Course Description
Introduction to hand bookbinding and artist's books as a form of artistic expression. Examination of the book as art with a focus on the book as a carefully designed object with an emphasis on design, planning, content development, construction, and the application of allied fields into book processes.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will conduct primary source research, write a paper on their research, and make an oral and image-based presentation to the class. Each graduate student will also lead a class discussion utilizing a required class reading, relevant article, video, or book.
Athena Title
Introduction to Book Arts
Prerequisite
(ARST 1050 or ARST 1050H) and one 2000-level or above ARST or ARGD or ARID course
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall and spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course is designed to acquaint students with the materials, concepts, techniques, and processes necessary to the practice of hand bookbinding and artist's books. By the end of this course, students will have the ability to generate ideas and explore the formal means of developing content, narrative structure, and sequencing within the context of book design. Students will learn a variety of bookbinding structures and be able to analyze and apply specific book actions and properties to successfully integrate conceptual and physical aspects to create a cohesive book that merges content and form. Students will become familiar with the visual, physical, and social aspects of book and print culture and have an awareness of the historical importance of the book in the dissemination of information. A variety of assignments will be given throughout the semester focusing on technical achievement as well as aesthetic concepts. Assessment of overall accomplishments is formulated during an intense discussion at studio critiques occurring regularly throughout the semester, and students will develop a media-specific vocabulary for the discussion and critique of books. Students and instructors interact as a group during these critiques.
Topical Outline
The class is structured upon a sequence of technical, formal, and conceptual units designed to investigate book arts. The course will also serve as an introduction to the field of artists’ books as a form of artistic expression. It will examine the history and craft of the book as art and as a carefully designed object in our cultural landscape and will also examine the myriad forms that books have taken in different cultures and throughout history. We will consider the book as a complete object with an emphasis on design and planning, content development, construction, and the application of allied fields into book processes (e.g., printmaking, graphic design, painting & drawing, paper engineering). The course is designed to introduce students to the content, context, and construction of books and how to utilize these skills in broad creative practice. Multiple book structures will be taught, with each structure scaffolded to build upon the previous, allowing for a diversity of applications based on student interest. The course will present both low-tech and high-tech methods of applying content and imagery to the page. Assignments will be given that explore these techniques and emphasize both conceptual development and technical achievement. Class time will be structured to include lectures, demonstrations, and reading discussions led by the instructor, followed by studio work sessions. Visits to the Hargrett Rare Book & Manuscript Library are integrated into the syllabus and provide students the opportunity to view contemporary and historical examples including manuscripts, incunabula, fine press books, and artist's books.
Syllabus
Public CV