This is a three-session online workshop: January 26, 27 & 28, 2021.

Students will learn techniques for generating text for artist's books through conceptual approaches of text usage such as text as image, as narrative, or as lyrical expression.

Participants will experiment with text itineraries and Dada and Surrealistic approaches. Short writing exercises will be assigned to be completed before, during and in-between the three workshop sessions. Various methods for getting text onto book pages will be demonstrated through mark making, transfers, stencils, stamps, rub-on type– in addition to demonstrations of simple accordion structures. 

Please note: This is a generative class for possible future book projects. Students will not have a finished project at the end of the course but rather many new ideas and skills to develop on their own.

Materials to Bring: 

This workshop will focus on techniques; these materials will be used for practice only. Don’t worry about sourcing exact items.

• A dozen or so 3 x 5 notecards (ruled is great, unruled is fine)
• 6 sheets 8.5 " x 11" copy paper or a sketchbook - to be used for exercises
• Notebook for class notes
• Writing utensils - your preference
• Scissors
• Uhu glue stick 
• Old magazines and newspapers for collage
• 2 sheets of approximately 11" x 17" copy or other medium weight paper - not decorative, needs to be foldable
   

Workshop Fee: $150

Date & Time: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday :: January 26, 27 & 28, 2021 :: 4-6pm Pacific time

Location: Online over Zoom

Please read over the SFCB Registration Policies before signing up for a class.

REGISTRATION WILL CLOSE 3 DAYS PRIOR TO THE START DATE OF THIS WORKSHOP.

About the Instructor | Ellen Sheffield

Ellen Sheffield’s works on paper and artist’s books use text and image intersections to create unexpected readings. Her interest in the juxtaposition of visual language: materials; design; mark-making; and printing processes, with written language: essays: poetry; and hybrid writing, continues to motivate art/word collaborations with Lewis Hyde, Fanny Howe, and Andrew Grace among others. Recently Ellen’s work explores themes of race and class in her rural community informed by research of local African-American history by her husband, Ric Sheffield, Kenyon College Professor of Sociology. Ellen’s studio, Unit IV Arts, is located in Gambier, OH, where she teaches in Kenyon’s Art Department. Her artist’s books have been collected by the Beinecke Library, Yale Collection of American Literature at Yale University, by the Ella Strong Denison Library at Scripps College and by many others.