Rhiannon Alpers a transplant to the SF Bay Area, MFA in Book and Paper Arts from Columbia College Chicago, BA in Book Arts from UC Santa Barbara. She is a papermaker, letterpress printer and book artist. She has taught workshops at San Francisco Center for the Book, Institute of Mosaic Art in Oakland, Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, Center for Book and Paper in Chicago, Paper Source stores in Chicago and San Francisco, and Santa Reparata in Florence Italy.

Bookmaking with Rhiannon Alpers

The longstitch is a non-adhesive (no glue) binding structure that has a wonderful history and endless variations. Over this weeklong session students will have the chance to both learn new stitching patterns and experiment with combining them to create unique artist books. This class is open to both beginner and intermediate book binding students and requires no previous book making experience. Basic knowledge of scissors, Xacto knives and measuring is helpful.

The process of how to create decorative covers from leather, layers of paper, found and collage materials will also be part of the discovery during this workshop. The papers used in the interior of the books is suitable for drawing, in the field watercolor, pen and ink. This binding structure is great for sketching or writing as the book lays open fairly flat when working, and there is no adhesive so the book can be taken apart or changed if needed.

Students will have a chance to work on their own and add found or collected items to the books they create. There will be some basic historical background about the structure covered as well as bookbinding vocabulary, basic bookbinding techniques and tips. A slideshow at the beginning of the class session will give students creative ideas of book artists and binders using this structure in new and creative ways.


Material fee is $25.