How to exhibit a book on a display board

In my last post I shared how I had been invited to have a solo exhibition of my work at a college. It was a lovely opportunity and it also posed a challenge, because my passion is making handmade books. How do I display these on a flat upright board?!  

After giving it some thought I decided to take photos of some book pages, so that there were examples of the different construction and designs.  But I felt it was important to actually have my work on display so that visitors could see the layers and detail, so I decided to make 2 concertina books specially for the exhibition.  

I chose this construction because it is simple and quick to make. Time was a factor, but even more important, it could be open and attached across the board for easy viewing. I love taking photos and one of my favourite ways of sharing these is to put them into a book. So I chose two sets, and spent several days covered in paint and glue. I was really pleased with the result, as I could create a slight dimension with the folded pages when attaching them to the display board, rather than having the books flat.  

The other pieces of art that I displayed are pages from my art journal, and a collection of tree experiments, using tissue, ink and wax. The exhibition will show for the month of March and in a few weeks I will be meeting the students to tell them more about my art. I have offered to show them how to make a mini book so I'm looking forward to this, and now I have re-fired my love of the concertina book I can't wait to make some more. They may be simple and easy to make, but they are so versatile and fun to do.  Come back soon to see the second book that is on display.  And if you'd like to see the first one it can be seen here . 

I have just noticed the row of art journal pages are not placed very well. Trying to support the large board while stapling wasn't easy especially when you can't stand back to see what you are doing! It  didn't help that we were trying to put the exhibition up in between tutorials. Hopefully the students will know that I am practising imperfection!  

These two photos show how the concertina books could be displayed to show the open pages.

Thank you for visiting and I'll be back to show the second book on Sunday.