ALTAMONT — The Altamont Free Library is now displaying a “virtual art gallery.” Contributed by local artist Karin Kuck, the gallery is in fact a book with images of artwork that a viewer may purchase from the artist, with 20 percent going toward the library and 20 percent to a charity of the artist’s choice.

Kuck was inspired by the 40 to 60 percent commission galleries claim when selling an artist’s work. After joining her local Kiwanis Club and hoping to raise money for it, she got the idea to charge a similar commission, but for a good cause rather than for a gallery.

Any artist can insert his or her work into one of the plastic sleeves in the three-ring binder at the library. Kuck herself has submitted images of baskets she has made. Library Director Joseph P. Burke said no one else has submitted artwork yet, but that library-goers have perused the book. Kuck says she hopes the book will remain in the library permanently.

“I love the Altamont library,” says Kuck, explaining her choice, “And we’re close, about five minutes from the library,” she adds.

A physical therapist by occupation, Kuck took courses in silk-screening and pottery, but is “basically self-taught” as an artist, having also worked with painting and basketmaking. She has paintings of hers displayed at Uncommon Grounds coffeehouses in Saratoga and Albany, and her baskets are currently being displayed at Hive, a gift shop and art gallery in Schoharie.

Kuck says she was always interested in basketmaking, but she didn’t take it up until after taking a class on it in Guilderland High School. She has made over 75 baskets in the last year, and now teaches classes on basketmaking in her home.

“Basketmaking is a really old skill that’s been around for thousands of years,” she says. She added that she especially would like younger generations to take up the craft.

“It’s not a difficult skill,” she says, “But if you don’t know how to do it yourself you’re just stuck.”

Kuck was born in the Netherlands, and came to the United States in 1986. Although she says her roots haven’t really influenced her basketmaking, she says she must have been homesick while painting, as she painted “lots of cows and tulips.”

However, Kuck says basketmaking is making a comeback in the Netherlands, where the Dutch have have access to different materials than she does. Kuck’s baskets are made from reeds she orders online, as preparing such materials from nature would take over 30 hours, she says, although some vines might work as material for a softer basket.

Kuck has spoken with a few other artists, and is hoping some will eventually submit their work alongside hers in the virtual gallery at the library, so that residents can be exposed to more local artists and their work.

“I’m hoping the book will be full by the end of the end of the year,” she says.