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Meet The Instructors:
Matthew L. Aron is an artist, writer, and designer pursuing his MFA in the Book and Paper Arts at Columbia College Chicago.
Sylvia Ramos Alotta received a MFA from the Interdisciplinary Book & Paper Arts program at Columbia College Chicago. Before coming to Columbia, she was as an Automotive Designer for General Motors and proprietor of Design Alotta Inc. Sylvia is currently the sole proprietress of the Sharpest Pencil Bindery and Letterpress Shop.
Heather Bella is a graduate student working on her MFA in Interdisciplinary Book & Paper Arts at Columbia College Chicago. She works primarily with recycled or repurposed materials for her papermaking and artist’s books; natural and sustainable materials are key in all her work. Heather is happy to show you how to reuse just about anything. When she’s not in the studios, she’s worm composting, studying trees, herbs and natural dyes.
RaeAnn Collins received a BA in Printmaking is from Aquinas College and a MFA from the Interdisciplinary Book & Paper Arts program at Columbia College Chicago.
Stephen DeSantis, a commercial photographer in New York for twenty-six years, moved to Chicago to study at Columbia College Chicago, receiving a MFA in Book & Paper Arts in 2008. He has ”rediscovered” letterpress printing and continues to make photographs which he incorporates with original text to make artist’s books.
Shawn Sheehy merges his skills in paper engineering with an interest in themes of biological and cultural evolution to produce sculptural pop-up books. Shawn has taught workshops in such places as PBI, Penland, and the Center for Book Arts in New York, and serves as designer for the poetry broadside series published by Oneiros Press. He earned
a MFA in Book & Paper Arts at Columbia College Chicago.
Karol Shewmaker received her MFA in Book & Paper Arts at Columbia College in 2009.
Stacey Stern received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has been teaching at the Center for Book & Paper Arts since 1999. In her free time she makes book art, wears pink wigs, and is the sole proprietress of Steracle Press, www.steracle.com
Jamie Thome received a MFA in Interdisciplinary Book & Paper Arts at Columbia College Chicago in 2000. She spent a year in the mentorship program for emerging women artists at Artemisia Gallery in Chicago. Her work has been shown internationally in juried shows. Along with her husband, a potter, and two other Book & Paper Arts alums, she
works out of Vespine Studios in Pilsen.
The Marilyn Sward Visiting Artists Series:
Note: In order to register for the Visiting Artists Series you must be a member of the Center for Book & Paper Arts.
All lectures are free and open to the public.
In honor of our late founding director, Marilyn Sward, it is with great pride that we announce the Marilyn Sward Visiting Artist Series.
All the great things that exist here at the Center are due in large part to the hard work Marilyn did for so many years. Our new program is inspired by her vision to make education a central part of the Center’s mission.
Modeled after the popular Book as Image and Book as Structure classes that many of you may remember from years past, this new program will bring in prominent visiting artists for Friday night lectures and weekend workshops – six artists each year. Please note that while lectures will be open to the public, to participate in the workshops you must be a member in good standing of the Center for Book and Paper Arts. To join or renew your membership, call us at 312-369-6630.
Daniel Kelm
Double Raised Cords Meets the Gutter Wire
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14 & 15,
9:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.LIMIT 10 / 2 SESSIONS$250, INCLUDING MATERIALS
Suppose you have a book to bind, and the text paper is so pulpy and soft that you are worried that any glued spine linings will delaminate. Or, maybe you are faced with a really different challenge: creating a flexible binding from pages that are thick and stiff. Or, maybe you want to do a non-adhesive spine but the book you are binding is so large and heavy that a regular non-adhesive structure won’t be sufficiently strong. Or, maybe you need precise control of swell. If so, then this book structure is your answer! You can expect to learn a great deal about some of the challenges binders face, and in the process make a very versatile structure. Binding experience necessary.
For a complete description of the binding, go to:
Double Raised Cords Meets the Gutter Wire
The Himalayan Book -- James Canary
Saturday November 21, 9:00 A.M. – 3:00 P.M.
Sunday, November 22, 11:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.
LIMIT 10 / 2 SESSIONS / $144 (MEMBERS $130) + $40 MATERIALS FEE
Participants will get an overview of the history of the book in the Himalayan region while creating an authentic traditional book. We will start by learning to make daphne paper, and make dyes and surface coatings for the paper using authentic, traditional materials provided by the instructor. We will cover the basic terminology of the book and learn about the indigenous scripts and typical book formats as we work. We will print from real Tibetan woodblocks onto paper and cloth prayer flags, then sew a simple and elegant rainbow stitched binding, a common Himalayan structure, to complete our books. As an added bonus, participants are invited to attend the panel discussion after the class on Saturday. |
The Classes:
Printing & Lettering
If you are taking letterpress, prepare to get inky. Bring rubber gloves and an apron.
Letterpress I: Introduction to Letterpress
Karol Shewmaker
Section 1: Tuesdays, January 5–February 23, 6–9 p.m.
Section 2: Thursdays, January 7–February 25, 6–9 p.m.
8 sessions, Limit 10 students
$288 (members $260) / $20 materials fee / $50 refundable type distribution deposit (If paying by check, please write a separate check for the distribution deposit.)
Unlike many commercially obsolete technologies, letterpress printing has not vanished. It has been seized upon by artists and has been transformed into a twenty-first-century art-making medium. In this introduction to letterpress, you’ll learn typesetting by hand, Vandercook press basics, inking techniques, choices of paper for letterpress, proper cleanup, and type distribution.
Letterpress II: Exploring Letterpress
as a Creative Medium
Stacey Stern
Tuesdays, March 9–May 11, 6–9 p.m. / 10 sessions / Limit 10 students
$360 (members $325) / $20 materials fee / $50 refundable type distribution deposit (If paying by check, please write a separate check for the distribution deposit.)
Have you mastered the basics of mixing ink and setting type? Are you ready to take your letterpress printing to the next level? Letterpress II is a ten-week course that provides students an opportunity to practice their skills while expanding their repertoire with new techniques. Students will learn how to merge Adobe Illustrator digital techniques with more traditional letterpress image and text-making procedures. The class will also cover photopolymer plate making and printing, pressure printing, monoprinting, linoleum block prints, and woodcuts.
Papermaking
Please note that it is impossible to make paper without getting wet.
Please dress accordingly and wear waterproof shoes & clothing.
Cheap Papermaking Day*
Heather Bella
Saturday, February 27, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. / Limit 12 students / $25 including materials
Cheap Papermaking Day is for those who are curious to try papermaking but have not been willing or able to pay for a workshop at our regular rates. This is an opportunity to learn about this fascinating art and craft in one of the finest papermaking studios in the United States and to take home several small sheets of your own handmade paper. You’ll receive an overview of the paper-making process and instruction in the basics of sheet forming, couching, pressing, and drying. Cheap Papermaking Day is subsidized by the Illinois Arts Council.
*Please note: you must be a beginner and never taken this class before. There will be no refunds for cancellations.
Bookbinding
Please note that it is impossible to make paper without getting wet.
Please dress accordingly and wear waterproof shoes & clothing.
For bookbinding classes please bring your own scissors, bone folder, needles, rulers, self-healing mat, and X-acto knife.
Techniques covered in each bookbinding class rely on the work done in previous classes so regular attendance is important.
Cheap Bookbinding Day*
Matthew L. Aron
Saturday, February 27, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
Limit 10 students / $25 including materials
Cheap Bookbinding Day is designed for those who want to learn to sew books by hand but haven’t been willing or able to pay for a workshop at our regular rates. This is an opportunity to learn about this essential art and craft in a beautiful and well-equipped bindery, and to take home a small sewn book. You’ll receive basic instruction in the use of tools, materials, and fundamental bookbinding techniques, and leave with the ability to begin sewing your own simple books at home. Cheap Bookbinding Day is subsidized by the Illinois Arts Council. Please note: you must be a beginner and never taken this class before. There will be no refunds for cancellations.
Bookbinding I -- Jamie Thome
Tuesdays, January 5–February 23, 6–9 p.m.
Limit 10 students / 8 sessions
$288 (members $260) / $40 materials fee
Are you interested in creating your own artist’s books? Making blank books for writing or drawing? Or, even someday, rebinding your favorite books? Whatever your long-term goals, it all begins with learning the basic techniques of book construction. In eight sessions Bookbinding I will introduce you to the history, tools, and techniques of hand bookbinding. You will learn about paper, cloth, boards, adhesives, and methods of folding, sewing, and gluing. You will construct a variety of book structures, beginning with a single sheet of paper and progressing to a multi-section hard cover blank book.
Bookbinding I Intensive -- Jamie Thome
Monday–Friday, January 11–15, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
Limit 10 students / 5 sessions
$288 (members $260) / $40 materials fee
Bookbinding II -- Sylvia Alotta
Thursdays, January 7–February 25, 6–9 p.m.
Limit 10 students / 8 sessions
$288 (members $260) / $40 materials fee
Once you have mastered the basics of book construction, you are ready to learn the traditional skills needed for creating a classic, round-backed case binding. Bookbinding II will provide students the opportunity to hone the techniques learned in Bookbinding I and will introduce some of the fundamental terminology and skills of hand bookbinding, including rounding, backing, and hand-sewing endbands (both German and French styles). Completion of Bookbinding I is a prerequisite for the class.
Bookbinding II Intensive -- Sylvia Alotta
Monday–Friday, March 22–26, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
Limit 10 students / 5 sessions
$288 (members $260) / $40 materials fee
Bookbinding III -- Sylvia Alotta
Tuesdays, March 2–May 4, 6–9 p.m.
Limit 10 students / 10 sessions
$360 (members $325) / $55 materials fee
In Bookbinding III students will learn the skills needed to make quarter leather bindings sewn on cords. The first five sessions of the class will concentrate on binding processes up to covering. The second half of the class will focus on using leather and covering, conservation and fine binding techniques, and ideology. Students will learn to sew signatures on cords utilizing the sewing frame, and will round, back, and line spines. We will cover endbands, attaching boards by lacing in, beginning leather techniques using goatskin and the appropriate tools, edge paring, using the spokeshave, nipping the bands, and stamping on the Kwik Print.
Crossed Structure (Non-Adhesive) Binding
Sylvia Alotta
Saturday, January 23, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Limit 10 students / 1 session
$72 (members $65) / $40 materials fee
The crossed structure binding is quick, inexpensive, and versatile, and may be applied both to creative binding and to situations where a large number of books need to be bound in a non-invasive way at low cost. This practical and attractive binding method combines the simplicity of non-adhesive binding with a unique overlapping strap structure reminiscent of clasped hands. Sylvia will show students how they can create their own book using very little equipment, good quality materials (such as paper, suede, and leather), and accurate measuring and cutting. Books made with crossed structure binding make great travel journals.
Making Book Cloth
RaeAnn Collins
Saturday, March 20, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Limit 10 students / 1 session
$72 (members $65) / $20 materials fee
Just about any ordinary cloth can be used to make excellent book cloth. In this workshop you’ll learn how to apply paper backing, make proper use of adhesives, and other skills that will greatly expand your choices for covering books, boxes, and portfolios.
The Mechanics of Movables
Shawn Sheehy
Saturday, March 6 & Sunday, March 7, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
Limit 10 students / 2 sessions
$144 (members $130) / $30 materials fee
Pull a tab. Turn a wheel. Bring new life to your page by animating it with movables! In this workshop participants will learn the principles that guide the movables seen in many interactive trade books. Beginning with tools and techniques, the workshop will progress to building a series of increasingly complex movable structures. Throughout the workshop participants will examine the work of commercial paper engineers and discuss possibilities for movables in their own work.
The Language of Pop-Ups
Shawn Sheehy
Saturday, April 17 & Sunday, April 18, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
Limit 10 students / 2 sessions
$144 (members $130) / $30 materials fee
As the course title suggests, this workshop will explore techniques for building noun-like pop-ups (formal structures) and verb-like pop-ups (movement and/ or animation for those forms). Participants will begin by learning basic techniques and quickly move on to building a variety of versatile forms and lifts. Eventually, participants will produce a bound collection of 15–20 samples that may be used for further study and practice. Though this class is designed for beginners, Shawn will be demonstrating a new set of pop-up structures not previously seen in his other Chicago workshops!
Alternative Photographic Processes: Digital Cyanotype, Van Dyke Brown, Salted Paper, and Gum Prints -- Stephen DeSantis
5 sessions: Wednesday, January 6, from 6–9 p.m. and
the following four Saturdays, January 9–30 from 9 a.m.–5 p.m.
Limit 6 students / $375 (members $338) / $65 materials fee
Chemistry meets the computer. In recent years photo artists have rediscovered the expressive qualities of these nineteenth century processes, and have applied the advantages of digital technology to create the sophisticated negatives used for the creation of seemingly primitive prints. This is an opportunity to learn the entire process, from digital lab to darkroom to portfolio. In our first meeting, we’ll begin by digitizing your favorite image from slides, negatives, or prints to create a large format negative. Then, in the following four sessions, we’ll return to nineteenth-century photographic processes to make your own 8" x 10" Cyanotype blue, Van Dyke Brown, Salted Paper, and Gum prints.
Lab fees include equipment, the production of as many as four large-format negatives, and chemistry. Attendees must supply their own paper and will be instructed on what to buy at the first class session.
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Classes
