SESSION ONE

When in Denise Carbone’s shop, visitors are immediately attracted to the piles of books and models strewn across the work bench. Made using delicious materials, they feel comfortable in the hand and are lovely to write in. This workshop incorporates elements from historical book bindings that are irresistible; both aesthetically and in how they function. Participants will consider the fundamentals that were used to concoct these functional, sturdy companions, and will then fashion new recipes bound to be just as delectable as these models.

We will keep it simple, using just 5 ingredients—sewing style, covering materials, board attachment, etc.—to whip-up our first satisfying tome. Through discussion and plenty of examples on hand to peruse, participants will then devise the next recipe for a second book, based on the ingredients they find most tasty.

Denise Carbone was born in 1957 in Camden, New Jersey. She graduated with a B.A. in Fine Art from Glassboro State College, New Jersey where she concentrated in printmaking and papermaking. In 1992 she received her M.F.A. in Book Arts/Printmaking at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

Since then she has been printing and binding books for herself and others. She teaches at The University of the Arts, The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and was a book conservator at the American Philosophical Society for many years. Denise’s studio is in South Jersey where many unusual experiments happen. She shows periodically, has books and prints in private and public collections, but due to her lack of record keeping, that is all she can say on the matter. Her last major book commission was the binding for William Kentridge, Tummelplatz, 2017, published by Ivorypress.

Books and prints are often created as an art form meant to be multiplied and disseminated. Once the edition is complete, many artists retire the matrix by striking the block, snipping a corner, grinding it down or simply discarding it. The block, an integral part of the making process, can also be worked and honed as a finished piece of art complementing the print and providing a different aspect of viewing and interpretation. Embracing uniqueness in the print form by treating ink and carving in a more painterly and sculptural way, we can add a new dimension to our conception of ‘print’ while holding true to the core principle of multiplicity. 

Utilizing scroll saws, dremel tools and other cutting materials, participants will create shaped wood or linoleum blocks with the intention of printing them as an edition or artist’s book. Once this is completed we will rework the block, producing a compatriot piece that is one-of-a-kind. We will experiment with print, book and block as installation in order to see how different forms of the same idea can be expressed through visually melding the works together as a unified whole. Throughout the course, we will also discuss artists who utilize this process in their creative output. 

Joseph Lappie is an associate professor and chair of the art department at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa where he teaches bookbinding, papermaking, printmaking, & drawing. He developed and continues to grow a book arts B.A. program at SAU. Joseph works heavily in the Quad Cities to provide free or near-free book, paper and print demonstrations for area schools, organizations and out on the sidewalks of the community. Receiving his M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Book & Paper Arts at Columbia College Chicago, Joseph actively shows his installation print work and artist’s books throughout the country. Recently exhibiting a solo show at the Figge Art Museum, he has also shown in Atlanta, Chicago, Iowa City, London, New York, Portland, and Seoul. His work is collected in multiple collections including Yale Arts Library, SAIC, Ringling College of Art & Design, and the Jaffe Book Arts Collection.

Indo-Islamic papermaking is a style of papermaking that has remained largely unchanged since the 8th century CE. This method, practiced in the Islamicate lands, links papermaking traditions of the East with those of the West. Paper used in Islamicate manuscripts was dyed, sized, and burnished to a high shine before it was written upon. The transformative quality of these techniques sets this tradition apart from others. Participants will learn the basic history and techniques of making this type of handmade paper, and make their own stack of paper. Surface finishing techniques such as brush dyeing, sizing and burnishing will be demonstrated and applied to the finished sheets. Everyone will leave with a sampling that represents the wide range of possibilities offered by this ancient technique. 

Radha Pandey is a papermaker and letterpress printer. She earned her MFA in Book Arts from the University of Iowa Center for the Book where she studied letterpress printing, bookbinding, and papermaking with a focus on Indo-Islamic papermaking techniques. Her artist books are held in numerous public collections including the Library of Congress and Yale University. In addition to adjunct teaching at the University of Iowa Center for Book, she has lectured and taught workshops on Indo-Islamic papermaking at institutions including Princeton University (NJ), Harvard Art Museums (MA), Women’s Studio Workshop (NY), Museu Molí Paperer de Capellades (Spain). Her book Deep Time won the Joshua Heller Memorial Award at the Pyramid Atlantic Book Fair, MD in 2018. Currently, Radha is working on a set of artist books about the political history of indigo and madder production.

Consider, if you will, five small shallow boxes, each folded from a single sheet of cardstock. Imagine binding these drawer-like boxes into something reminiscent of a book block, complete with its own cabinet-like case. Then, inside each of these boxes, you find yourself constructing an assortment of paper mechanics that can be used in an infinite number of ways. You have just mind-made a Cabinet of Paper Mechanical Curiosities—a 4D Whitman’s sampler of movable delicacies, made entirely with paper.

This workshop removes the restraint of FLAT from the codex page. The first page-box explores movable paper engineering fundamentals; volvelles and pull tabs. By adding a sculptural component, the second amplifies a model from the first box. The third (pictured) is a tiny automata. The fourth considers four ways of combining and contextualizing the fundamental structures. Then, inspired by the concepts of framing and sequence, the fifth box explores an approach to combining paper engineering with comics. You will make this movable mechanical magic out of card stock, glue, and simple hand tools. Both paper engineering beginners and advanced practitioners will be accommodated and challenged by the material introduced.

If this is you—“I just folded this gorgeous little origami butterfly. How can I simultaneously mount it into the pages of a book AND give it flight?“—then this class is for you.”

Shawn Sheehy has been teaching book arts courses and workshops on the national level since 2001. His broadsides and artist book editions have been collected by such prestigious institutions as Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, University of Chicago, Library of Congress, UCLA, and Harvard. His pop-ups have been featured twice in both Hand Papermaking magazine and Vintage magazine. Sheehy’s trade pop-up book Welcome to the Neighborwood (a mass-market version of his artist book) was released in 2015, winning numerous awards. The mass-market version of his artist book Beyond the Sixth Extinction was released through Candlewick in October 2018. He holds an MFA in the Book Arts from Columbia College Chicago.

Paper can be used as a thin, strong, and flexible material to repair both leather and cloth book bindings. Following conservator Don Etherington’s innovation in the early 1990s of using Japanese paper in leather repair treatments, many varied techniques have been developed. Depending on the paper used, the surface qualities mesh well with worn and abraded book cover materials. This light and aesthetically pleasing repair can stabilize what is left of the original binding, offering a sound alternative to a  heavier rebacking using new leather or bookbinding cloth. In this class we will investigate material stabilization, board re-hinging and rebacking techniques, toning repairs to color match original binding materials, and create a treatment plan unique to each book in question. Books for repair will be provided, but participants are encouraged to bring a book in need from their own library.

Giselle Simón is the Conservator at the University of Iowa Libraries and adjunct faculty at the University of Iowa Center for the Book. Her interest in books, prints and paper began at the Kansas City Art Institute, where she received a BFA in printmaking. In 1992 she worked as a conservation technician at Northwestern University Library with Scott Kellar and Deborah Howe. From 2001–2012 she worked at the Newberry Library in Chicago as Collections Conservator and Director of Conservation Services. She has taught bookbinding and conservation classes at the University of Iowa Center for the Book, Columbia College Chicago Center for the Book and Paper Arts and collections care courses at the University of Chicago’s Graham School. She has been a Co-Director of Paper and Book Intensive since 2010.

SESSION TWO

In this workshop, Coleen will share some of her decorative surface techniques that turn leather and suede into beautiful pieces of art that can be used for decorative inlays and onlays for bindings, covering books, and flyleaves. The finished pieces may also be used for other crafts such as jewelry and handbags. We will finish the workshop making a simple limp binding using the leather decorated in class.

Through demonstrations and guidance, the class will experiment with dye, ink, and paint on both dyed and undyed leather, discuss each of their uses and limitations, and learn the difference between chrome and vegetable tanned leather. Participants will explore a variety of surface finishes that range from highly polished, to satin and matte by using different adhesives and textures. Exploration of methods to create depth and dimension on a flat surface including embossing and sanding for example. In addition, we will play with collage techniques on leather splits.

This class offers an arsenal of unique materials to use for binding or any leather project, and will benefit all levels of binders as well as artists wanting to explore a different medium.

Coleen Curry is a contemporary design binder. Coleen’s aim is to craft technically evocative bindings that provide a visual, sensual, and tactile experience. She bound her first book in 2003 with Tini Muira: the experience was a game changer. In 2009, Coleen received her Diploma in Fine Binding from the American Academy of Bookbinding. Notably, she has studied with Monique Lallier, Eleanore Ramsey, and Hélène Jolis. Coleen assists Don Glaister teaching fine binding at AAB and has led workshops since 2014. She is past President of the Hand Bookbinders of California and a Board member of the San Francisco Center for the Book. Coleen exhibits internationally, has won several awards, and her work is held in both private and public collections. Coleen is Canadian and lives on the California coast where she crafts design binding, and in her free time runs trails, swims, and rock climbs.
There is an additional materials fee of $45 for this workshop.

Sculptural paperworks are not limited to the natural coloration of the paper pulp being employed (white, beige, etc). Pigmented pulp can be applied in a variety of ways to the un-pressed sheet of paper, then worked over an armature or other form, creating imagery that unifies a paper artwork of three-dimensions.

Participants will begin with basic sheet formation using low and high shrinkage pulps including translucent abaca, and will then progress to pigmenting small batches of finely beaten pulp for use as pulp paint. We will cover principles of mixing colors and pulp manipulation, learning both free-hand and more controlled techniques for applying pulp paint to the formed base sheet. We will then shift our focus to building basic geometrical armatures which can then be combined to construct three-dimensional forms. Using a combination of natural and found materials such as tree branches with wire and other rigid materials, these forms become the support for pulp painted sculptural work. We will use formal concepts of line, space, shape, form, and will consider color relationships, composition, and narrative or figurative elements in our imagery. The still wet pulp paintings are applied over and adhered to the sculptural forms, where they dry and shrink around the form. This process reveals areas of translucency and opacity, adding a fourth dimension to our three-dimensional paper artworks.

Nicole Donnelly is a papermaker, visual artist, and independent teacher based in Philadelphia, PA, where she operates her community accessible studio paperTHINKtank.  She completed her MFA in Painting and Drawing at the University of Iowa (2009), where she had the great fortune to study with Timothy Barrett and fell in love with paper. She is the President of IAPMA, 2015-19,(International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists). She is also a co-organizer of the Hand Papermaking Community Documentation project, and is published in Hand Papermaking magazine (Winter 2013) and The Legacy Press’s Papermakers’ Tears (2018). Her artwork and personal research is focused on the environmentally sustainable possibilities and beauty of handmade paper, especially the use of invasive plants and their ability to evoke temporal specificity.

There are a variety of image-making techniques available to ar tists working in print and book media.This class will focus on those that lend themselves par ticularly well to creating depth in your work through translucency and layering. We will use pochoir, letterpress pressure printing, and additional types of relief printing to build a sense of space with overlapping imager y. Students will learn how to generate richly layered prints as well as how to make engaging books with their prints.

Experimentation and spontaneity will be a priority in this class, the initial goal being to generate a series of unique prints that can be used to inspire fur ther work. We will explore variations of each process, and use both Vandercook and stencil as tools to push the boundaries of the medium and your curiosity. By responding directly and immediately on press rather than following a set plan, students can build prints in a playful, uninhibited fashion, pursue multiple ideas simultaneously, and then choose what intrigues them most.Those interested will have the oppor tunity to produce an edition and par ticipate in an exchange with the group by the end of the session.

The proper ties of different papers and inks will be discussed and demonstrated, with specific attention to mixing color on the page by laying down thin layers of transparent ink. Folded book structures that maximize potential for creating depth, including many invented by Hedi Kyle, will also be taught.

Karen Hardy is a book artist and printmaker based in Asheville, North Carolina. Her practice is centered on an experimental approach to materials and process, with particular focus on using innovative papermaking techniques and a variety of non-traditional materials in her work. Widely exhibited across the country and abroad, her artist books have received numerous awards and are held in national and international collections. She received an MFA in book arts & printmaking from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and has taught at the John C. Campbell Folk School, Western Carolina University, Warren Wilson College, the Southwest School of Art, and book arts centers throughout the country.

 The David Psalter was found in 1984 and is one of the most interesting bindings that survive from antiquity. Written in Coptic on parchment and dating from the 6th century, this large book (17.8 cm H x 12.8 cm W x 8.0 cm TH) has 32 quires and was sewn link style at four sewing stations and had endbands. The cover is wooden boards with a leather spine, all attached together via horizontal leather strips laced into the boards.

The David’s decorated leather spine strip has an extension from the head of the spine that wraps entirely around the head, fore edge, and tail of the text block, creating a box-binding effect when closed and with the two wrapping bands in place. The spine extension is lined with parchment and is decorated along its entire length by blind-tooled interlace, done cold on damp leather. Each wrapping band is completed by a shaped and decorated bone slip. There is evidence the cover had one or more bookmarks attached.

Our model will have a paper text block, wooden boards, goatskin leather spine, spine extension, and wrapping bands. We will reproduce all features of the original as closely as possible and finish our model with inclusions consisting of binding notes, pattern pieces, and photographs of the original.
There is an additional materials fee of $45 for this workshop.

Julia Miller has studied a wide variety of historical bindings and is fascinated by the never-ending possibilities in our collections. She has written two books based on her research: Books Will Speak Plain: A Handbook for Identifying and Describing Historical Bindings, 2010, and Meeting by accident – selected historical bindings, 2018, both published by The Legacy Press. She is series editor for Suave Mechanicals – Essays on the History of Bookbinding. Her on-going research focus remains early codex bindings; she has taught numerous workshops on early book structures in venues around the U.S. and at the Montefiascone School in Italy. She believes attending PBI is a life-changing experience!

Handwriting and abstracted marks will be developed to use as content and image. The workshop is oriented towards making art work in book form. Mark-making exercises, intuitive work practices, and the use of alternative tools for writing will help develop the use of word forms to incorporate into your art and books. We start with loose forms and unusual tools to bring handwriting, letterforms, and repetition into painted manuscript pages. World symbol systems, collaboration, and basic content derivation using lists of words will be used to create your own painting which can be used as a flat page or as a folio in a book.

Participants will learn techniques Laura uses in her own which has evolved from printmaking and artists’ books to abstract painting on panels. These methods help to find a place to start. We will work primarily with sumi ink, watercolors, and fluid acrylics. Tools will include brushes, sticks, pens, and whatever else you can devise. Texts may be nonsense or any other form of texts participants choose to work with.

Working with the manuscript pages, we will make drum leaf books, a binding made of a series of single, one-sided pages. The form is excellent for work that is one-sided and expands across a two-page spread. Painted cloth made in class will be used for covers with the intention of conceptually integrating the cover and interior content. Our ultimate goal will be the creation of a unique work of art in book form.
There is an additional materials fee of $20 for this workshop.

Laura Wait lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is married with one son, one-dog, two cats, and she grows lots of organic vegetables. She is currently an abstract painter working with acrylics and letterforms who exhibits her work at galleries throughout the United states. Born in Canada, Laura grew up in Boulder, Colorado. She received a BA cum laude, in Art History from Barnard College, Columbia University, 1975.  After college Laura lived in Los Angeles and studied lithography and drawing at Otis Art Institute. She went to London, studied printmaking and bookbinding at Croydon College of Art for five years, returning in 1981. Laura had her own bookbinding and conservation business for 23 years before shifting to concentrate on painting and artists’ books. She has been teaching art on the page for about fifteen years.