Rae Trujillo made her artist book Rorschach’s Animals resemble a box of Animal Crackers. Inside the cover, the reader will find the silhouette of an elephant on the left side of the page and an ink blot on the right side. It’s up to the viewer to decide if they resemble each other. The book is rather small with dimensions of 5 x 2.75 inches and 20 pages that are backed by multicolored foam board. Special Collections in McFarlin Library holds the fourth edition out of eight and Trujillo created them in 2009. Her inspiration came when she had been collecting animal cracker boxes for some time and decided to make something out of them. A Rorschach test is a psychological test where the subject’s perceptions of inkblots are recorded and analysed. It is typically used to examine someone’s personality characteristics and emotions. She encourages her readers to “enjoy the book with a couple of cookies and a glass of milk” and that “it won’t make you crazy” while reading it.
Trujillo attended California State University Hayward where she received her BA with an emphasis in sculpture in 1978. She fell in love with creating artists books in 2004 and loves telling a story that allows her to investigate structures and materials. She intertwines many disciplines into one art form, in turn challenging herself to create books that people can fall into and understand. Trujillo feels that “a book is a familiar object. Usually, you know what to expect when you take a book into your hands, whether it is a novel, reference or even a picture book. But when you pick up an Artist’s Book, magic happens. You are transported to a different world. An Artist’s Book reveals its secrets in unexpected ways, as a shared experience between the Artist and the Viewer.”
If you’d like to see Rorschach’s Animals by Rae Trujillo (N7433 .4 T78 R787 2009 Art Mini) you can always visit us in Special Collections, located on the 5th floor of McFarlin Library, Monday through Friday, 8:00 am until 4:30 pm.