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About Jenny

2024 OTW Artist   Baltimore County  

Jenny O'Grady makes book sculptures out of beans and tape and fabric and whatever else she fancies at the moment. For several years, she taught book arts as an adjunct professor in the University of Baltimore's Creative Writing and Publishing Arts MFA program, where she earned her MFA in 2006. By day, she writes for UMBC.

Jenny is editor of The Light Ekphrastic (www.thelightekphrastic.com), an online literary journal that since 2010 has paired more than 400 writers and visual… more

See $1,000 b-grant Winning Portfolio
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Random Book Art Projects

I have made many, many books of poems, paper, fabric and other materials. These are a few of my favorites.
  • Judy/Madeleine-depths-of-madness-avoidance-parachute-doll
    Judy/Madeleine-depths-of-madness-avoidance-parachute-doll
    This is a double-ended parachute doll built around two characters in the movie Vertigo. Pictured is Madeleine. The parachute keeps them from actually dying. 2012. More at: http://kineticprose.com/2012/12/03/tyvek-and-vertigo/
  • Overdue
    Overdue
    This book was made using discarded library card catalogue cards from UMBC's Albin O. Kuhn Library. The hand-made box opens to reveal a drawer of pop-out cards. It is decorated with dates from an authentic library date stamp. The book was accepted into the AOK Library's Special Collections, bringing the cards full-circle as artifacts. 2011. More here: http://kineticprose.com/books/overdue/
  • Window Washer
    Window Washer
    This edition of 50 "magic" books was inspired by the vision of a man inside a church who was cleaning the large stained glass windows. When opened fully, it reveals a paint-by-number Jesus. Recipients of the book were invited to color the book and send me photos of their work. 2011. More here: http://kineticprose.com/books/window-washer/
  • Good Morning, My Eye
    Good Morning, My Eye
    This wearable eyeglasses book contains a haiku: Good morning, my eye Lashes, lenses, eager blink: Everything is yours. 2012. More here: http://kineticprose.com/2012/08/12/good-morning-my-eye/
  • And, Afterward...
    And, Afterward...
    I contributed a spread to And, Afterward, a collaborative book project. 2011. More at: http://kineticprose.com/books/and-afterward/
  • Boy2
    Boy2
  • Rainbow Sculpey Book
    Rainbow Sculpey Book
    This book's cover is made of yellow Sculpey clay and is only one-inch square. The exposed bind signatures open to reveal a rainbow of pages. 2012. More at: http://kineticprose.com/2012/03/11/a-bit-of-spring-cheer/
  • Deadline
    Deadline
    Deadline is made of corrugated cardboard, Sculpey clay, paint, a long matchstick, packing tape and white xerox paper. It unrolls to reveal a poem of the same name. 2005.
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    • Autobiography

    Autobiography is a book made with plastic freezer bags, cotton thread, binder board and baby lima beans. Each bean has been inscribed with a word, allowing the poem to flow freely and change within the book. The center bean is blank, representing the author’s uncertainty about motherhood. This is an edition of five. This book was included in the 2009 Bind-O-Rama on Philobiblon.com, the Book Arts Web.
    • Autobiography
      Autobiography
      Detail shot of book interior.
    • Autobiography
      Autobiography
      Inside of book, bean poem, hand sewn into plastic.
    • Autobiography
      Autobiography
      Front cover of hand sewn poem book, with title made of lima beans sewn into plastic.
    •

    • The Light Ekphrastic

    The Light Ekphrastic is a quarterly online ekphrasis journal that pairs writers and visual artists of all types to create new pieces based on previous work. Many contributors are from the Baltimore-D.C. area, but others come from as far away as Canada, Australia and Germany.

    Photos below attempt to show how this process works, but it's much better to visit the real thing at http://www.thelightekphrastic.com.

    We held our very first show of pairings of art and writing at the David Mikow Gallery in Catonsville in February 2013, with a new show planned for 2014, along with a planned handmade anthology of works from the first three years.
    • November 2012 issue screenshot
      November 2012 issue screenshot
    • The Light Ekphrastic
      The Light Ekphrastic
      Part III: The finale of a poem, and the artist's new response to it.
    • The Light Ekphrastic
      The Light Ekphrastic
      Part II: Poetic response to artist's work, then part of the poet's original submission to TLE.
    • The Light Ekphrastic
      The Light Ekphrastic
      Part 1: Top of page, a visual artist's submitted work.
    • TLE Gallery Show, February 2013
      TLE Gallery Show, February 2013
      The Light Ekphrastic held its very first non-virtual appearance with a show at The David Mikow Art Gallery in Catonsville. The show had a special focus on contributors from UMBC and surrounding community and featured an informal discussion by artist/writer pairs about the ekphrastic processes they used to create new works inspired by the works of their partners. Exhibiting writers and artists included: Sara Abbott, Danielle Ariano, Richard Byrne, Dayna Carpenter, Marlayna Demond, Karen Donovan, Vin Grabill, Katie Heater, Michelle Jordan, Chris Justice, Dina Karkar, Jim Lord, Avelino Maestas, Meredith Purvis, Jackie Regales, Carabella Sands, Rachel Wooley
    • The Light Ekphrastic
      The Light Ekphrastic
      Screen shot of The Light Ekphrastic home page, August 2012 issue, featuring writers and visual artists who have been paired to create new work.
    •

    • Homing

    Homing is a book made completely of fabric, with hand-embroidered text. The feathers, or “pages,” tack to the body of the bird with red buttons. When opened, they reveal a poem that reads forward and backward, depending on which side of the bird you’re on, to represent the bird’s migration from north to south and back.

    Poem text:

    north says
    it is time
    all that you own
    tucked neatly within
    homing
    south says

    south says
    it is time
    all that you own
    tucked neatly within
    homing
    north says
    • Homing
      Homing
      Close-up of a wing page with embroidered letters.
    • homing.pdf
    • Homing
      Homing
      Fabric bird poem book, with wing pages open to show embroidered lettering.
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    • Tin Drum Doll Books

    This trio of fabric book dolls is based on poems I’ve written about characters in the Günter Grass novel The Tin Drum. They represent three generations: Anna Bronski (the grandmother); Agnes Matzerath (the mother); and Oskar (the son, and the book's protagonist).

    I've tried to make the physical experience of reading each poem doll mirror an aspect of the doll's character, and also somewhat intrusive -- as each poem touches on private, uncomfortable moments of their lives. You must lift a skirt, or unzip a dress, or unbutton suspenders to read their stories.

    You can hear each poem and see the dolls in action by viewing the attached video.

    More at http://kineticprose.com/2012/12/06/tin-drum-update-the-trio-is-complete/
    • Oskar, detail
      Oskar, detail
      The plates of his poem reflect the lies and memories of his life, etched on his bones like scrimshaw...
    • Oskar, detail
      Oskar, detail
    • Oskar, overview
      Oskar, overview
      Oskar, the unreliable narrator of the book, wills himself to stop growing at age three.
    • Constriction no.7
      Constriction no.7
      Ink on Paper, 22"x30", 2014
    • Agnes Matzerath, detail
      Agnes Matzerath, detail
      Eventually, out of grief or madness, she poisons herself by eating eels caught by her husband.
    • Agnes Matzerath, overview
      Agnes Matzerath, overview
    • Anna Bronski, detail
      Anna Bronski, detail
      And then you were born...
    • Anna Bronski, detail
      Anna Bronski, detail
      Anna's skirts are the pages of the book.
    • The Tin Drum Poem Dolls
    • Grandmother, Mother and Son
      Grandmother, Mother and Son
      Agnes Matzerath (the mother), Oskar (the son), and Anna Bronski (the grandmother). Photo by Marlayna Demond.
    •

    • Our Blood Holds Secrets

    This "living fossil" book sculpture is made mainly from paper bags, eyelets and glue. A poem is hidden within the horseshoe crab's book gills -- one stanza per segment. The legs, tail and gills move, as do the front and middle sections of "carapace." You can read more about the project here: http://kineticprose.com/2013/04/22/living-fossil-book/.
    • Constriction no.8 (detail)
      Constriction no.8 (detail)
    • our-blood-holdssecrets.pdf
    • Our Blood Holds Secrets
      Our Blood Holds Secrets
      The underside of the horseshoe crab. The "book lungs" pull back to reveal a poem about the crabs as living fossils. The legs and tail move freely. Made in 2013. More on the book here: http://kineticprose.com/2013/04/22/living-fossil-book/
    • Our Blood Holds Secrets
      Our Blood Holds Secrets
      The underside of the horseshoe crab. The "book lungs" pull back to reveal a poem about the crabs as living fossils. The legs and tail move freely. Made in 2013. More on the book here: http://kineticprose.com/2013/04/22/living-fossil-book/
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