Bookcraft

Spend a fantastic week creating simple book structures and filling them with meaningful personal content. We’ll start off the week creating books from single sheets of paper and filling them with collaborative exquisite corpse drawings, collage, and writing games. One book exercise will explore what we value in our own creative practice. Using color and cut paper as content, we’ll arrange pages into artful structures using side stab and accordion bindings. Additionally, we’ll create a sketchbook that one can fill or give as a gift. This book has multiple sections and opens flat with a soft wrap-around cover.

Learn through demonstrations, exercises and handouts. An interest in precision and prior bookbinding experience is helpful but not required.

While I like to use all different types of materials, this workshop will focus on experimenting with a limited amount of materials, mostly found paper.

Student supply and tool list:

  • favorite mark-making tools, e.g. pencils, pens, markers, etc.
  • bone folder
  • scissors (if you need a new pair, these are my favorite)
  • old catalog to use as scrap paper
  • bookbinding awl (I like one at the Caning Shop, made by Kemper) typically these are fairly thin, see Bookbinders Awl for example
  • cutting knife, e.g.: X-Acto with #11 blades
  • Japanese screw punch with a 2.5mm or 3mm bit
  • self-healing cutting mat
  • straight edge ruler (I like and recommend a clear plastic ruler like an Omnigrid ruler, which comes in a variety of sizes, OR a lightweight 2″ x 12″ ruler with 1/8 inch markings and a metal ruler to cut against)
  • 2 black metal binder clips, medium to large size
  • bookbinding needle (optional, I’ll have some to borrow)
  • small paper trimmer (optional)
  • additional supplies may be added
  • materials fee for paper, thread TBD

Leah Virsik

Leah Virsik is an Oakland-based visual artist whose work is primarily driven by materials and includes collage, sculptural fiber, and book arts. She has a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from California State University, East Bay and a Master of Fine Arts in Art from San Francisco State University. Her work has been exhibited at Mercury 20 Gallery in Oakland, SOMArts and the City College of San Francisco Art Gallery in San Francisco and galleryFritz in Santa Fe, New Mexico, among others. She is a recipient of a SF State/Kala Art Institute MFA Fellowship (2014), Leo D. Stillwell Jr. Scholarship (2015), Jack K. and Gertrude Murphy Fellowship (2015) and a Sher-Right Scholarship (2016). Virsik gave her work away for free as an Artist-in-Residence at Free Oakland UP (2017). Leah teaches art to middle school and high school students and also designs artist catalogs. More information about her can be found at leahvirsik.com