SAUGUS — If you’ve walked into the Saugus Public Library recently, you may have noticed a new display. Look closely, and you’ll see it’s a dress made entirely from book pages.
The creation was designed and pieced together by library staff member Lauren Bennett.
“The children’s librarian had seen one in a library when she was traveling, and she said, ‘Oh, I always wanted one of these.’ So, I said, ‘I’ll make one for you,” Bennett said.
And that was that. Bennett got to work constructing the dress, and with it being her first time, it still only took her approximately 20 hours to complete it.
“I’m a graphic designer, and I was an art director, so I thought I could make it and figure it out… And I’ve done little things for the libraries. I work at Peabody, too, with books, but you have to use books that don’t have any bad words in them. You have to be careful with what you pick,” she joked.
When looking at the dress, one can notice floral designs, and Bennett said she usually uses things like gardening books for her creations. The design also aligned perfectly with the Garden Club’s Books in Bloom event, making it an on-theme piece.
“I knew I wanted to do some sort of not mixed media, but something like decoupage, and I wanted something free-flow in my mind,” she said. “I wanted it to look almost like a ballerina or something very elegant. I knew I wanted to do tight and loose.”
Bennett said when it comes to the artwork she does, she’ll do anything the library can dream up.
“I’ve made a DJ booth for a baby rave… Whatever they think of, I just say, ‘OK, let’s make it happen.’ I’ve made a Barbie box to take pictures in. Whatever they need, I’ll do. It’s what makes me happy… It satisfies the art itch.”
Bennett continued that the more she worked at libraries, working with different people such as a scientist or a philosophy major, she saw how much everything can overlap with art.
