Book Arts Project at Stirchley Library

Stirchley Art Room's first major project was an expansion of some of the ideas we had developed in our earliest days. Funded by Arts Council England, it allowed us to share our love of books and book making with members of the community, and empower them to make their own books and bookworks. Planned in three sections, each part included low cost (free to unwaged) workshops, specialist artists talks/workshops and a celebratory exhibition of work at the end. 

Our thanks as ever go to everyone at Stirchley Library for allowing us use the familiar, relaxed and comfortable setting of the library for these workshops. Some of it was quite messy... 

Part 1 - Make a Book

Our Make a Book workshops focused on the basics of book making - in our first session participants made six different types of book! Each week we made a different selection of books and used a range of techniques and materials, including printmaking.  

On November 23rd we were joined by 'bookish' artist and library lover Chloe Spicer, who gave a talk about her art practice, and led a workshop on the joys (and challenges) of Coptic bookbinding. 

In January 2020 we celebrated the achievements of everyone who took part with an exhibition and open evening at the library - the books looked fantastic!

Part 2 - Fill a Book

The next stage of our workshops focused on the content and purpose of books a little more - most of what we made could probably be classed as artists books as they were all little individual treasures. We made collaged 'library' books using a spiral concertina book-form, Turkish map fold books, concertina bound spring books with delicate paper cut pages, and experimented with pop-up mechanisms.  

Our artist workshop for this phase was led by Stephen Fowler - book maker, illustrator and rubber stamp artist. He showed us his fantastic work and shared a range of rubber stamping techniques.   

At this stage in the project we launched our Stirchley Sketchbook Circle - more information about this exciting project offshoot can be found here.

Part 3 - Change a Book

We have a lot of exciting ideas and techniques to share for our last set of workshops - including up-cycling, reusing and re-binding existing books. Like so many things, this last part of the project is on hold due to the Covid pandemic - we will be back though, so keep an eye on our social media and this website for updates!