WORKSHOP: Print n’ Fold with Anna Low & Angel Simoneau
Come explore the fun world of printmaking and create your own unique artist books—no press required! In the morning, you’ll design your own stamps and blocks to make bold prints and patterns. This hands-on printing technique is quick, easy, and full of creative possibilities. In the afternoon, you’ll use your printed paper to make two types of folded books: the X-book (perfect for zines) and the Lotus Fold (a playful, versatile design with lots of creative options). Join us for a day of printmaking and bookbinding, and leave with your own handmade stamps and books!
About the Instructors:
Anna Low’s formal education is in photography and art education, with a BA from Hampshire College, a year studying at Speós – The Paris Photographic Institute, and a MA in Art Education from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. After many years of teaching, first in the Chicago Public School System and then running an art department at a private school in Rhode Island, she made the leap to full time artist. She now focuses her energies on bookbinding and is the creator behind Purplebean Bindery, a business focused on creating unique, durable and inspiring blank journals. To satisfy her endless creative itch, she makes artist’s books using a variety of printmaking and photographic processes. She also teaches workshops in bookbinding. Her photographs and artist books have been exhibited throughout New England and published in several periodicals, including Maine Magazine. Her home studio is bright and sunny in Auburn, Maine. When not in the studio, Anna is out in her vegetable garden, snowshoeing through the woods with her husband and sassy rescue mutt or traveling to far-flung islands.
Angel Simoneau has a BFA in Art Education with a Minor in Book Arts from University of Southern Maine. She grew up in Westbrook, Maine, but now resides in Gorham, where she lives with her husband and three cats. She currently teaches high school art in Maine and loves incorporating book making and illustration into her lessons. As an art teacher, Angel spends lots of time working in various mediums to help students explore the world of creativity. However, her favorite mediums include watercolors, pen and ink and markers for her personal work with a mixture of printmaking in various forms. She is most known for incorporating manga illustrations in her books and focuses heavily on color, patterns, and things she enjoys, like cats and traveling. Some of her favorite bookmaking forms include accordions, star books and flag books. She works primarily in her home studio that has a library of manga and illustration books that give her inspiration for whatever project she wants to start. She has taught workshops at USM, Fiddlehead Center for the Arts in Scarborough and in various libraries in the Southern Maine area.