Course Code: 26SBM000I
This in-person workshop takes place on Saturday, April 11th, from 11AM to 5PM ET
Please Note: Registration for this workshop closes on March 28th, at 11:59pm Eastern Time.
About the Workshop:
We love our books and as book artists, collectors and librarians, we care and preserve them so they can be shared and be cared for. These protective enclosures are made to support and protect your special and unique books from environmental damages. Additionally for the artist they can also serve as an extension of their book to enhance their presentation and provide another surface where one can customize the box’ design to reflect the contents.
Learn to make two archival enclosures that enable you to store your books in an acid free protective environment. We will make the archival phase box enclosure used by the Library of Congress, as an alternative to the clamshell box and a self-closing wrapper. The class will cover do’s and don’ts in conservation enclosures and materials, show examples of damages from bad conservation practices along with learning to measure for custom fit, creating jigs, adhesives, and other helpful hints. For the book artist, librarian and collector. No experience necessary, just come with your books.
Required Materials:
Each student should bring 2 books they want to make enclosures for:
- A soft cover book (paperback) - maximum ¾” -1” TH and size 5" x 8"
- A hard cover book for the phase box, minimum of 1”-1.5” TH -and no larger than 6” W x 11”H.
Additionally each participant should have the basic conservation tools below
- Bonefolder
- Small breakaway knife (I prefer the Olfa brand)
- Self healing mat (no smaller than 12")
- Metal Ruler
- 9" plastic or metal triangle
- Microspatula
- Pencil & eraser
- 1" glue brush
-
Small Scissors
About the Instructor:
Maria G Pisano 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 -Opening in Jan 2026 at the San Francisco Center for the Book with additional venues through Dec. 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.