The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Hunt Library holding bookmaking classes
FALLS VILLAGE — The David M. Hunt Library will hold two accordion bookmaking workshops with artist, Rika Laser, May 13 and May 27.
In these workshops, participants will view various accordion bindings from Laser’s special collection and learn how to make an accordion book, creating a narrative and learning how to fold and assemble an accordion book with a hardcover.
Workshop attendees will begin filling the pages of their book using traditional art supplies, and techniques including illustration, collage, mapping, written word, and more. Bring a short poem or saying that you would like to illustrate with mixed media, or another theme to explore. Beginners are welcome and all materials will be provided. This event is made free to the public through the support of the Connecticut
Office of the Arts and is open to all. Space is limited. To sign up, visit fallsvillageartcrosswalk.org/events
These events are offered by the Falls Village Equity Project, in collaboration with artist Rika Laser, who has received a grant to paint an art crosswalk in June and to host a series of bookmaking workshops free to the public in May. To inform and influence the design and planning efforts
for the art crosswalk, Laser has developed and printed a fun Falls Village Workbook that is now available at the D.M. Hunt Library. To download the Falls Village Workbook online, visit fallsvillageartcrosswalk.org/workbook
Laser is an illustrator, printmaker, and book artist with a focus in fine art printmaking and painting. Through her work she explores metaphors for physical and emotional places. Heavily influenced by Artist Books, her aesthetic relies on images working with text, and building characters and storylines that construct a symbolic narrative of time departed, reminisced, and resurfaced. Laser received her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, where she graduated with the honor of exemplary undergraduate printmaker in 2015.
She received first place in the Anne Bremer Memorial Library Juried Artist Book Show in 2014 and 2015. She was awarded the Bronze Roller Award in 2015 and honored as an upcoming book artist at the Book Club of California in San Francisco in 2016. In addition to representation at Campfire Gallery in San Francisco, her work has been exhibited internationally in Berlin, Toronto, Mexico City and more. Laser lives and works in Falls Village, Connecticut where she has a printmaking studio focused in screen printing, etching, and digital printing. To learn more, visit rikalaser.com