Paper & Book Intensive, now twenty-five years old, is held in the spring or summer in different regions of the country. It is attended by individuals who are passionate about the book arts, including bookbinding, hand papermaking, conservation, and related fields. I took the following classes:
Frank Brannon
Paper Sculpture
Forming three-dimensional objects by using various papermaking fibers. Basics of papermaking and an introduction to the production of paper pulp. One method of sculptural exploration will involve a cloth muslin armature filled with sand. Dampened sheets of handmade paper will be used to cover the armature using methylcellulose as the adhesive. In the second form of book/sculpture, we will work at the time of sheet formation to initially develop the sculpture, and with the use of sunlight and other sources of heat, convert the two-dimensional form into a three-dimensional one.
Frank Brannon was born in Maryville, Tennessee, in the foothills of the Great Smokey Mountains, and currently lives near Dillsboro, North Carolina, where he is proprietor of Speakeasy Press. He is a resident papermaker and letterpress printer at Asheville BookWorks and a graduate of the M.F.A. in the Book Arts Program at The University of Alabama. His most recent monograph focuses upon research into the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper of northern Georgia, 1828-1834. He is currently developing a letterpress studio with the Oconaluftee Institute for Cultural Arts in Cherokee, North Carolina.
Emily Martin
Movables in a Book Format
The earliest movables date from the 13th century, were developed by a Benedictine monk, Matthew Paris in Herefordshire, England. The form called a volvelle from the Latin verb volvere, meaning “to turn or roll around” was used to coordinate religious dates and even to predict the future. The form has endured to this day. In addition to volvelles, there are other versatile movables such as turning wheels, Victorian wheels, slides and dissolves. The class will make models of all the structures and also make a sample book using a variation on the cross structure binding to accommodate the added bulk of the pages. Participants will also be able to explore the uses of these structures with their own content and crate an editioned movable to share with the class.
Emily Martin makes mostly movable/sculptural books under her Naughty Dog Press imprint. She has recently finished a 5-part flexagon series and also a pop-up book called Sleepers, Dreamers and Screamers. Her work is in collection nationally and internationally and she exhibits extensively. She teaches artists’ book classes and bookbinding classes at the University of Iowa Center for the Book.
Melissa Jay Craig
Beyond Inlays and Onlays: Tactile Books
One of the great advantages of making artists’ books or book art is the fact that books are most often meant to be held; we can engage our viewers/readers through text and image, but also through tactility. This highly individualized class will focus on strategies for using odd materials, from found objects to fur, in the codex and other book forms from simple to complex, both as covers and incorporated into the body of the book.
Melissa Jay Craig’s handmade paper book works, sculptures and installation works are exhibited internationally. She is also a curator and an award-winning teacher, who has given numerous classes and workshops at schools and art centers in the United States. She was associated with the Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts for nearly fifteen years, and taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in bookbinding, artists’ books and sculptural paper there. Melissa has been awarded numerous grants and residencies, including several residencies and she was the 2009 National Endowment for the Arts resident in papermaking at Women’s Studio Workshop. She recently became the proud owner of one of David Reina’s early bronze hollander beaters.
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