May, 2015: PBI

It has been way too long since I updated this blog.  Soon after my last entry, I drove to Michigan and spent ten days immersed in the Paper & Book Intensive.  What an experience! So good, in fact that I kept putting off writing about it because I didn't think I could do it justice -- and I can't, really. So I'll just say that it was challenging, exhilarating, inspiring and endlessly fun.  I learned from and with some wonderful artists and became part of a community that is passionate about book and related arts.  I made new friends and acquired new skills. There's so much more to say, but I'll limit myself to a few words about each of the classes I took.

Sheet-a-thon was a paper-making class with the distinguished and irrepressible Steve Miller.  We cranked out paper, trying various combinations of several fibers, using both eastern and western techniques.  Here's a picture of me couching a sheet and one of my share of the class's production:

The other half of my days in the first session was taken up learning Variations in Case Binding from Chris McAfee.  Chris is not only a ukulele virtuoso, but a great teacher.  Here are the books I made:

The second session, four full days, was devoted to a class with Kevin Steele called The Multi-Accordion: Flexible in more ways than one.  First, we made a couple of maquettes of the structure, which Kevin developed himself.  We also learned a few basic pop-up structures. Here are my maquettes (the second one is still in progress):

We spent the last two days developing individual projects.  It was amazing (and inspiring) how many different directions people in the class went with this structure.  I varied the height along each row and from one row to the next and then used spray paint -- to pretty good effect, I think.  Here's my project:

I can't say enough in praise of PBI. A magical experience. I hope I'll be able to go again.