By Debra Sigel
Bonnie Stahlecker’s exhibit, Time, Memory and Implications, traces the history of her long love affair with books and sculpture.
“My passion for the book began in 1980 while a student of typography,” Stahlecker said. “I was completely captivated after my first foray into printing and binding an artist’s book.”
The exhibit is on display through Jan. 3 at the Arthur M. Glick Jewish Community Center in Indianapolis.
“It’s nothing short of spectacular,” said Mindi Epstein, a vice president of the community center.
Stahlecker’s vision as an artist began with books as the impetus to guide her creative energy.
“For the past several years my artwork has undergone a transformation from the traditional book format to book-like objects to the current wall sculptures,” she said. “However, as much as I like the physical object, be it a book or sculpture piece, it is the content behind the work that drives me to create the artwork.”
The pieces an audience will experience in this exhibition explore themes and visual forms of books and sculptural shields, Stahlecker said.
And along with carefully thought-out explorations, Stahlecker uses an array of materials such as pig skin, bone, doe skin, goat skin and hand-made paper to create her complex sculptures.
Stahlecker said she tries to inspire people to rethink about what they have always taken for granted, that there is always another view, another side.
This exhibit was a part of an annual Katz Festival of Books and Arts; relating to literature and the written word.
“I hope to have the objects become inviting to look at. I hope that people are drawn into the themes behind the work. The titles are clues the themes,” Stahlecker said.
