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VISION,
LANGUAGE, AND SUBSTANCE  Tucked
away in the basement of Foster Hall on LSU’s campus, lies
a world that often goes unnoticed. Color, fabric, canvases, presses,
and brushes dominate the view of the printmaking studios of the
School of Art. Here, students come together to discover ways to
capture their feelings and thoughts, amidst a world torn by politics
and scarce resources.
“We draw on rocks, but work with computers,” says Koptcho, an associate professor in the School of Art. “It’s interesting to see the technologies side by side. For example, the contrast of greasy, black lines drawn on grey limestone or shiny, etched copper against the strange blue light of the computer monitor. Each tool lends a certain quality of physicality to the final work.” Book arts, a relatively new, formal field of art, includes our physical idea of what a book is, but Koptcho, fellow printmaking professor Kimberly Arp, and their students have an abstract concept of a book as a container of an idea. Ranging from the size of a credit card to that of an open newspaper, the student’s art has no limit on the substance, content, or technique, young or old, used to create it. Koptcho recently received a $120,000 grant from the Louisiana Board of Regents to purchase more materials and equipment. She is awaiting several Nipping Presses, which flatten a book, cover and pages, before it is bound, as well as other tools needed to bind books. With 20 students in a book arts class, individuals will no longer have to wait in long lines to press their books. Initial equipment was purchased with a generous donation from Paula Garvey Manship. Having new tools to express themselves is not the only advantage for students in Koptcho’s book arts class. Not only are Koptcho and her students using centuries-old printmaking techniques, but they are able to see, touch, and feel the centuries-old texts first created by the techniques the student’s are learning. The LSU Libraries Special Collections Division in Hill Memorial Library houses these rare books and manuscripts, making it a unique place among public collections in Louisiana. Koptcho and her class examine works from the Rare Book Collection, one of eight specialty collections in Hill Memorial Library. The collection contains works in 18th century British history and literature, New World exploration and travel, and science fiction and fantasy, among others. A highlight of the collection is a 15th century illuminated manuscript Book of Hours, a wildly popular prayer book containing prayers and meditations for certain hours, days, months, or seasons. Koptcho emphasizes that the extent to which she and her students
can collaborate with scholars and researchers from other disciplines
is great.
ON
THE WEB: from Fall 2004
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A
recent project required each student in Koptcho’s book arts
class to bring in an old pair of jeans. The students’ assignment
was to create a book about America and each was given one page
on which to express an image or idea about the country. Using
the blue jeans as one of the most recognizable symbols of American
culture, the students shredded their jeans into fiber using a
Hollander beater. They made paper from that fiber and on it fashioned
their own personal expressions. Some students wrote poems and
others placed photos on their pages. One student drew a picture
of a jar, representing a lifelong tradition of her grandfather
who preserved figs.
In
addition, Koptcho and her students hope to soon collaborate with
faculty from the LSU Medieval and Renaissance Interdisciplinary
Studies (MARIS) Project to more closely study medieval manuscripts,
as they have with the Rare Book Collection of Hill Memorial Library.
Koptcho has worked with faculty from the Department of English
for special studies courses on book arts, and even collaborated
with a Department of Biological Sciences professor to examine
artist-made paper up close under a Scanning Electron Microscope,
an indication of how the book arts program is reaching beyond
the basement of Foster Hall.