Carved books by Bend artist Mark Bernahl return for April, and portraits by High Desert Middle School are also on exhibit as part of a fundraising project inspired by author Greg Mortenson’s recent visit to Bend.

“I use books as my material, and I carve into to the cover and pages to make an image,” explains Bernahl. “I love books and I love making art out of non-traditional materials. When I started making art I could not afford traditional art materials — painting and traditional art was not an option. So I started making art that did not have to be framed. This led me to making art in non-traditional ways.”

The image Bernahl carves into a book comes from the book’s title or the pages in the book, he says. Each sculpture takes him approximately two weeks. Bernahl is also the creator of the “Wishes” installation that hangs from Thump Coffee’s ceiling.

High Desert Middle School Advanced Art instructor Marcy Monte’s students were inspired by the book “Three Cups of Tea,” and its author, Greg Mortenson, who visited Bend in February to promote his “Pennies for Peace” project. Pennies for Peace is a nonprofit that collects money to build schools in Central Asia.

“My students wanted to help build schools,” Monte says, “so we drew portraits of Afgani people and places and auctioned them off. These are four of those drawings. They will be on sale at Thump for the month of April.” Money raised through sale of the artworks will be split 50/50 between the “Pennies for Peace” program and a field trip we take this spring.

“The Advanced Art class will travel to Portland, where the students will see a Cirque du Soleil show and stay at the historic McMenamin’s Edgefield Manor, where they’ll spend the evening sketching on the grounds,” Monte says.