About

Class postponed. The teacher was unable to teach the class at this time.

We are VERY excited to sponsor this workshop with Catherine Alice Michaelis, proprietor of May Day Press on Vashon Island.  

Artists’ books often traverse the realms of sculpture, games, toys, matchbooks, clothing, and more. Some makers utilize pop-ups, some push the limits of a single sheet of paper, some riff on historical documents, while others find ingenious ways to reference (or use) every day objects. When does a maker go off the beaten path and how do they find their way? Does the structure have to marry the content? Can’t they just be roommates? In this workshop we’ll explore success and failure in marriages between content and structure, why a good marriage matters, and when it doesn’t.

The day begins with a series of writing prompts to explore our stories, themes, and symbols. We’ll move those symbols through a series of explorations to spark structural ideas that can circle around in support of the story we want to tell. If we have structures we prefer, but no content, we will do the reverse. For those exploring medium – without content or structure – these tools can also work.

After lunch, each participant will be invited to share one artist book – their own or someone else’s – and tell us why it marries or doesn’t. We’ll discuss them in a supportive way that infuses us all with inspiration. I’ll present a few of my own examples of limited success and limited failure.

Enthused and inspired we return to our morning work to visualize our potential next steps through sketches, notes, or very rough model making. Thus begins the march of both content and structure down the aisle.

About the Instructor:
Catherine Alice Michaelis is the proprietor of May Day Press in Shelton, WA. She has been making letterpress books, prints, and other paper objects in the Pacific NW for over 25 years. You can see her at work on Craft in America’s ‘Nature’ episode. Catherine’s work has been collected nationally in over 80 public institutions and can be viewed on her website www.catherine-alice.com

There will be a $10 materials fee in addition to the course fee when you register for this class.