Town and Gown: Printmaking as Agent of Discourse and Collaboration

In the current academic climate of prioritization, budget cuts, and program restructuring, printmaking and book arts programs often need to defend their missions, prove viability, and increase enrollment. This panel will focus on recruitment, retention, enrollment, and community engagement as vital components of the academic sphere. Printmaking and book arts are highly interdisciplinary art forms that frequently utilize techniques from other art disciplines and are well suited to cross-pollinate with other academic departments. This allows printmaking and book arts to be integrated into a variety of courses throughout multiple departments and often include team-taught classes, learning communities, and honors programs. These interdisciplinary partnerships positively impact art programs through increased enrollment, appreciation, involvement and overall visibility. Art departments can also use these partnerships to share valuable resources within a university including joint grants, multi-department funding, and a divided workload. Of equal importance, printmaking and book arts contain a history of collaboration and engagement with the public and we seek to continue this through active campus programming and events. Activities such as steamroller printing with area high schools and art centers, print carnivals, and visiting artists build positive community association and support for our programs and can also be used as a recruitment tool. Individual panelists will explore various ideas and strategies to engage freshman, promote campus and community involvement in the arts, and increase enrollment in printmaking/book arts programs

“3 Books in 40 Minutes” or “How I learned to love visual narratives encased in intentional bindings”

“3 Books in 40 Minutes” or “How I learned to love visual narratives encased in intentional bindings” This proposal is an interactive event that allows a large portion of conference attendees, chosen by lottery, to partake in the creation of 2 blank books and one hand printed artist’s book within the span of forty minutes. The demonstration will be repeated three times to maximize the number of people capable of participating. Much like a city. books are often seen as a form of home. They provide an intimate, one-on-one interaction, allowing the viewing experience to be fluid, based on the interest and understanding of the individual person reading. Books present a field focused on human senses: the physical tactility of the bind, the rustle of the chosen paper, the reading and viewing of the images and text, the smell of fiber and ink. The viewer controls the time-based nature of pagination. Printmaking and the book form share a key component … the dissemination of information. (Whether utilized or not, that is a different story) In addition, the book is seen as a truly interdisciplinary process, capable of cohabitating with many other techniques, print and otherwise. In this demo conference-goers have the opportunity to learn a few simple binds that may help cohesively house/enhance/transform their work. During the course we will make two blank books and one artist’s book, all within the span of three 40-minute sessions. The binds to be taught are the 5-hole Pamphlet Stitch, the Coptic Stitch, and the Drum Leaf. Each session’s group will receive an artist’s book in a different format while learning the other two binds as a technical form. The demo will provide multiple examples of the bind, a brief history of artist’s books and instructions for each book presented