Residency 1, Week 3. 11.75 hours. Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis, MN.
My teaching experience at MCBA is going to be something I remember for a long time. I really love it more than I can express.
This week, we started on Tuesday with two groups of 2nd graders doing a book arts project, led by two teaching artists. I assisted with one group. The project we were doing was a special kind of accordion book structure called a hidden page book, which I had never made before (but it was very simple to figure out from the lesson plan). It involves cutting horizontal slits in accordion fold pages and inserting separate sheets of paper to create a Jacob’s-ladder type action in the book, which allows it to open up in the middle, revealing a “hidden” spread. Ideal for tiny secrets or secret garden illustrated books. It’s a GREAT project for kids this age because it’s so simple to make yet has a big “wow” factor once they figure out what it can do. I loved seeing the kids’ reactions to how it unfolded (literally). The students took the books back to their school to fill them with collages and other content.
On Wednesday we had another group of young adults (ages 18-21) with learning disabilities come for a papermaking workshop. They were so excited and it really brought me a lot of joy to see them getting their hands dirty and making beautiful paper. We had prepared two vats of pre-beaten cotton pulp (one with purple pigment, one white with wood shaving inclusions) and the students made small sheets–around 5”x8.” The students pulled the sheets with molds & deckles and couched them on wet felts with our assistance, and then we pressed the paper in a hydraulic press while explaining the process. The students then took the still-wet sheets of paper and stuck them onto the studio’s big glass windows (my favorite part of teaching papermaking at MCBA). We took them down later to dry on racks and send to them at their school.
Thursday, we had another group of 2nd graders participating in a hidden page book lesson; and in the afternoon, we had a large group of combined middle schoolers and high schoolers (around 39 students) in for a joint papermaking and Japanese stab bound book workshop. The group split in two, one starting with papermaking (same setup as the day before with our young adult class) and the other started with stab bound books. I floated between the two groups as some steps required more assistance than others. The energy was high and everyone was very excited to be there–we let the students help engage the hydraulic press this time and they were very enthusiastic about that. The two groups each did both activities (papermaking and bookbinding) so everyone went home with a bound book and paper (well, we sent it to them after it dried). This was probably the highlight of the week for me. I really enjoy working with this age group, especially with papermaking & bookbinding projects. It was a whirlwind for the three of us teaching artists leading it, and we had to adjust some parts of the lesson halfway through—again, we are constantly learning as teachers. Finessing the timing, gauging the skill level of the students, and adjusting for both can be intense on the fly but worth the experience. And as a teaching assistant, it was super rewarding for me to help individual students tackle their sewn bindings and totally succeed. One student was about ready to give up but we worked through it together and it made my heart just about burst to see their pleasure in accomplishing a difficult new task. Sometimes it just takes a bit of encouragement. I’m proud of those kids, all of them. Also, one kid was singing Queen songs the whole time. Bravo.