Related Arts

MCBA offers in-person and virtual workshops in book arts—from letterpress printing to paper marbling and everything in between! Designed for adults looking to spark their creativity and professionals aiming to hone their technique, MCBA’s workshops feature intimate class sizes and hands-on experiences using process-specific equipment, including technology designed and built in the 19th and 20th centuries, and artisan-built equipment made today. Workshops focus on building skills in a specific process, which often leads to a physical takeaway like a bound book, a letterpress printed poster, a screen printed zine, or a sheet of paper made or marbled by hand.

Teaching artists bring a wide range of education and experience along with a mission to inspire connection and creativity. Workshops are designed to balance lecture, demonstration, work time, and group sharing.

Workshops are eligible for credit toward MCBA’s Certificate programs. Enrollees receive a 20% discount on tuition. MCBA members receive a 10% discount on tuition.

Have questions about registration or recording policies? Check out MCBA’s Workshop & Studio Lab Policies and FAQs. If you are a teaching artist, you can propose a workshop here. Add your name to a wait list if a workshop you’d like to take is full. You’ll be contacted if another section of the workshop is scheduled.

Movement in Pop-Ups: Cards Celebrating Our Planet!

with Shawn Sheehy
Wednesday, April 5; 6–9pm CT

Do you look at pop-up books and wonder how they are engineered? Do you make greeting cards and harbor the desire to make your cards more spectacular? Do you make artist’s books and yearn to introduce dimension and animation? Even if you are simply compelled to read this description, you might be POP-UP CURIOUS. This workshop—with a focus on movement—will explore the fundamentals of paper engineering that address movables (pulls and wheels). You’ll build a series of simple models with an Earth Day theme using the tools, techniques, and materials of the trade. You’ll examine trade pop-up books that show how the structures have been used. When finished, you’ll bind your models into a simple case. This quick beginner class is an entertaining gateway into more advanced study. Continue reading “Movement in Pop-Ups: Cards Celebrating Our Planet!”

Slow-Stitched Scroll

with Lynn Salmon-Easter
Saturday, April 15; 1–4pm CT

Come mend your heart and stitch your way to more calm and ease while you create your own hand-stitched fabric scroll. Learn various techniques for mark-making with needle and thread. Together, we will practice collaging pieces of fabric in simple compositional ways. Using a variety of stitch types, explore line and negative space in different ways to create pattern and visual texture within your scroll. All techniques are simple and require no previous stitching experience. An interest in exploring intuitive ways of creating that are open, expressive, and not based on rigid rules will be helpful. Continue reading “Slow-Stitched Scroll”