Tools and Materials
Bookbinders Kit
Course code: 26MPT000I
This one-day, in-person workshop takes place at CBA on Saturday, June 20th, from 11AM to 5PM ET.
- Saturday, June 20th, 11AM to 5PM ET
Please Note: Registration for this workshop closes on June 6th, at 11:59pm Eastern Time.
About the Workshop
A tunnel book is a wonderful structure that allows the viewer to look within and discover a hidden world evolving in accumulated layers, via the optical illusion of perspective.
Traditionally a tunnel book is accompanied by supporting concertinas sides, which make the work collapsible, portable and easily viewable. The book becomes an extension of the reader, who’s able to hold it at eye level and marvel at the show.
How does one create perspective? How do we depict depth os space? Participants will choose landscape images where there is a clear depiction of foreground, middle ground and background. These can be photos you have taken, images you have created, or from a magazine. These images will inspire you to create the design for your pages, with the aid of collage, markers and colored pencils.
Required Materials:
Basic Book Binding Kit:
- small snap blade knife, (note: that there is a lot of cutting involved for the book, to reveal all the many layers, and I recommends the Olfa knife)
- 7" high plastic triangle
- Glue stick
- Small scissors
- Pencil
- Eraser
- 12" metal ruler
- Bone folder
- Self-healing cutting mat no smaller than 12 x 18
Additional materials for Content of Book:
Students additionally need to bring their printed images/art on cover weight paper to for the creation of their books. The images should all be related in theme and subject matter, please see below.
Bring 6-8 images that are related, all the same size on cover weight paper. Our book will contain 4 internal pages plus front and back covers. These pages will be cut into to create the different layers of the tunnel book to show the movement and perspective of space - so bring more pages than you think you need. The page size for our book is 7”W x 4.5”H – this include the ¼” tab on each side for your page to be anchored to the side accordion supports. The maximum opening for the windows are 5”W. Hint: bring Xeroxed copies to use as samples before cutting into your final designs.
All other materials will be provided by CBA at no additional cost.
About the Instructor
Maria G. Pisano (she/her) is book artist, printmaker, curator and educator. Her works reflect concerns about immigration, human rights, women’s rights and the environment. Memory Press works are represented in The Library of Congress, 9-11 Memorial Museum, National Library of Medicine, Columbia University, UCLA Berkley, Stanford University and many more.
Memory Press works are exhibited in many venues. Her book Via Dolorosa: From Sea to Shining Sea, has been selected for the exhibit: Who Is America at 250? : Artists Books in the Age of Democracy - The exhibit will be shown at Francisco Center for the Book, Minnesota Center for the Book and The Boston Athenaeum thru 2026. Previously, her book Caudex Folium was part of the exhibit Towers Rising, at the 9-11 Memorial Museum in NYC from 2024 to 2025and in 2022 her work was in “And Yet We Rise: A Retrospect of the Days and Times Surrounding 9/11 at the American Consulate in London.
She has curated a number exhibits including Book as Witness: The Artist’s Response at CBA in NYC and Crossroads: Book Artists’ Impassioned Responses to Immigration, Human Rights and Our Environment, at the Hunterdon Museum of Art, NJ. Ms. Pisano contributes to book arts publications and has presented lectures at the Library of Congress, College Book Arts Association and the Art Libraries Society of North America. Her article “Mark To Impress” was published in California Society of Printmakers and The Blue Notebook in the UK. She continuously gives workshops nationally and internationally, at her studio, libraries and institutions such as Bridwell Library, TX and Center for Book Arts in NYC and CBBAG.
All images courtesy of the instructor.
