In my role as a Book Arts Instructor, opportunities arise to work with students on book projects for their academic work. This past fall semester students in Professor Alexandra Halasz’s History of the Book class participated in a hands-on letterpress and binding exercise in class, and then had the option of producing a hands-on book project in lieu of a final term paper. Of the 17 students enrolled, 10 students chose this option, with three pairs of students choosing collaborative work.
The bookwork produced included a range of structures and content, including a flip book that plays with a homograph, a set of variations of a binding structure, a three-dimensional piano with a Möbius strip musical box exploring a canon cancrizans, an illustrated, digitally produced drum-leaf binding with a new tale about a Dr. Seuss character, letterpress-printed scrolls interpreting the mezuzah, a pocket-sized letterpress-printed book with a poem, and an enormous codex with hand-written text.
Students employed a variety of facilities and workshops on campus: the 3-D printer at the engineering school, the woodshop and jewelry studios in the Hopkins Center, as well as the Jones Media Center, the Book Arts Workshops, and the Preservation Services conservation lab here in the Library. Each of these projects had their complexities, and students called on the expertise of instructors and technicians as needed.
These photographs illustrate some of the steps Cally took to make her big codex book. She, along with other students, worked in our lab in Preservation Services, where her proximity to all of us allowed for instruction and advice as needed.
Callista Womick '13 sews the light green endsheet onto her textblock of newsprint folios
Gluing up the spine
Rounding the spine
Preparing to cover the plywood boards with white bonded leather, assisted by Book Arts Instructor Elizabeth Rideout
Done! Home to dry the book under weight
Finished book displayed open
It is always a pleasure to see the end product of student work, but particularly rewarding to see the process in action and to help students make their ideas tangible. Here’s hoping these students, and others from this class, return to the workshops as their time and interests allow.
Written by Stephanie Wolff.
I am very happy to announce that Sarah Smith has been appointed the first Book Arts Workshop Special Instructor. Sarah has an MFA in Book Arts and Printmaking from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and is a skilled letterpress printer and bookbinder. She also has deep experience with student instruction, shop management, and digital printing. Sarah comes to us from Montserrat College of Art and Endicott College where she is currently teaching. In her capacity of Assistant Professor at Montserrat she is Chair of the Book Arts Program and manages Imposition Press. Sarah has also taught at Simmons College and was an assistant book conservator for some time at the Northeast Document Conservation Center.
Sarah's appointment is a significant step in the life of the 23-year-old Book Arts Program, and everyone associated with it are extremely excited. The Special Instructor is a full time, ten-month appointment for three years and is being funded by the Friends of the Dartmouth College Library, the Dartmouth College Library's Cornell Fund, the English Department, and the Associate Dean for Arts & Humanities Office. When Sarah joins us we will be able to increase the number of instruction and studio hours as well as facilitate greater curricular use of the workshop. Sarah will begin her appointment on September 1.
Written by Barbara Sagraves.
Sponsored by the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equality, Dartmouth College Library and the Friends of the Library.
Amos Kennedy is a letterpress printer using a distinctive voice to create posters, artists’ books, and publications. Through his strong graphics and bold typography, Kennedy pushes issues of race, freedom, and equality, often incorporating proverbs and tales of the Kuba and Yoruba people of Africa, as well as the work of African-American poets such as Paul Laurence Dunbar. Amos quit his corporate job at the age of forty to become, as he calls himself, “a humble negro printer”. He received his MFA from the University of Wisconsin, has taught workshops in over seven countries and is currently spearheading the Detroit Printing Plant.
The Rare Book & Manuscript Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign holds a large collection of Amos’s work containing artists' books, postcards, and posters. His work can also be found in many other collections such as Northwestern University and the libraries of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, but Amos will sell you an original letterpress print for just fifteen dollars. “My posters are for everybody,” says Kennedy. He is also the subject of a documentary by Laura Zinger called "Proceed and be Bold.”
Exhibit: Baker Berry Library
Letterpress broadsides by Amos Kennedy reflecting on life, race and injustices. During the month of Janurary there will be an exhibit of Amos Kennedy's posters on display in Berry Main Street.
Event Schedule:
Events will take place in the Book Arts Workshop located in Baker Library, rooms 21-23 (West entrance, lower level, around the corner from the Orozco murals). All events are free and open to the public.
Monday, January 28th 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM Printing demonstration in the Book Arts Workshop hall with the Washington iron hand press.
1:30 PM - 5:00 PM Amos Kennedy will be printing his colorful and unique posters using the Vandercook press. Come by to print your own poster and see what can be done with type. This is a drop in workshop, participants are encouraged to come for an extended time period.
Tuesday, January 29th 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM Amos Kennedy will be printing his colorful and unique posters using the Vandercook press. Come by to print your own poster and see what can be done with type. This is a drop in workshop, participants are encouraged to come for an extended time period.
Wednesday, January 30th 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM Amos Kennedy will be printing his colorful and unique posters using the Vandercook press. Come by to print your own poster and see what can be done with type. This is a drop in workshop, participants are encouraged to come for an extended time period.
7:30 PM Proceed and be Bold: A Film by Laura Zinger. A few years ago independent film maker Laura Zinger made a documentary about Amos. The film covers Amos Kennedy’s background but more than that it addresses issues of race, finding your voice in the modern world, and discovering your passion. Come and see the film and hear a lecture by the man himself. This event is sponsored by the Friends of the Library. Location: Hood Auditorium.
Corners have always been a challenge for me. I think it’s one of those skills you’re either really good at, or you’re always trying to get it just right. When I do get a perfect corner it is a highly satisfying feeling.
For most of my bookbinding career I’ve always done the "45 degree cut a board thickness away" treatment (do the top turn-in, tuck in the little extra at the foredge, and then do the side turn-in). But, when I was at Paper and Book Intensive a few years ago taking a class with Gabrielle Fox (my first teacher when I was in college) she showed me a slight variation.
First: make the 45 degree cut one board's thickness away from the corner.
After making your 45 degree cut, make another cut parallel to the top edge of the board.
After you turn-in the top, fold the little tab down along the edge of the board (much like a box corner).
Then you do your side turn-in. The result is a much cleaner and sharper corner. It just goes to show you how you can always learn from your teachers, even after you become a teacher yourself!
Another useful corner, which sometimes goes unappreciated, is the Library Corner, sturdy and straightforward, with no cutting involved.
Glue down the corner of your cloth centered evenly along the board. Crease the cloth along the edges to make sure it is well adhered.
Then, simply turn-in the sides. A little shaping and pressing make this a handsome, workhorse corner.
