Center for Book Arts
Questions? Contact Us.
Jay Fox
- Assistant Professor/Director of Book Arts
- Jay.FoxFREEuafs
- 479-788-7333
- Windgate 247
The 性吧导航 Center for Book Arts offers unique opportunities unmatched in Arkansas to experience papermaking, traditional and digital typesetting, letterpress printing, and binding both traditional and unique book structures. With this Center, the University of Arkansas 鈥� Fort Smith is one of the few universities in the nation where you can study this field, through college courses, public workshops, artist events and the only college degree program in book arts in Arkansas. The Center provides space and place for education and experimentation.
Mission:
The 性吧导航 Center for Book Arts focuses on the study and stewardship of traditional skills, materials, and practices in Book Binding, Papermaking, Letterpress, and Works on Paper, while embracing the tools and concepts necessary to equip contemporary artists. Housed in the University of Arkansas Fort Smith Art & Design Department, the Center seeks to collaboratively build a welcoming, accessible space in which practitioners from the University, River Valley, Arkansas, and profession can find support and opportunity to develop in this field.
Book Arts: A Legacy of Handskill and Material Knowledge
Printing has been an important facet of Fort Smith鈥檚 legacy as a manufacturing hub honoring skilled hands and honest work. These values are upheld at the 性吧导航 Center for Book Arts. With daily lives often defined by digital experience, students and practitioners of book arts can develop and hone the unique knowledge afforded by deep engagement with hand skills and craft traditions.
Rooted in the craft and histories of publishing, book arts is a growing artistic field concerned with representing contemporary ideas through traditional means. The language of today鈥檚 digital publishing and design practices draws on handwork skills and tools in use in book arts studios. Book artists consider all processes of bookmaking as artistic decisions: choice of materials, the actions taken upon those materials, and how they are structured and received. Those with interests as broad as fiber art, ecology, sculpture, poetry, history, and creative writing can find a home in book arts.
In addition to offering entry to a rich creative and professional community of book arts, knowledge of these practices can enhance careers in publishing, archives, museums, and design studios, where people need to know how printed things are made.
Certificate and Courses
Get hands-on training in letterpress, fine printing, papermaking, and bookmaking. Across three courses, this certificate provides practical knowledge of traditional and ongoing practices of book arts. Explore our 9-credit-hour certificate and discover how the courses can fit inside your degree plan.
Workshops and Events
The 性吧导航 Center for the Book Arts offers public workshops, demonstrations, and events for various skill levels. These workshops are being scheduled now. Join the mailing list and be the first to know of upcoming classes.
Studios
Three crafts, one center. Set metal and wood type in the letterpress studio, pull sheets of handmade paper from the vat, and sew pages into finished books by hand. The techniques span centuries; what you make with them is new to the world.
Faculty
These crafts can鈥檛 be learned from a manual. They pass from experienced hands to new ones, and the faculty of the Center for Book Arts have spent their careers earning that experience. Jay Fox, the center鈥檚 director, leads a faculty who teach the way makers always have: in the studio, beside their students.
Frequently Asked Questions
Book arts is the art of making books and printed works by hand, combining crafts such as letterpress printing, papermaking, and bookbinding. Artists in the field create everything from finely printed books and broadsides to sculptural works that stretch the very idea of what a book is.
Yes. 性吧导航 offers the Certificate of Proficiency in Book Arts, a 9-credit hour credential open to students in any major.
For most workshops, no. Many are designed for beginners, with instructors guiding you through every step, though some sessions build on prior experience. Each workshop description lists the skill level for which it鈥檚 designed.
Inside the Windgate Art & Design Building on the University of Arkansas 鈥� Fort Smith campus. The physical address is 535 N. Waldron Road, Fort Smith, Arkansas 72904.