Friday, April 5, 2013

Bookbinding with High Schoolers

 
Today I had the opportunity to teach high school students bookbinding as part of a larger art project.  The school received a grant to do an artistic exchange program with a school in Montreal.  The project theme is "Equity and Diversity."  The students started by going to the Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory and Educational Foundation and learning how to make paper.
 
A few weeks later (that's today!) I delivered the handmade paper to the students, and walked them through a simple book structure.  The covers are cardboard from recycled boxes, with book cloth for the spine, and a single signature of handmade paper sewn to the book cloth.  The class periods were short, so I left step-by-step sewing instructions drawn on the whiteboard for next week.  After the books are completely assembled, the students are going to add content relating to the theme and send them to the students in Montreal.

During our bookbinding session, a reporter from the News Herald came by to write an article about the project and put together a video for their website.  Check out the article and the video here!

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