Art of the Book

Books and writing are referenced by every piece in Art of the Book, which runs through October 30 at the Plainsboro Public Library. Nine artists from the Plainsboro Art Group contributed 16 works, including acrylics, book covers and illustrations, ceramic pieces, a multimedia painting, an ink painting, button collages, and a lamp sculpture dedicated to the late David Mulchinock, Esq. A reception is Saturday, October 17, from 2 to 4 p.m.

Sandhya Modi used acrylics to paint a lovely, colorful, lighthearted large image that would suit a Book Mark. The book Hirwai (Greenery in the Marathi language) inspired Leena Bagawde’s acrylic work. Both the book and the trees grow in her native city. Hiran Sarkar’s lyrical, flowing acrylic, Once Upon a Moon, was chosen for the show’s poster.

A fuzzy felted wool book cover by Nelly Kouzmina, also known as Feltinelli, features three wonderful wavy radish images.

Artist, designer, and illustrator Terrance Cummings designed a striking, bold cover design and interior illustrations for In Search of Color Everywhere, A Collection of African American Poetry. Both the book and two illustrations, Gathering and Healing are displayed.

Ceramicist J. Marion Simmons’ Dragon Dreams embodies imagination – which is fueled by information, in turn supplied by reading. Her other piece, Bibliophile, a woman reclining on a pile of books with one resting on her stomach and one on her thigh, has subjects emerging from the books.

The inspiration for multimedia artist The-O was the book of life. Life experience stretched the theme, but drawing relationship from one thing to another is part of what art is; there was lots of paper, the material for books. An additional connection to the theme: doing accounting is thought of as keeping the books.

A New Chapter: Whispers of Spring by Jinghua Gao, is a beautiful, must-see ink painting of snowdrops.

Susan Freeman contributed Aesop’s Fable Sour Grapes and two other illustrations for children’s books that are multimedia button collages, plus a lithograph and a soft ground etching. She dedicated her lamp sculpture to the late David Mulchinock, Esq. Built from hardware and wood and stone from an upcycled lamp, Ode to David Mulchinock has a base made from four of Mulchinock’s law books, each from different states.