Box 6

Artists’ books are works of art in the form of a book. This collection consists of 67 artists’ books created between 1976 and 2012. It includes works by famous artists like Chuck Close and Ed Ruscha as well as young emerging artists during the period.

One of the more unique items in the collection, this work looks like a pack of Salem cigarettes, the brand of cigarettes that the grandfather of the artist, Amy Pirkle, smoked before he died from lung cancer. Inside are eight cylinders resembling cigarettes but are actually tightly rolled scrolls with stories of the artist's memories of her grandfather.

This work by Elizabeth Pendergrass recreates Romeo and Juliet's balcony scene through text messages, transforming the scene completely. The texts are presented in an accordion-style book that is nestled inside an empty phone case that is itself, a Nokia from the 1990s, an anachronism at this point.

This work by artist Buzz Spector consists of colored pencils inscribed with phrases like "without stopping" and "awareness of death." The pencils are meant to be arranged in any way to create the poem the reader wishes to make.