TEACHING ARTISTS

“I most enjoy creating one-of-a-kind bindings for a text that already exists,” Celine says. ”I use my skills best to create something that speaks to the content but does not imitate it. I read the text, observe the images, learn about the backstory if applicable, and then start drawing out my ideas.”

Her binding of Whittington Press’s book Lost and Found is a good example. It contains British artist Rachel Reckitt’s woodblock prints created for George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss but never used. For the cover she made a panel from folded paper to refer both to the physicality of the woodblock and to the imagery in the prints. The final piece is a true collaboration across time that shows how binding can beautifully enhance any book’s content.

“When I make an artist book, I choose a structure that complements the content. The structure can be an integral part of the book and not just an afterthought. For my book Murmurations, I chose a butterfly binding with multiple layers to each page because I like how the action as you turn the pages seems like birds flying, which is a major theme of the book.”

Lightweight, limp-vellum book about aesthetics and value, bound with dyed goat parchment. Sculptural element, tipped-in RC photographs. Letterpress printed from hand-set type, woodcuts, and photopolymer-plates. Edition of 21, 2015.

Notions, letterpress printed, one-of-a-kind book about conflicting perspectives over immigration. Wood covers, hand-set type, and pressure-printing, 7" x 7" (18 x 18 cm) (closed), 2012.

Ana Paula Cordeiro

Ana Paula Cordeiro is a professional bookbinder in New York who works on collaborative and commissioned books. Her practice focuses on binding techniques that are sculptural, because her goal as a binder is to find innovative ways to engage with the reader. She wants to shut down the autopilot response we have when handling a book—to stop “flipping without focus.”

Cordeiro was not always a binder. Her practice began in photography. But her interest in finding ways to connect the narrative threads of her photos into more cohesive statements led her to binding. She started at The Center for Book Arts learning as work-study, then interned at the Women’s Studio Workshop, and then returned to The Center for Book Arts as a Stein Scholar. She has been dedicated to bookbinding for almost two decades now.

She often begins projects considering the final form before considering the content—an artistic leap where ideas are often inspired by form. This process can be seen in her book Lightweight, which looks at how lightweight books from the Renaissance have fared better than the books bound in gold with precious stones. The book is sculpted with ridges that embody an angled beam of light and its contents run across and around its shape, making humorous observations.

“Lightweight is a lighthearted attempt to do justice to the genius of the Limp Vellum structure,” says Codeiro. “May its message be its medium; may its artistry embrace eternity.”

Her Place, signature sewn hardcover book, dipped in clear gloss matte medium, suspended by a 3-foot (91 cm) chain, 81/4" x 51/2" (21 x 14 cm), 2018.

Sarah Smith

Sarah Smith fell in love with the grids of Tschichold and the classic margins of medieval manuscripts, which led to her interest in lead type and paper. She interned at The Center for Book Arts and was proud to learn from Aurora De Armendi, Ana Cordeiro, Yukari Hayashida, and Celine Lombardi. She also worked at Pace Ink, Harlan & Weaver, and LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies.

She learned hard work growing up on a sheep ranch, and her interest in outdoor, physical labor as well as gendered spaces influences her work today. Smith’s most recent book, Her Place, deals with the frustration and desire she feels for spaces where masculine labor is praised, and female-bodied people are made to feel unwelcome. “My recent work deals with inclusive versus exclusive spaces,” she says. “The traditional codex form of a book is meant to include people in their contents. The books I’ve been making take that inclusive codex form, but are damaged or altered in a way so as to shut the user out. Since we have all been in the physical space of a book, the exclusion from it feels personal.” Her work has been included in exhibitions at the Lower East Side Printshop and Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries.

A lot of Smith’s time goes into helping other artists create their work, and she currently works at Small Editions and Harlan & Weaver, collaborating with artists to create editions. After many years of editioning other artists’ books, she has come full circle, focusing more on her own work and teaching bookbinding.

Vestige, case binding, 2012.

Beloved, drop-spine drum-leaf, 2016.

Elizabeth Sheehan

Beth Sheehan is a bookbinder in New York and Philadelphia whose practice is driven by the exploration of ideas through printmaking, papermaking, and artist books. Her work combines hand-printed content with binding structures that enhance the experiences of those who interact with her books.

Sheehan came to bookbinding through her college education. A course in papermaking with Cynthia Nourse Thompson introduced her to clamshell boxes. She quickly fell in love with box making and continued to take classes, learning all she could about binding. Artist books soon became a staple of her productions. She was selected as a scholar for Advanced Studies in Book Arts at The Center for Book Arts and became a bindery manager at Small Editions.

“I make books because I feel the book form accomplishes something unique in the art world,” Sheehan says. “Books hover between the worlds of flat artwork and sculptural work but also incorporate the element of time. They are often intimate and familiar, and much of my work draws on these aspects. People have a fondness for books because of the life of books outside of the art world. We respond to books in a way we don’t necessarily respond to other artworks—books are meant to be explored and touched. They are complex objects that you have to spend time with to understand.”

Sheehan approaches her work by thinking about the ideas for content first. Only after she has developed the content will she think about bindings. But she also allows for the binding to enhance and change the content. Her artist book Vestige is where you can see this come together. It is a 72-page case-bound book with hand-sewn headbands, handmade paper with pulp paintings, digital printing, screen printing, and letterpress printing. Her love of printing and bookmaking shines through this book with its multiple printmaking techniques.

“Artist books have so many opportunities to enhance a viewer’s experience and express the ideas behind the work. I find that when a book’s structure doesn’t just act as a vessel to deliver the content but also acts as an integral part of experiencing the work, the piece is much more likely to stay with me and affect me.”