Artist Books for Printmakers
Esther K Smith:: Manhattan Graphics CenterOct 9 - Nov 6 :: Mondays 6:30-9:30 pm :: 5 sessions
class limited to 6 students
Register NOW registration closes Saturday October 7
Make 5+ artist books from start to finish. Make quick models and then
develop them into books. Reuse your prints! Make one-of-a-kind books,
collaborative group books—and limited editions—as well as sketchbooks,
albums, etc. Each session will focus on a different structure, building
skills as the class progresses. Accordion and other folded
structures—including flag books—simple pop-ups, stab stitch & flip
books, single signature stitching and multisignature books. Guest artists, discussions about selling work—and how artist books can
help interest curators in collecting your other works.Type on the Streets - Dikko Faust
Type on the Streets: Architectural and Vernacular Signage in New York City (and Beyond)
Center for Book Arts :: Saturday, October 28, 2023, 12noon–3pm
Register here
Enjoy a unique New York City walking tour highlighting 19th & 20th-century architectural typography on apartment buildings, manhole & vault covers, paint-on-brick advertising signs, and more. You can make your own rubbings of found typography.
Esther K Smith will be teaching this winter at
New York City’s Center for Book Arts
Magic Books & Paper Toys :: Esther K Smith
Weekend Workshop 11am-5pm :: Saturday + Sunday Jan 27-28, 2024
Explore a variety of structures from flexagons to magic wallets, simple popups, cootie catchers, instant accordion skylines and mountains, jogged pamphlets, flip books, exquisite corpse structures, stitched triangle star books. Make quick models and then develop them into one-of-a-kind artist books, collaborative and individual projects, or potential limited editions. Kickstart your creative practice Incorporating content exercises derived from oulipo and surrealist techniques. Learn new approaches to content and structure.
photos by Amy Kalyn Sims
by Harvey Redding/Purgatory Pie Press + Liz Zanis
by Polly Faust
by Esther K Smith + Dikko Faust Purgatory Pie Press
CAKE BOX BOOKS
Esther K Smith :: National Museum of Women in the Arts
Pop Art meets Book Arts! Learn to stitch an ancient book binding that predates printing. Make your cover from a cake, cracker, or cereal box and fold your pages from standard printing paper. These multi-section books open flat for writing and drawing and are great for journals, guestbooks, albums, sketchbooks, collage books, scrap books, and very long zines.
Esther K. Smith (she/her) is the author and designer of How to Make Books (2007), Making Books with Kids (2016), and other book arts books. Artistic director at Purgatory Pie Press, Esther collaborates with letterpress printer Dikko Faust hand-making limited editions and artist books–sometimes with other artists and writers. They have exhibited widely, and their work is in many public collections worldwide including MoMA, SF MoMA, Smithsonian, National Gallery of Art, NMWA, London’s Tate and V&A museums, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Gallery at The Met Store has been showing and selling their artist books and prints. Esther has also been Risograph printing and has begun publishing Riso books under the EK Smith Museum imprint.
BOOKS BRUNCH & TEA
Esther K Smith‘s Zoom workshop /retreat
Books, Brunch, & Tea, a Zoom winter bookmaking retreat across two Saturdays. Workshops on simple books, pop-ups, pamphlets, accordions, stab stitch, and long-stitch will be interspersed with fun, cozy baking and tea-making demos.
Email esther(at)purgatorypiepress(dot)com for more info-- or to arrange a private or small group class.
CEREAL BOX BOOKS
Esther K Smith Zoom Class--
Cereal box books are a pop-art, environmentally friendly version of a binding that developed before printing. These multi-signature books open flat for writing and drawing-- great for journals, guestbooks, albums, sketchbooks, collage books, scrap books (and very long zines).
Email esther(at)purgatorypiepress(dot)com for more info-- or to arrange a private or small group class.
Dikko Faust’s SVA Classes
As SEEN in The Daily Heller!!Letterpress: An Introduction
Registration CLOSEDSchool of Visual Arts, New York City
Letterpess is versatile, adaptable, and mixes easily with other printmaking processes. By hand-typesetting vintage metal and wood typefaces, students will gain a broader understanding of typography. The sessions will begin with a demonstration, followed by studio time to work on projects, including type-based graphic designs and fine art limited additions. Previous printmaking experience is not required. Registration Closed
Letterpress: Variations
Registration closedSchool of Visual Arts, New York City
This course will concentrate on nontraditional, experimental, and painterly uses of letterpress. Students will explore moiré and interference patterns by shifting type set-ups and using multiple printings. Students will examine the type experiments of avant-garde movements, such as Dada and futurism, and innovative printers from the 19th and 20th centuries. Sessions will begin with demonstrations, followed by studio time to work on self-initiated projects. Previous printmaking experience is not required.
Registration closed
Modular Pattern: Weekend Workshop
Registration CLOSED
School of Visual Arts, New York City |
This hands-on workshop will focus on letterpress relief printing techniques. Students will set metal type, type ornaments, found objects, and made pieces. In addition to studio work, students will examine historical works of letterpress art, including vernacular weaving, bricklaying, tiling, and other archaeological and architectural examples. Students will experiments with moiré, interference, shifted and pinwheel prints, ink transparency, and color overlay. The first day will focus on group patterns, while the second day will concentrate on individual projects. All levels are welcome, though some letterpress or relief printmaking experience is helpful. Register here.
Center for Book Arts Classes with Dikko Faust
Type on the Streets: Architectural and Vernacular Signage in New York City (and Beyond)Center for Book Arts |Registration CLOSED
Participants will enjoy a one-of-a-kind NYC walking tour highlighting 19th & 20th-century architectural typography on apartment buildings, manhole & vault covers, paint-on-brick advertising signs, and more. Students will have the chance to create their own rubbings of found typography. The session will conclude with a slideshow and discussion at the CBA. Proof of vaccination is required.
Printing T-Shirts on the Washington Press
Center for Book Arts
Students will learn about typographic history while printing on t-shirts and other cotton fabric items. Printing wood type with hand rollers on CBA’s R.Hoe & Co Washington Press (made in the Bronx in the late 1800’s)
Vandertricks with Dikko Faust
In this workshop on improvisatory letterpress printing, students will study four letterpress techniques: feathering, rainbow rolls, found-object printing, and purgacolor. The course will also cover other aspects of letterpress printing, including onlay, interlay, underlay, color mixing tips, press maintenance, proofing, editioning, managing order, and more. Dikko will display examples of his work from Purgatory Pie Press. Students should have some hand type and letterpress experience.
Hands-On History of Type: 200 Years of New Things
Center for Book Arts
Registration CLOSED
This series will explore the history of typography from the 1820s to the present using lectures, show-and-tell examples, and demonstrations. Sessions will include: Alphabet History through Type Inventions with Five New Type Forms from the 1820s, Wood Type and Metal Type: Manufacture and Best Use Suggestions, Chromatic Wood and Metal Type, Printing Magazines: 19th through Early 20th Century, Crystal Goblet vs. Dada: Avant Garde vs Classical Reformist Design.
Two Centuries of Wood and Metal Type 1820-2020
This course will include a survey of the last 200 years of type design, advertising, and graphic popular culture. Type exploded into numerous forms in the 19th century, with many fans and critics along the way. Constant barrages of new ways to make type, typewriters, keyboard cast type (linotype, monotype, etc.), as well as other innovations aided and abetted the typing boom. A veteran type detective and letterpress printer will lead our investigation from his printshop and archive. Students will undertake and share guided research with the class as we learn about this exciting period for type and type design. Expect diversions into architectural ornament and much more that relate to letter design.
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Past Letterpress Classes
Letterpress: An Introduction
Dikko Faust
Letterpress is versatile, adaptable, and mixes easily with other printmaking processes. Through hand typesetting vintage metal and wood typefaces, students will gain a broader understanding of typography. Printing blocks and plates range from completely manual, hand-cut and collaged, to digital photopolymer plates. Accurate color registration is simple and easy. The image can range from hard edge to feathered and painterly, and the relief impression adds a third dimension. Operation and maintenance of different kinds of letterpress is included. Sessions begin with a demonstration followed by studio time to work on projects that range from type-based graphic designs to fine art limited editions. Previous printmaking experience is not required.
Letterpress: Variations
Dikko Faust
This course will concentrate on nontraditional, experimental, and painterly uses of letterpress. Printing from collagraphs and linocut plates offers endless possibilities for image-making and color overprinting. We will explore moiré and interference patterns by shifting type set-ups and the use of multiple printings. We will also look at the type experiments of avant-garde movements, such as Dada and futurism, and innovative printers from the 19th and 20th centuries. Sessions will begin with demonstrations and are followed by studio time to work on self-initiated projects. Previous printmaking experience is not required.
Letterpress:
Modular Pattern weekend workshop
Dikko Faust
This hands-on workshop will focus on letterpress relief printing techniques. Students will be setting metal type, type ornaments, and found and made pieces. In addition to studio work, we will view historical examples of this art form, including archaeological, architectural, vernacular weaving, bricklaying and tiling. We will continue this tradition with modular pieces from the printshop, as well as found and made type-high hardware. Experiments will include moiré, interference, shifted and pinwheel prints, ink transparency and color overlay. The first day focuses on group patterns; the second day concentrates on individual projects.
NOTE: All levels welcome; some letterpress or relief printmaking experience is helpful, but not required.