Jan Baker's BOOKS + WORDS! at Long Ridge Farm

BOOKS + WORDS!

with Jan Baker

Date/Time
Dates: Aug 17 - Aug 21 , 2016 - 5 day(s)
9:30 am - 4:30 pm each day.

Computers, tablets and e-books are capturing our attention, but how can we create our own handmade innovative books? Experimenting with different folded, glued and sewn book structures, participants will also explore stitching, weaving and layering book pages.

The interplay between materials, structure and content will be discovered. Personal words will be encouraged… to be incorporated into these innovative book structures.

Participants are encouraged to bring old books and interesting materials from their own collections to experiment with. Sample artists’ books and slides will be shared for inspiration.

We are not bound by convention.

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I was first introduced to Jan Baker's amazing work in 2013 during Sandra Brownlee's Tactile Notebooks and the Written Word workshop at Big Cat Textiles in Scotland. I fell head over heels in love with Jan's work...well, even more so, truth be told...last August while experiencing Sandra's workshop again, this time at Long Ridge Farm. 

The first assignment in Sandra's class is to cover your notebook in such a way that you want to hold it, touch it and work in it. I chose a fairly large one and, at the end of day 2, decided that it was jsut wrong for me because every exercise over the first 2 days had been a struggle.

Day 3 found me carrying a new, smaller notebook, indigo fabric, thread and my chair out into the field where 

I settled in front of Jan's section of the fence line to gain inspiration while creating a new cover. 

The whole class found Jan's work mesmerizing, inspiring and mysterious. In fact, Jan Baker, who are you? became a central theme that week.

Can you guess where I'll be August 17-21? I hear there are a few more spots open in the class. Click here if you're interested. Hope to see you there!