Bookbinding workshop at Bradley for students and the community

02/29/2012 8:27 AM

Furthering the traditional and beloved art and craft of hand bookbinding, a class of twelve, composed of Bradley students and faculty and people from the Peoria community participated a day-long workshop on making three traditional hard-bound book structures. The participants explored methods of sewing pages and constructing hinges and covers with cloth and paper. The workshop was led by Andrew Huot, Conservator & Preservation Specialist from the Milner Library in Normal Illinois and current President of the national  Guild of Book Workers. Hand-bound books can be works of lasting beauty and function, used as journals, sketchbooks, or as a way of creating unique one-of-a-kind artist books. These techniques are also used to repair old but valued books. The workshop was held in the Book Arts studio in Heuser Hall.

Some of those participating will have artists’ books on display at the Contemporary Art Center, Third Floor Gallery, starting March 10 through April 6th, in an exhibit entitled “Down the Spine: Artists’ Books from Central Illinois,” curated by Bradley professor Robert Rowe.