Category: Altered Books

Workshop: Creating Altered Books

I’ve scheduled a second class for the year, and this time you can learn how to create art from old books. It’s been more than a year since I last taught this class, so be sure to grab your spot.

This five hour workshop is an introduction to examples and techniques for transforming old books into one-of-a-kind pieces of art. There is an unlimited potential for creating interesting work by altering books through cutting, folding, rolling, collaging, etc. This course will demonstrate a selection of techniques and provide a starting point for creating work of your own. The goal will be to complete one finished altered book by the end of the workshop. Please bring at least two old books you would like to work with, one for experimenting, and one to make a completed project.

Visit Eventbrite for further details and to register for the class.

Altered Book Workshop
Date: Sunday June 9th, 2019
Time: 10am to 3pm
Location: BC Artscape Sun Wah Centre, 268 Keefer Street, 3rd floor
Cost: $105 + fee

Scenes From An Altered Books Workshop with the CBBAG

On Saturday I taught an altered book workshop in partnership with the CBBAG. We had a terrific space in the Creekside Community Centre with large windows giving us a lovely view of the seawall and plenty of natural light. It’s been about three and half years (I think) since I last taught this class because my focus has been on paper cutting over the past intervening years. Thank goodness it is like riding a bike, and I remembered everything I needed to pass on to participants.

Altered book class with the CBBAG

Altered book class with the CBBAG

I’ve included photos of some of the work created during the class, most of which was still a work in progress by the end. It was a fun group to work with. My favourite part is how people take my techniques and come up with their own ideas.

Altered book class with the CBBAG

Altered book class with the CBBAG

Altered book class with the CBBAG

Altered book class with the CBBAG

Altered book class with the CBBAG

Altered book class with the CBBAG

Altered book class with the CBBAG

Altered book class with the CBBAG

Thank you to the CBBAG for inviting me to teach this class and taking care of the administrative tasks around running the workshop.

Now the question is: should I teach this class again…?

Upcoming Altered Book Workshop with the CBBAG

On March 3rd I will be teaching an altered book workshop in partnership with the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild (CBBAG) at Creekside Community Centre. This is a rare opportunity to take this type of workshop with me as I haven’t offered one in over three years. Space is limited so book your spot now!

The workshop is an introduction to examples and techniques for transforming old books into one-of-a-kind pieces of art. There is an unlimited potential for creating interesting work by altering books through cutting, folding, rolling, collage, etc. This class will demonstrate a selection of techniques and provide a starting point for creating work of your own.

Registration is through the CBBAG, with more details here »

Date: March 3, 2018
Time: 10am to 3pm
Location: Creekside Community Centre, 1 Athletes Way
Cost: $80 CBBAG Members, $100 Non-members

Many Paws. An Altered Book About the Years of Change

Menopause is one of those things you don’t hear much about (or think about) until you’re over forty or have friends in their late forties and early fifties. If you’re a man, I’m sure you hear nothing about it at all.

Last year a few of my friends were going through menopause and suddenly I found myself hearing the horror stories “the change” can bring to a woman’s body. I’m familiar with the idea of hot flashes, but until that point I’d never heard much about the mood swings, or the feeling of losing your mind and memory loss. My friends made it sound like bad PMS but one hundred times worse. Fun times with our bodies are ahead of us ladies…

manypaws1

To bring a bit of humour to this situation Susan DeGarmo created a light-hearted, interactive pop-up book on getting older and going through the change. Many Paws is a reproduction of the original altered book she created after having a hot flash while teaching a class on altering books.

manypaws2

manypaws3

The book has three dimensional elements, pop-up pieces, doors to open, and bits to pull. It’s colourful and fun, but best of all it’s a book that embraces the aging of women and laughs with us rather than making us feel ridiculous about our struggles.

manypaws4

manypaws5

I was sent a review copy of the book, which is an usual situation for me. Accepting it was a no-brainer because it’s a great addition to my library of books on altered books and paper art. I think it will also be a wonderful item to share with my female friends as we age. I know it’s something I want to enjoy rather than dread.

manypaws6

manypaws7

Visit Susan DeGarmo’s website to learn more about her. You can also purchase your own copy of the book online here or through Amazon.

Student Work From the Altered Book Workshop

I taught a new group of people how to transform old books into art at Hot Art Wet City this past weekend. It’s always an interesting exercise for me to take all the things I’ve taught myself about the process of making altered books and pass it on to other people. From there they take it in their own direction and I love to see what will happen.

Altered Book Workshop

Everything pictured here is a work in progress by a participant in the class. There was a nice mix of styles and a good amount of experimenting. I don’t think anyone fully completed a project, but that just meant they could keep working on it more at home.

Altered Book Workshop

The best part for me when I teach a class is seeing everyone leaving happy and inspired by the new things they’ve learned.

Altered Book Workshop at Hot Art Wet City for September 2014

I’ve begun scheduling workshops for the upcoming fall season, and the first of these will be an altered book workshop at Hot Art Wet City. There are ten spots available and it looks like four have already been spoken for.

The class takes place on Saturday September 20th, 12:30pm to 4:30pm, at 2206 Main street at 6th Avenue.

Altered book workshop at Hot Art Wet City

The altered book workshop is an introduction on how to create sculpture from books, using techniques like folding, cutting, rolling, and working with three dimensional objects. The goal is to inspire participants, and guide each person through creating a finished piece of work by the end of class.

To read the full description of the class as well as sign up, please visit the Hot Art Wet City web site »

Altered Book Workshop at Hot Art Wet City

I am teaching an altered book workshop in conjunction with Voices From Another Room at Hot Art Wet City in April. I get many requests for this workshop throughout the year, but this is the first one I’ve scheduled since sometime in 2012.

The class takes place on Sunday April 13th, 12:30pm to 4:30pm, at Hot Art Wet City gallery located at Main and 6th Avenue.

Crofton House Workshop
Altered Book Workshop at Blim - Student Work
Student work in progress from previous classes.

The altered book workshop is an introduction on how to create sculpture from books, using techniques like folding, cutting, rolling, and working with three dimensional objects. The goal is to inspire participants, and guide each person through creating a finished piece of work by the end of class.

To read the full description of the class as well as sign up, please visit the Hot Art Wet City web site »

Currents of Nature In Situ

My solo show, Currents of Nature, opened this past weekend at the Ranger Station Art Gallery in Harrison. Here are photos of the exhibition:

Currents of Nature, Ranger Station Art Gallery-2

Currents of Nature, Ranger Station Art Gallery

Currents of Nature, Ranger Station Art Gallery-4

Currents of Nature, Ranger Station Art Gallery-3

Currents of Nature, Ranger Station Art Gallery

Currents of Nature, Ranger Station Art Gallery-2

One side of the gallery has altered book work and installations, while the other has recent paper cut sculptures and wall pieces.

Currents of Nature, Ranger Station Art Gallery

Currents of Nature, Ranger Station Art Gallery-2

Currents of Nature, Ranger Station Art Gallery-4

Currents of Nature, Ranger Station Art Gallery-3

Currents of Nature, Ranger Station Art Gallery-3

Currents of Nature, Ranger Station Art Gallery

Currents of Nature, Ranger Station Art Gallery-2

Currents of Nature, Ranger Station Art Gallery-4

Thanks to my friend Siobhan Humston for making the installation process so smooth and easy. All of the work was in position within two hours of my arrival at the gallery, and the show looks terrific.

Currents of Nature, Ranger Station Art Gallery

Currents of Nature will be on display until July 28th as part of the Harrison Festival of the Arts, so please do visit the show.

Altered Book Workshop at Crofton House School

Last week I taught my first altered book workshop to the under thirteen set, when I was invited as a guest artist at Crofton House School. I worked with two back-to-back groups of grade 7 girls with twenty kids in each class. We began with a presentation of a selection of my altered book work and then I moved on to a demo of techniques.

It was amazing to see all the girls get right down to work on their books with very little hesitation. The photos will give you a sense of the wonderful creative chaos that took place.

Crofton House Workshop-3

Crofton House Workshop

Crofton House Workshop-2

Crofton House Workshop-4

I’d only worked with adults in previous classes, so it was an interesting experience to observe how easily these young people tapped into their creativity and how much harder it can be for an adult, especially if they’ve lost touch with their creative side. I could see that the girls didn’t have the hesitation or fears about making a mistake that people tend to develop as they grow older.

Crofton House Workshop-5

Crofton House Workshop-7

Crofton House Workshop-6

Our workshop together was just the beginning of their altered book unit in art class, so much of what is pictured here is a work-in-progress. There was some very interesting work happening in the classroom, and I’m looking forward to seeing the end results in a few weeks.

Crofton House Workshop-9

Crofton House Workshop-8

Thank you to Kerry Harding for the invitation to share my work and knowledge with her grade 7 art classes, and to Crofton House School for hosting me.