Booknauts ~ Have Your Own Adventure
2024
“Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high! Take a look, it’s in a book…”
Reading Rainbow had it right.
“I can go anywhere! Friends to know and ways to grow…”
Booknauts, unlike their spacefaring astronaut counterparts, are not just limited to exploring the more immediate aspects of our solar system. With your head in a book, you can go literally anywhere. Add in a little imagination and creativity and the possibilities are endless. In times long gone by stories, history, wisdom and more were passed on down through oral tradition.
When systems of writing joined other cultural developments, books eventually appeared on the scene to carry on those records, memories, fantasies and beyond. Today, with so many prevailing screens available to soak up our attention, books still allure those who value a real tangible experience with their chosen adventure. Readers hold this physical “map” in their very hands, can still smell the old pages, and don’t have to be concerned that its battery life may cut short their excursion into unknown realms.
My boredom with painting on canvases led me to begin experimenting creating art out of books a number of years ago. This, coupled with my interest in making dolls and learning more folklore, myths and legends emerged to this project. Unfortunately, I wasn’t one of those kids who spent most of their summers curled up with a book I couldn’t put down. Having trouble learning to read, for the first few years of school I literally loathed it. Creating with my hands was so much easier and enjoyable.
Today, I’m thankful I was able to overcome those initial hiccups and now relish the opportunities I have to dive into a good book. Though, if I’m being honest, I still spend much more of my time creating. Each booknaut is a compilation of my current interest in various art mediums—ceramics, painting, and fiber art. Every aspect of each is the product of my hands - the clay faces hand-molded, then hand-painted, and their bodies carefully hand-sewn, fabric for their clothing sourced from vintage family quilts. My hope is that these little adventurers will encourage others to find their next book to go exploring with.