ART 380 - Artist’s Bookmaking

Upper Division

The importance of the book cannot be overstated. All of our contemporary, digital processes of making documents are described through the original terminology of the handmade book: (copy, paste, print, cover, illustrate, etc) and are facsimilies of the same actions. Students in this art practice course will learn several techniques for hand-making books. Students learn to use the tools and methods of each form we explore, along with the history and uses of those book-forms. The practice of bookmaking calls for attention to detail and precision, some of which is aided by the tools students will be introduced to. The wide range of traditional and experimental media available to bookmakers will be explored by students in project-based exercises. Students will be assigned readings related to the historical uses of many common book forms (social/political/spititual, etc), and the reasons why new forms were innovated. These readings will form the basis of the analysis that students will then go on to learn to do, in the process of critique. Students will travel to the San Francisco Center for the Book to view book art exhibition(s) and the class will feature at least one guest artist per semester. This class will use the libraries’ collections as a resource.

Core Curriculum Designation(s)
ACP, ARTS, HUM, HSP - Arts and Humanities Analysis and Practice

Repeatable
No

Fee
$120

Course credits: 4