Amelia Bird has built a relationship with books on multiple levels. As a student in the Center for the Book, Bird utilizes the physical aspects of books to transform them into works of art.

Before she came to the Center for the Book, Bird participated in the University of Iowa’s Nonfiction Writing Program. Her writing has appeared in several literary journals, including The Southern Review. In her studies, Bird finds herself focusing on concepts dealing with people, relationships to places, and identity. Her work also includes references to components of the Floridian culture she grew up with -- a form of regionalism that she would like to continue to explore.

After earning an MFA in nonfiction writing, Bird spent a year teaching at several colleges in Ohio but soon found herself drawn back to the UI to further explore book art. Bird said the addition of the MFA track at the University of Iowa Center for the Book offers her and her peers a unique opportunity to grow along with the program.

Though many students at the Center for the Book come from a visual arts background rather than a writing one, Bird’s experience with words has enriched her approach to the visual aspects of manipulating the interior and exterior of books. Demanding a synergy between text and image, the discipline of book art has also held “the right mix” to help her convey certain artistic expressions that writing alone could not fully reach.

“There was something that felt really complementary about the two things,” Bird said. “It was nice to be able to get out of my head, or at least get into a different part of my head, when I was making something with my hands.”

Following her studies at the UI, Bird would like to continue teaching to help students explore the concept of text incorporation. She said expanding technologies, such as e-books, provide an interesting twist to her field, arousing a nostalgic view of older tools such as printing presses.

“Artists always adapt to the technologies left over when people move toward something else, which is happening a lot in the art world right now,” she said. “People are using old printing presses that have been shoved aside because they see digital printing as more efficient.”