Exhibit promises to be a real page-turner

Even artist Liz Eakins can’t say for certain how her new exhibit will come together.

Inspired by the prospect of having an exhibit in the gallery at Curiosity House Books, Eakins set about creating a series of books containing multiple pieces of art.

More than a dozen books will be mounted on the wall of the gallery and each day, the pages will be turned, revealing a whole new collection. How each one relates to the pages of the other books will be a surprise to everyone, including the artist.

Each book has a different style and theme but there are common elements.

The base element in Eakins work is the paper.

As an art student at the Ontario College of Art, she studied printmaking and liked presenting her work in book form. She also worked at the Japanese Paper Place in Toronto and even had a chance to travel to Japan with her boss.

She said a love of reading and paper is what inspires her to continue making books.

“What I love about books is being able to hold them…” said Eakins, turning the next page and there’s something exciting there.”

In her new exhibit, entitled Open Book, Eakins has used a number of different mediums and techniques to build layers of texture on each page.

“It’s kind of chaotic but I have been working on all of the books at the same time,” said Eakins.

She started with large sheets of paper, which she marked before cutting them and binding them by hand into small books. Each page was then built up using different mediums, including ink, paint, collage, stitching and lino prints. She said it could be defined as a form of mark making, meaning the page evolves with each layer of markings.

Open Book will be on display from Nov. 7 to Dec. 7.

An opening reception with the artist will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 7.

Curiosity House Books and Art Gallery is located at 178 Mill Street, Creemore.