book arts course at Santa Reparata International School of Art SRISA

This course is open to all students with an interest in the book as an art form. Previous bookmaking experience is helpful, but not required. Students with experience in other artistic techniques will be encouraged to use those in their bookmaking. For example, a photography student might want to produce a one-of-a-kind or limited edition photo book, exploring issues of composition, form, content, sequencing, pacing and expression in the production of their books.
Class meetings will be a combination of lecture/discussion and demo/practical work in the studio. Classroom instruction and practice will include basic bookmaking skills and explore the relationship between image, text and The Book.

You will learn a number of binding structures as well as produce several modern artists’ books. Artists’ books are books that are art objects. They can combine text, image, multi-media techniques to express a creative idea or simply be decorative expressions in themselves. Each student will produce at least one model of each binding structure covered, several small artists’ books, as well as a Final Book Project (an artists’ book or series of books). The Final Project is meant to use acquired bookmaking skills to explore new structures and techniques.

Exploration with materials is encouraged and students can combine other media they are familiar with (i.e., printmaking, papermaking, photography, letterpress) in creating their own unique book or edition of books. Several sessions will be devoted to using letterpress and introducing students to the use of hand printed type in their books.

You will also visit a paper marbling studio and one of the libraries of historic books in Florence. There will be 2 group critiques in this class – one Mid-term and one Final Critique – friendly, supportive, open group discussions about students’ books. This is an opportunity for you to present your work to other students and to your instructor. Critiques are an essential part of producing and bettering your artwork. They help you learn how to articulate your thoughts and motivations as an artist and aid you in gaining insights into your work and artistic production.

The city of Florence provides the backdrop to this intensive workshop, and there is frequent class time outside the studio in which to work on-site. The city itself - rich in history as the epicenter of the Italian Renaissance - is resplendent with some of the world's finest museums and monuments. The hill towns of Settingnano and Fiesole are only fifteen minutes away by car or bus and provide breathtaking panoramic views of the city from which the group will work. Two half-day guided walking tours of Florence, and an additional one of Siena, are included in the course and provide further opportunity for on-site work.

Santa Reparata International School of Art Florence, Italy Back to Home Page Contact Us
Book Arts Credit hours: 3--Contact hours: 90 Course # 22-3347 SR Dept: Art and Design Course Description: This intensive course will introduce students to the traditions and methods of the handmade book, as well as the expressive possibilities available with book making. The course will begin with simple foundational structures such as pamphlet-stitched and accordion style books and progress through more complex historical structures such as books sewn on supports, long-stitch and coptic bindings. Exploration with materials is encouraged and students can combine other media that they are familiar with (such as photography, printmaking, painting, etc.) in creating their book-works. In addition students will be introduced to traditional methods of typesetting. To help acquaint the student with the long and on-going tradition of book arts in Italy, selected fieldtrips will be organized to visit contemporary artists (bookbinders, papermakers) in their studios as well as visits to museums and institutions in the area which maintain collections relevant to the art of the book. Slide presentations, sample works and lectures, will give an overview of the history of the book and its development in Western art.
	Instructor: Melissa Moreton received her first real exposure to Book Arts in 1992 at the Women's Studio Workshop, an arts center specializing in artists' books in Upstate New York. She has been teaching Book Arts for eight years and was the proprietor of Red Moon Press in Upstate New York, creating customized handmade books and boxes. She has studied Medieval and Renaissance book structures at the Rare Book School (Charlottesville, VA), Bookmaking and Book Illumination at the Penland School (Penland, NC) and at the Paper and Book Intensive in the United States. She has also participated in the Montefiascone Project - book workshops based at the Medieval library of the Barbarigo Seminary near Rome. Ms. Moreton has an M.A. in Italian Renaissance Art History from Syracuse University in Florence, Italy - where she taught book arts and art history for several years. She is currently pursuing a Certificate in Book Technologies at the Center for the Book at the University of Iowa.
How to apply Tuition and fees Housing Calendar Application materials	This course is open to all students with an interest in the book as an art form. Previous bookmaking experience is helpful, but not required. Students with experience in other artistic techniques will be encouraged to use those in their bookmaking. For example, a photography student might want to produce a one-of-a-kind or limited edition photo book, exploring issues of composition, form, content, sequencing, pacing and expression in the production of their books. Class meetings will be a combination of lecture/discussion and demo/practical work in the studio. Classroom instruction and practice will include basic bookmaking skills and explore the relationship between image, text and The Book. You will learn a number of binding structures as well as produce several modern artists’ books. Artists’ books are books that are art objects. They can combine text, image, multi-media techniques to express a creative idea or simply be decorative expressions in themselves. Each student will produce at least one model of each binding structure covered, several small artists’ books, as well as a Final Book Project (an artists’ book or series of books). The Final Project is meant to use acquired bookmaking skills to explore new structures and techniques. Exploration with materials is encouraged and students can combine other media they are familiar with (i.e., printmaking, papermaking, photography, letterpress) in creating their own unique book or edition of books. Several sessions will be devoted to using letterpress and introducing students to the use of hand printed type in their books. You will also visit a paper marbling studio and one of the libraries of historic books in Florence. There will be 2 group critiques in this class – one Mid-term and one Final Critique – friendly, supportive, open group discussions about students’ books. This is an opportunity for you to present your work to other students and to your instructor. Critiques are an essential part of producing and bettering your artwork. They help you learn how to articulate your thoughts and motivations as an artist and aid you in gaining insights into your work and artistic production. The city of Florence provides the backdrop to this intensive workshop, and there is frequent class time outside the studio in which to work on-site. The city itself - rich in history as the epicenter of the Italian Renaissance - is resplendent with some of the world's finest museums and monuments. The hill towns of Settingnano and Fiesole are only fifteen minutes away by car or bus and provide breathtaking panoramic views of the city from which the group will work. Two half-day guided walking tours of Florence, and an additional one of Siena, are included in the course and provide further opportunity for on-site work.