Altered Books & Art Therapy

7 Jan

What is an Altered Book?

An altered book is an art object created from an existing book/novel. We use the printed pages of the book as our canvas and apply mixed media techniques to transform the book into an art piece.

Altered books are different from scrapbooking or junk journals in that they can be transformed into art objects. And the process of creating Altered Books can be more than just making something that is visually appealing, it can be theraputic when we apply the lens of Art Therapy. So let’s break that down; What is Art Therapy?

What is Art Therapy?

The term Art Therapy is used quite broadly nowadays and can mean many different things in different contexts eg. It can be used in clinical or non-clinical context or self-directed or guided by a qualified Art Therapist. There are different levels of engagement and involvement that offer different experiences and potentials for healing.

Art Therapy is different from an art class where you are solely being taught techniques and critiqued on the execution of these techniques in terms of a resolved and completed artwork. Not that sitting through an art class won’t take you to the depths of your being and make you question everything but an art class is not a held space and the intention is very different from that of Art Therapy.

I’m a Transpersonal Art Therapist; when I refer to Art Therapy I am referring to using art making as a therapeutic tool to explore our felt experience in the world; using art to bridge both inner and outer worlds. We are using it to activate our unconscious mind and allow for our own wisdom to trickle through via our art expression. It’s gentle, nurturing and it has the capacity to help us understand and see our experience in the world. When we can see ourselves, through soft gentle eyes, that’s when healing happens.

Altered Books & Art Therapy

Through the lens of art therapy altering existing books can be incredibly powerful as we are now working with the idea of changing the stories that were previously fixed. So many of us can feel stuck in a loop and not know how to get of the old path and create a new path; we can’t see that there are other options or ways of doing this. The act of physically changing a story that already exists can open our new pathways of possibilities. Suddenly we are realise that we are the one telling the story.

And working with altering books is a courageous act, its rebellion! We are cutting up something that is an ‘end product.’ We are saying, “there’s more to be told here and this time I’m choosing where the story goes next.”

One of the things I really liked about using this format is that we don’t need to have a plan, we can simply be working with mixed media techniques and something meaningful will naturally arrive when it's meant to.

So through lens of art therapy or therapeutic art making an Altered book can:

Be a container to hold a story: events of memories and feelings
An unfolding and endless landscape to explore and discover possibilities
Allow for self expression through creativity
Offer a sense of mastery as you learn & develop mixed media techniques
Ongoing creative practice that can support you. You can take our book anywhere with you and work on it!
A mindful sensory experience through process based art making that helps calm and regulate our nervous system

Lastly, altering books is a process. It takes time. Rather than striving for a final product our intention is to gently tend and wander through the process. There isn’t a definitive end to the process, we could keep going and going. When we do feel our process is complete we get to see how we have transformed; all those small actions, the fiddling, the choices we made to change some things and keep others. And that’s where the power lies, knowing we have choices and that our actions, no matter how small, can change the course of how things unfold.