The book is a hand-held technology that has completely transformed human culture. Bookworks brings together the many craft, art, and design practices that are integral to making books. This studio class integrates a range of media and materials, content, sequences, and structures into one movable, tactile object. Projects incorporate each artist's interests and work inventively with a variety of traditional and experimental book forms. We will refine our making skills alongside investigations of the book as an expressive place for form and content through storytelling, personal narrative, curatorial impulses, and commentary on broader cultural and political conditions of contemporary life. This class draws equally from Bay Area book art history within the California Arts and Crafts Movement, and the exuberant resurgence of DIY and self-publishing in contemporary art.

Bookworks 2 is centered around the creation of an artist’s book, editioned work, or series of self-published books. Students complete in-depth self-directed projects and receive one-on-one mentorship and advanced group instruction. They may challenge the concept of what a book is, or may use the traditional book format as a vehicle. Students participate in the day-to-day studio environment through presentations and class critiques. Open to students from any major who have taken Bookworks 1 and who want dedicated time and support to focus on their practice at an advanced level.