Course Information:

Title: Summer Book Arts and Print, ART 342 / EPC 582

Credits: 3.00

Dates: Summer 2026: Monday, Monday, July 6 – Friday, July 17, 2026

Meeting Times: M-T-W-R-F from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm 
(Bring your own lunch or purchase available at McGoldrick) 

Location: Portland Campus – Kate Cheney Chappell Center for Book Arts, Room 160, Crewe Center for the Arts (Campus Map)

Instructor: Annie Lee-Zimerle

Prerequisite(s): ART 241 and successful completion of the Foundation Portfolio review, or permission of instructor. Email Annie Lee-Zimerle at aemin.leezimerle@maine.edu to request permission.

The Summer Book Arts and Print class is a two-week intensive course that will introduce students to the foundational skills for creating artist’s books and related items in the book arts. Students will learn from USM faculty and visiting artists techniques that provide insights into design, history, and the aesthetics specific to the book arts. Each student will create an artist’s book for a September exhibition at USM Glickman Library on the USM campus.

Additional Course fee: $300

COURSE REQUIREMENTS: 

  • Completed prerequisite ART 241 OR received instructor permission to add the course.
  • Students attend all 10-day (two-week) class sessions on the Portland Campus.
  • Students complete one book after the workshop as a Final Project, which will be exhibited on the 6th floor of Glickman Library during the months of September and October.
  • Attendance at the opening reception/lecture for the exhibition in early September.
  • Failure to complete projects by the end of the semester will result in a failing grade.  


REQUIRED ESSENTIAL TOOLS: Must-haves!
NOTE: Don’t forget to review the additional supply list for each session.

  • X-acto knife and blades or a knife with break away blades or Olfa knife (small, with snap-off blades), and supply of replacement blades
  • Medium-to-heavy duty awl, preferably with a rounded handle
  • 12”-18” Metal Ruler-preferably stainless steel / non skid
  • Pencil & Eraser
  • Notebook
  • Scissors
  • Bone Folder
  • Glue brushes: white Bristle brush 1-1.5” and .5” small flat bristle brush for glue (inexpensive chip brush, about $1.50 each)
  • Apron (or studio shirt; we will be printing)
  • Glue stick(s)

DAILY WORKSHOP SCHEDULES:

Monday, July 6

  • What is an Artist’s Book: Transferring Ideas into Book Form with Annie Lee-Zimerle

Tuesday, July 7 – Wednesday, July 8  

  • Repeat Pattern Design for Block Printing: Carving, Printing, and Binding with Martha Kearsley

Thursday, July 9 – Friday, July 10

  • Side-Stitched Asian Book Binding with Evelyn Wong

Monday, July 13 – Tuesday, July 14

  • Variation & Theme, Exploring Tetra-pak Drypoint & Chine-collé with Elizabeth Jabar 

Wednesday, July 15 – Thursday, July 16

  • Folded vs Sewn with Richard Reitz Smith
  • Boxes From Two Structures with Richard Reitz Smith

Friday, July 17 

  • Creating and Presenting with Annie Lee-Zimerle

DAILY SESSION INFORMATION

DESCRIPTIONS, ARTIST BIOS, & ADDITIONAL SUPPLY LISTS: 

Monday, July 6

Description:
The class will begin with a lecture and class exercises to learn and understand what an artist book is. Students will then explore their ideas and concepts in the visual form of books. The goal of this class is to develop and strengthen not only the concept behind the books but also to gain familiarity with simple yet varied bookmaking techniques.

ADDITIONAL SUPPLY LIST:

  • Any additional drawing, painting, and/or printmaking media (bring whatever you have)

About the Artist:
Annie Lee-Zimerle is an interdisciplinary artist with a background in printmaking, painting, drawing, and book arts. She received her BFA and MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is currently an Associate Professor and Program Director of the Kate Cheney Chappell Center for Book Arts at the University of Southern Maine.

Tuesday, July 7 – Wednesday, July 8 

Description:
Over two days, students will learn to design, carve and print their own repeat pattern designs, and will explore options for binding and presenting their work.

About the Artist:
Martha Kearsley is a bookbinder and letterpress printer in Portland, Maine, where she has owned and operated Strong Arm Bindery for 25 years. She is also on the faculty at North Bennet Street School, where she teaches in the full-time Bookbinding Program, as well as workshops for NBSS Community Education.

Thursday, July 9 – Friday, July 10

Description:
In this workshop, students will learn to make side-stitched Asian bookbinding structures with variations to create their own unique designs. We will cover a range of simple to moderately complex elegant bindings, including stab bindings and their variations, yamato-toji binding, daifuku-chō binding, and the retchōsō binding. Students will also learn to create their own stitch sampler cards to keep for reference. With these, students will be able to craft their own beautiful projects for art and utility.

ADDITIONAL SUPPLY LISTS:

  • 2 bookbinding or large-eye tapestry needles (bring a few sizes if you are unsure!)
  • 1 block of beeswax (we have some to share in class) 
  • 1 small mallet or hammer (optional) 
  • 1 small glue brush
  • 1 small container with lid for paste
  • 1 small container or cup for water
  • Grid paper, 2-5 sheets or a bound pad of grid paper
  • Heavy-duty hole punch such as a Japanese drill punch, Crop-o-Dile, etc. No handheld single-sheet hole punches! (If you have one, please bring it.)

OPTIONAL SUPPLIES:

  • Plain copy paper, drawing paper, sketching paper, colored papers.
  • Assorted papers: prints, old artwork, tissue paper, notebook paper, cardstock, decorative papers.
  • Drawing and writing utensils: markers, Sharpies, pens, colored pencils, calligraphy pens.
  • Decorative cords, embroidery floss, ribbons
  • Assorted washi tape, stickers, rhinestones, beads, etc.
  • Grommets, eyelets, eyelet setters
  • Assorted waxed linen thread or other heavier-duty thread (bring assorted colors if desired!)

About the Artist:
Evelyn Wong (they/she) is an interdisciplinary artist, printmaker, and socially-engaged artist working through the lens of personal narratives as well as their Asian American heritage. Their explorations reference, critique, and celebrate Chinese and Asian American topics, including histories and narratives, legends and mythology, long-held traditions, and contemporary culture.

Evelyn’s work has been exhibited at Waterfall Arts, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Maine College of Art & Design, Northern Arizona University Art Museum in Flagstaff, Arizona, the Portland Museum of Art in Portland, Maine, and the Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco, California. Residencies include Hewnoaks Artist Residency, The Studios at MASS MoCA, and the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation Artist’s Residency Program. Evelyn received her BFA from the University of South Carolina and MFA from Maine College of Art, and was awarded the 2019 Professional Development and Creative Entrepreneurship Grant at Maine College of Art to launch Fireball Bookbindery, where she currently crafts hand-bound journals and notebooks inspired by Asian traditions in materials, designs, and book-bindings.

Monday, July 13 – Tuesday, July 14

Description: 
Explore the intaglio printmaking technique of drypoint using recycled materials to create unique impressions and variations. Using tetra-pak material (think milk cartons and soup stock), participants will create drawn images by scratching directly into a plate without using acid. The incised lines create a burr that holds ink, producing rich, textured prints.

Participants can use multiple plates to experiment with repetition, sequence, overprinting, and incorporate paper collage elements using the chine collé process. The process is highly adaptable for printed books, assemblage and hybrid works on paper.   

ADDITIONAL SUPPLY LIST:

  • Recycled Tetra Pak cartons and containers (We will have one sheet of ‘carton’ per student; if you would like to try more, please bring extra for yourself)
  • Etching needle – you can purchase online at Dick Blick
  • Printmaking paper suitable for drypoint and intaglio techniques, typically sold in 22 x 30-inch sheets, six sheets
    • Some suggestions here, but use your favorite if you have one.
      • Rives BFK
      • Somerset
      • Stonehenge
  • Chine-collé paper options:
    • Some of these options might not be archival and yield unpredictable results, but bring what you have and experiment:
      • Old prints
      • Collage papers & studio scraps

About the Artist:
Elizabeth A. Jabar is a feminist printmaker who explores a range of personal-political issues in her work including cultural identity, representation, equity and maternal ethics. Her most recent social practice endeavor is Hinge Collaborative, a community arts initiative and printmaking studio in central Maine. The studio is a platform for socially engaged art projects, educational partnerships, and cultural events in local communities across Maine. As a place-based initiative, the studio aims to foster ongoing relationships, strong community coalitions, cultural expression and meaningful belonging.

Elizabeth’s works have been shown at galleries and museums nationally and internationally, including Victoria Arts Connection, Victoria, BC, Canada, Red Gher Gallery, National Gallery of Art, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Women Networking, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Pyramid Atlantic, Rhode Island School of Design, Long Beach Island Foundation for the Arts and Sciences, Colby College Museum of Art, The Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art, William Patterson University, Hunter College and The Center for Book Arts, New York, NY.

Elizabeth is the inaugural Lawry Family Dean of Civic Engagement and Community Partnerships at Colby College, where she is designing an innovative program in community-based learning and active citizenship.

Wednesday, July 15

Description: 
When it comes to book structures and bindings for your work, do you hit that fork in the road and say how should I bind these pages? Folded or Sewn— the eternal dilemma. The options are limitless with many subtle variations. We will explore a few basic options of each type to give you a sampling of some typical and some unusual possibilities.

Of the things we will cover, Accordions and its infinite variations will encompass the morning. Double interlocking accordion, medieval charm books, meandering book/ox plow, simple moire and more. In the afternoon, we will explore options for sewn structures: flutter book, 2 signature pleat, stab binding, secret Belgian binding, sewn tape bindings. Sewn board binding and more depending on time and your sewing speed.

Students will leave with a sampling of many structures and have a better understanding of how slight variations can take a simple sheet of paper to a conceptual work of art.

About the Artist:
Richard Reitz Smith is an artist and designer who creates work within the fine arts as a painter and printmaker, and book arts. He was the founding chair of the Book Arts and Design program at Maine Media Workshops and College in Rockport, Maine where he taught workshops in letterpress printing and book design. He holds a BFA in fine art (painting and illustration) from Carnegie Mellon University and MFA in graphic design from Tyler School of Art. He has worked professionally as a package designer, brand developer, illustrator, teacher/professor and more. His work is included in private and public collections including University of Oxford Bodleian Library, Yale University Beinecke Special Collections Library, Colby College Special Collections Library, Bowdoin College Hawthorne-Longfellow Library, and more.

Thursday, July 16

Description:
Working in 3-D can be overwhelming for some and exhilarating for others. Blueprints are a breeze to read for some and a foreign language for others. This day-long workshop will provide 2 simple models (a folio and a tray) with diagrammatic plans that, when combined with slight variations, make presentation box construction very manageable and help think in 3-D. The options are limitless: add a simple spine panel to a folio structure and we have a hard cover for a book; add a tray to that and we have a drop-spine box; add another tray to that and we have a clamshell presentation case. Add a top to the tray and we have a slipcase. Add a tray inside the slipcase and we have a drawer. And so on and so on. With these two simple structures, students can make many styles of boxes and presentation cases for books or photos or keepsakes for precious objects or found treasures.

Students will learn simple methods to cover their structures with paper or book cloth.

ADDITIONAL SUPPLY LIST:

  • Cotton rag (8×10 ish in size/ an old T-shirt is great)

About the Artist:
Richard Reitz Smith is an artist and designer who creates work within the fine arts as a painter and printmaker, and book arts. He was the founding chair of the Book Arts and Design program at Maine Media Workshops and College in Rockport, Maine where he taught workshops in letterpress printing and book design. He holds a BFA in fine art (painting and illustration) from Carnegie Mellon University and MFA in graphic design from Tyler School of Art. He has worked professionally as a package designer, brand developer, illustrator, teacher/professor and more. His work is included in private and public collections including University of Oxford Bodleian Library, Yale University Beinecke Special Collections Library, Colby College Special Collections Library, Bowdoin College Hawthorne-Longfellow Library, and more.

Friday, July 17 

Description: 
Students will build on the dummy books for the final project. We will have opportunities to review and share ideas and dummy books in class through individual and group critiques and presentations.

ADDITIONAL SUPPLY LISTS:

  • Bring materials that you would like to use for the final project and/or dummy book(s)

About the Artist:
Annie Lee-Zimerle is an interdisciplinary artist with a background in printmaking, painting, drawing, and book arts. She received her BFA and MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is currently an Associate Professor and Program Director of the Kate Cheney Chappell Center for Book Arts at the University of Southern Maine.

Questions about the workshop?

Please email Annie Lee-Zimerle, the faculty director of the Summer Book Arts and the Kate Cheney Chappell Center for Book Arts, at aemin.leezimerle@maine.edu.

Registration Dates

  • Current USM/UMS students: March 2
  • Open Registration*: March 4
  • For Information on Registration Click Here

*Registration continues up to the first start date of a course.

Summer 2026 Registration Options:

When registering for undergraduate/graduate academic credit, participants may choose to receive a grade or to audit the course. Auditing means that the participant is enrolled in the course for academic credit but will not receive a grade.

Costs for participation include full workshop participation, undergraduate tuition, university fees, and some course materials. Participation in the September student exhibition and attendance at the September public lecture is required for all those who wish to receive a grade. In order to complete this course for full academic credit, you must design and make an artist’s book inspired in some way by your week in the program.

Undergraduate course code: ART 342 60238

  • Visit Undergraduate Student Financial Services for tuition & fees based on residency: In-State residents, NEBHE residents (NEBHE states include: New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island.), Out-of-state residents.
  • Additional Course fee: $250
  • Payment for summer is due on or before May 13, 2023.

Costs for participation include full workshop participation, graduate tuition, university fees, and some course materials. Participation in the September student exhibition and attendance at the September public lecture is required. In order to complete this course, you must design and make an artist’s book inspired in some way by your week in the program.

  • Graduate Students Only: In addition, you will write a research paper on some aspect of the week-long program.  For instance, you might write about the history of printmaking, or on a particular book artist, binding, and/or Artist’s Books. This will also be due on or before September 6, 2023.

Graduate course code: EPC 582 60307

  • Visit Graduate Student Financial Services for tuition & fees based on residency: In-State residents, NEBHE residents (NEBHE states include: New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island.), Out-of-state residents.
  • Additional Course fee: $250
  • Payment for summer is due on or before May 13, 2023.

Maine residents 65 and older are eligible to apply for a Senior Citizen Tuition Waiver. The Senior Citizen Tuition Waiver covers tuition, unified fee, and the summer administrative fee. Individuals must be a Maine resident, 65 or older, and registered for undergraduate academic credit. Learn more about USM’s Senior Citizen Tuition Waiver.