, mermaids, witches... I don't think I ever really grew out of fairy tales," she says. "I also try to find older books. I love that they have this forgotten history to them. You never know where they've been or who has read them. I hate to see them rotting away so I try to make something new and give them a new life."
Reactions to her sculptures usually range from people weeping to giving her bear hugs. "When I'm out doing a demo or a show people tend to do a double take. They'll walk past, then circle back and just stand in front of my table with this confused but amazed expression. I've also had a few children look at my sculptures and say 'I want to read that!' Those are the best. Most people don't read enough anymore. If I can make a child want to read then I did my job."
Brown's sculptures are priced at $ 100 onwards and are shipped worldwide.
Don't forget to check the artist's website http://www.jodiharvey-brown.com/
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