Mimic: Modern Marbled Objects
Harvest Your Own Paper
with Bridget O’Malley
Saturdays: September 21 & 28; 10am-5pm
Fall is the time of abundance for papermakers. This workshop will focus on harvesting and preparing plants from the garden to make unique and beautiful papers. Grasses, leaves, stalks, and bast can be used cooked or raw, beaten by hand, beaten by machine, combined with other plants, and more. Let’s see how many different results can be achieved by trying as many options as time permits. Bring plenty of plant material for experimentation. Hostas, daylily leaves, grasses, straw, cattail, yarrow, milkweed stalks and seed fibers, corn husks, hollyhocks are all plants that make great paper. In addition to plants, please bring a cutting board, chopping knife, pruners or other cutting tools, rubber gloves, and boots or shoes that can get wet.
Certificate: Category B or D
$252 (10% discount for MCBA members) + $35 supply fee
Origami for Everyday Organization
with Monica Howell
Wednesday, September 25; 6-9pm
Learn how to fold a variety of origami boxes, dishes, and trays that can be used to package gifts, store office supplies, organize a desk drawer, store or display jewelry, serve candy or snacks, or as seasonal decorations. Practice your origami skills on different types and sizes of paper and learn how to adjust paper proportions to create larger boxes and trays. Leave the workshop with a variety of boxes and trays, instructions for creating future items, and a selection of papers for future use.
Certificate: Category D
$60 (10% discount for MCBA members) + $10 supply fee
Less Junk, More Flowers: Origami Flowers from Recycled Materials
with Karine Rupp-Stanko
Sunday, September 29; 1-3pm
Turn your junk mail into beautiful origami flowers! Learn how to fold origami flowers using a modular technique. Build your skills practicing this fold while sharing in conversation about ways to reduce our impact on the environment such as how to receive less unwanted solicitation mailings.
Certificate: Category D
$40 (10% discount for MCBA members) + $5 supply fee
Lego Letterpress
with Jason Yoh
Sunday, September 29; 12-4pm
Letterpress printing is remarkable in its flexibility to use a wide range of matrices that speak to the diverse channels of communication in our culture. In this workshop, explore LEGOs as a tool for modular composition of images and type. Examples of this technique will be shared and participants will develop their own composition from sketch to finished multicolor prints made on a Vandercook press. Participants will come away with ideas for using this centuries-old printing process with contemporary materials produced for other uses.
Certificate: Category B or D
$78 (10% discount for MCBA members) + $25 supply fee
Intermediate Movables & Pop-Ups in Artists’ Books
with Olli Johnson
Wednesdays: October 2, 9, 16, 23; 6-9pm
Movables & Pop-Ups in Artists’ Books helpful but not required
Learn advanced techniques to add movement and dimension to your work. Explore paper engineering theory with an emphasis on understanding the “why?” and “how?” behind more complex mechanisms and structures. Participants establish a base of understanding through the use of templates and gain confidence in the concepts through engineering their own unique designs. There will be time and guidance provided to develop an independent project.
Certificate: Category B or C
$216 (10% discount for MCBA members) + $25 supply fee
Dirty Works: Color and Collage
with Laura Brown
Friday, October 4; 6–8pm
Great for beginners
Collage is a meditative and intuitive way to create an image. Learn basic color theory and composition, then experiment with cutting shapes and arranging them to create images and patterns.
Join MCBA for Dirty Works, a series of casual classes, taking place on the first Friday of each month. Activities are designed for the bookishly curious and the creatively apprehensive; no experience needed.
$35 + $5 supply fee
Monoprinting: Visual Short Stories
with Jessie Merriam
Mondays: October 7, 14, 21, 28; 6-9pm
Monoprints combine a printing matrix (such as type or linoleum blocks) with unique ink transfers which provides a great introduction to ink, color mixing, paper types, and registration techniques. Instruction will cover a variety of printing demonstrations including drypoint etching and printing on wood type and linoleum. Experiment by combining these playful printmaking processes and create a short series of prints that convey a simple narrative or abstract sequence.
Certificate: Category B or D
$216 (10% discount for MCBA members) + $45 supply fee
Low-Tech Screen: Fast and Flexible Printmaking
with Sarah Evenson
Saturday, October 19; 10am-4pm and Sunday, October 20; 1-4pm
The lowest of the low tech, this weekend workshop will introduce you to cut paper stencil screen printing and the simple registration of prints. Using wax-paper stencils allows decisions to be made in the moment rather than with extensive planning. It’s also an inexpensive process that is chemical-free. Instruction will cover screen printing vocabulary and orientation to the process, cutting stencils from various papers, basic registration, mixing inks, combining handwork with screen printing to create variable editions, and how to curate an editioned set of ten prints.
Certificate: Category B or D
$162 (10% discount for MCBA members) + $45 supply fee
Reduction Block Printing 101
with Mary Bruno
Saturday, October 19; 10am-5pm
In this truly hands-on workshop, spend a day learning how to print a multicolor poster from one linoleum block, Mary’s specialty. Through a series of progressive carvings and press runs, the image emerges while the actual linoleum block is destroyed. Attendees will learn first-hand how to prepare artwork, transfer the artwork to linoleum, and the proper use of carving tools. At the end of the day, trade prints with workshop-mates and take an edition of your posters home. Be prepared to get inky!
Certificate: Category B
$148 (10% discount for MCBA members) + $75 supply fee
Make Marbling Tools
with Sue Bjerke
Saturday, November 2; 9am-5pm
Learn how to make marbling tools! Build at least four combs/rakes for creating classic marbling patterns, custom-sized to your own personal tank sizes. Alternative tool-making methods will be discussed so additional custom tools may be developed to support your own pattern ideas. Please email adulted@mnbookarts.org with dimensions of your tank (length x width x height) after registering for this workshop.
Certificate: Category D
$144 (10% discount for MCBA members) + $20 supply fee
Origami Wallet
with Kathleen Sheridan
Thursday, November 7; 6-9pm
Learn to fold an origami wallet based on the structure of a Jacob’s ladder. Using beautiful papers, make one to use as a wallet or as a holder for any flat item, changing the proportions we’ll make a smaller version that could hold business cards. This structure is great for those new to origami, but also includes a challenging element for those experienced with paper folding. The wallet will be entirely made of and folded with paper.
Certificate: Category D
$60 (10% discount for MCBA members) + $12 supply fee
Cartonnage: Square Tray Box
with Sue Bjerke
Saturday, November 9; 9am-5pm
Construct a tall square box with a fitted lid closure and a side-hinge revealing four stacked trays. Learn the essential elements of cartonnage, a French tradition of covering small containers with decorative marbled paper, including basics of design and construction, use of various boards, how to plan coverings, and measuring and cutting components by hand. Discussion will cover how to make size variations on the structure for future projects and all structural components will be hand-cut in the workshop.
Certificate: Category D
$144 (10% discount for MCBA members) + $20 supply fee
Paper Engineering from the Bauhaus: Josef Albers to the Modern Day
with Eric Gjerde
Thursday, November 14; 6-9pm
Paper artist Eric Gjerde leads a workshop of experimentation and discovery in the spirit of Josef Albers’ preliminary course, using historical paper art exercises and creations from the Bauhaus School as well as modern designs and ideas that build on the original concepts. Participants will take techniques and create their own works within various design constraints, in line with Bauhaus methodology. The intent is to open minds and expand horizons while having a lot of fun playing with paper! As with the original Bauhaus workshops, all work will be done with our hands and basic tools in an entirely analog format.
Certificate: Category D
$60 (10% discount for MCBA members) + $12 supply fee
Letterpress I
with Sara Parr
Sat-Sun, November 23 & 24; 10am-6pm
Jump start your letterpress printing with this weekend intensive! This workshop is perfect for those who want to try letterpress but don’t have the time for the six-week workshop, or for rusty letterpress printers in need of a refresher. Learn the fundamentals of paper, ink and design. Then hand set type, carve a simple linoleum cut, and print a small edition of broadside prints on MCBA’s Vandercook presses.
Certificate: Category A; fulfills letterpress requirement
$288 (10% discount for MCBA members) + $65 supply fee