Author – Maker – Teacher
Justine Riley lives in Mayfield, KY with her husband and son. She’s a flower grower, a horse smeller, a yogurt maker. She has kept her sour dough alive and well for over a year now. She loves going for walks and sometimes she makes pottery. She is a book artist. She explores both sides of what a book is, not just the story, but the vessel that contains the story.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I make books because of their potential. As a child I often thought of a blank page as a friend, a true listener. There’s something great about sketching, journaling and recording thoughts and ideas; there’s potential.
The covers of the books I make are inspired by my previous experience with quilting and applique. I use combinations of book cloth and thread to make the distinctive covers. I dwell in geometric, floral and horse designs. As a child I learned about craftsmanship while working in my dad’s machine shop. The precision and craft I learned is most definitely carried over into the books I make.
The blank books I make are starting points, the start of a conversation and maybe even a relationship. A book is something a person lives with, it fits in their hand, it travels with them, it rests on their nightstand; it is a useful object. It is also an object that can be filled with personality.