Sointula Book Art Retreat
2026 July 5 -1 1
Full details HERE
COPTIC VARIATIONS
2025 November 18 + 20
U of M Faculty of Architecture – Department of Interior Design
CRAFTED SHOW + SALE
2025 November 7 – 9
Winnipeg Art Gallery 300 Memorial Boulevard
CRAFTED ON THE CATWALK
2025 November 4
Winnipeg Art Gallery 300 Memorial Boulevard
MARK + MEANDER: FROM FRÔTTAGE TO FOLDED BOOK
The Wendy Wersch Memorial Event: Field Day curated by Riva Symko
2025 October 26, 9 am – 5 pm, The Leaf classroom at Assiniboine Park
Field Day is a full day of workshops and discussions at Assiniboine Park. Artists Anna Binta Diallo, Sarah Fuller, Debra Frances Plett and Lourdes Still will guide four small-group workshops rooted in land, light, ecology, climate and material exploration. Morning and afternoon workshops will be separated by a shared lunch (provided), followed by a moderated panel discussion, exploring the ways in which the artists’ practices have a/effected their relationship to the natural environment.
This will be a creative, reflective and elemental day of walking, noticing, listening, foraging and making. The event celebrates the memory of Winnipeg artist Wendy Wersch and is dedicated to exploring issues related to autonomy for women artists, and women as role models for innovative cultural investigation.
There is no cost but you do need to register HERE.
The afternoon panel discussion from 3:15 – 5 pm requires no registration.
Free! All welcome!
OPEN STUDIO
2025, August 22nd, 12:00 – 3:00, Sointula Art Shed, Sointula, Malcolm Island, BC
MAKE A MEANDER BOOK
2025, June 16th, 1:00 – 3:00, Artlab room 460, University of Manitoba
A meander book is a maze or spiral book that like a river makes its way through an area that is relatively flat, often developing bends as it makes its way through a path of least resistance. Once a meander starts, it often becomes more exaggerated. It is a type of “paper engineering” that allows a book to open in unexpected directions, creating a non-linear reading experience.
After working with the basic format of folds and cutting, we will explore ways to scale cup the meander format exploring different sizes, folding patterns and sculptural qualities.
SOINTULA BOOK ART RETREAT
2025 AUGUST 17 – 22
FULL DETAILS HERE
Crossed Structure Binding
The Leaf ~ Assiniboine Park Conservancy
2025 April 12 , 1:30 – 4:30
In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn the fundamentals of bookbinding using the crossed structure method to created a personalized sketchbook or journal. No bookbinding experience is required. This soft cover binding technique is perfect for a sketchbook or journal because it opens completely flat, making it ideal for sketching or writing. It would make a perfect companion to take with you as you explore the Leaf Botanical Garden, allowing you to gather your thoughts and impressions. Participant will explore creative possibilities by experimenting with various stitching, weaving and decorative threads for the covers. By the end of the session, you’ll have a unique 5″ x 5″ sketchbook filled with quality mixed media paper, perfect for drawing, collage or any other creative project.
Register through the Conservancy HERE
Image Transfers + Long Stitch Binding
In this two-part workshop, you’ll discover the magic of image transfers and use them to create unique, one-of-a-kind sketchbooks. In the first session, we’ll focus on the image transfer process, where you’ll have the opportunity to bring in a laser copy (or two) of an image that inspires you to use as your book covers. In the second session we’ll dive into the ancient long stitch bookbinding method, incorporating spine plates to add both strength and visual appeal to your sketchbooks. You’ll complete your book with high quality mixed media paper, perfect for sketching, drawing, collage or any creative project you choose.
Registration is through the Manitoba Craft Council
CRAFTED SHOW + SALE
2024 November 8 – 10
Winnipeg Art Gallery 300 Memorial Boulevard
CRAFTED A FASHION SHOW
2024 November 6
Winnipeg Art Gallery 300 Memorial Boulevard
LONG STITCH BOOKBINDING WORKSHOP
2024 Thursday, June 13th 1- 3:30
Sointula Boathouse Gallery – 80 1st Street
Book binding workshop for Sointula locals!
In this workshop you will learn the bookbinding skills necessary to create your own sketchbook/journal using the ancient long stitch method of bookbinding. Our covers will be made using a beautiful handmade paper and will be filled with quality drawing paper – perfect for all your writing / drawing needs!
NO BOOKBINDING EXPERIENCE NECESSARY
All materials and tools provided.
Workshop will be held at the Sointula Boathouse Gallery, 80 1st Street
Register HERE.
8 spots available
FISH LEATHER AS TEXTILE WORKSHOP
2024 Saturday, July 6th 1 – 4 pm
COST: $100
REGISTER HERE
Fish leather is a surprisingly strong material. but the resulting leather is long and narrow. I have been experimenting over the years with how to piece them together to create a larger swath of ‘cloth’ for use as book covers or as the basis for sculptural works.
In this workshop I will show you how to press, trim and hand stitch your fish leather pieces together to create larger pieces of ‘fish cloth’ for you to use in your unique projects. Embroidery embellishments will also be introduced, allowing to highlight your unique fish’s lateral lines and fish scale patterns.
Participants are asked to bring their own fish leather for use in this class – a minimum of two pieces, the more the better!
Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have.
FISH SKIN TANNING WORKSHOP
Saturday May 11th 1 – 4 pm
Saturday May 18th 1 – 4 pm
COST: $150 includes two walleye fish skins from my personal stash and tanning supplies
REGISTER HERE
For me, tanning fish skins allows me to my further my pursuit of sustainability in my craft. I am compelled by the ecological impact of engaging with a natural resource, using it to its fullest. Each fish skin boasts an intricate, beautiful pattern – preserved through the act of tanning. The process is immersive: tasting natural dye to gauge potency, oiling/massaging the fish skins as they transform into leather, caring for the skins through many curing stages. My immersion in fish leather processing has opened a new sense of collaborating with the land, rather than simply harvesting from it. Repurposing fish skins (a vastly discarded resource) as leather creates lasting beauty where there is otherwise waste.
In this two part workshop you will learn how to tan fish skins using the tannin method of tanning. We will be using black tea for our tannin solutions but other tannin types will be discussed and samples will be available for you to see the range of colours you can get from using different types of tannins.
Our first class will focus on the preparation of the fish skins: removing the flesh and scales, washing them thoroughly to remove all the fish oil and preparing our tannin solutions. Instruction will be given on how to tend to your fish skins throughout the week.
The second class will focus on the finishing process – washing out the tannins, re-oiling and softening our skins until they become a soft, supple leather.
You will need to allow approximately ½ hour daily to tend to your skins throughout the week between classes, creating new dye solutions and stirring them a couple of times a day.
Participants are asked to bring the following:
- lawn chair – we will be working outside, hopefully in the sun, but we do have a rain option
- 3 glass jars (enough to hold 1 litre of liquid)
- blunt knife or ulu (if you have one)
- wood or plastic cutting board
- filleting glove (if you have one) makes it easier to hold on to one end of the skin while removing the scales
- a couple of old hand towels
- wear an apron or something you don’t mind getting messy in 🙂
I will send you my Winnipeg location upon registration.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have.
Explore the magic of image transfer and create three unique sketchbooks.
Click HERE to register for this workshop!
Learn the bookbinding and woodworking skills necessary to create your own unique books from locally sourced driftwood.
FULL DETAILS AND REGISTRATION CAN BE FOUND HERE
U of M Faculty of Architecture – Department of Interior Design : : January 2024
Coptic Creations – bookbinding workshop building on the tradition of collaborative icebreaker projects between Professor Tijen Rothko and Book Artist Debra Frances, the workshops introduce the Interior Design Studio 3.2 titled “Reimagining the Modern Lib Gary as a Multimodal Civic Hub.
While the libraries of today have transformed into civic centres and have become icons within the urban fabric, their role as a third place for the public is worth exploring. In a tie when many of our human activities are replaced of offloaded to technology, most recent being the AI, it becomes imperative that we retain our creative avenues, creative decision making and common al connections that are so essential to our functioning as social beings. Libraries meet this need by allowing the public access to its numerous services in a highly democratic fashion and retain a non-technocratic authority over access to tools and means to creativity.
This bookbinding workshop provides a foundation for the subsequent project goals, and particularly the primary objective of re-envisioning the public library in our present technological era with an emphasis on human-led activities. Students learn the craft of folding, stitching, attaching, and embossing, and develop a tangible understanding of the object. On the other hand, the students develop an appreciation for the tie as well as physical and mental effort required to create each book, an important consideration in our world filled with mass-produced, disposable objects.
Throughout the workshops, students create three books; two with wooden covers and one with their own found materials. Students are encouraged to adapt their learning to explore the many variations possible with this binding method. Using the paired station method of coptic binding, students create their own book using materials of their choosing, experimenting with distressing, carving, painting, wood burning, image transferring as well as other techniques. Students are encouraged to creatively consider the surface and how it could inform the various surfaces (floors, walls, ceilings etc) in their interior design studio project.
Eco Craft : : September 9 – October 29, 2022
It is with a sense of urgency and a perennial mix of despair and hopefulness that the Manitoba Craft Council presents Eco-Craft, a creative, cross-disciplinary collaboration of artists and scientists striving to address what is arguable the biggest challenge facing our generation: climate change. The rapidly deteriorating environment – the pan-species, world-wide crises that human behaviour patterns have given rise to – needs the sincere and sustained engagement of the craft community and creatives of all stripes.
Quiet Places : : Artist Talk August 11 ~ 6 pm
If you missed the artist talk for Quiet Places you can listen to a recording of myself and Bev Ellis at the Carousel Theatre.
Quiet Places : : Craft Council BC Gallery, Granville Island, BC
August 11 -Septemer 29, 2022
Quiet Places is a collaboration between myself, Bev Ellis (ceramic artist) and Sue Gordon (visual artist) developing links between ceramics, encaustic painting, printmaking and bookbinding. We seek to discover a unified contemporary use of conventional and traditional practice. Our cultural and personal narrative is concerned with the substance of things, the nature of each medium, its structure and feel. We are exploring ideas of containment , wholeness and hope. Rather than despair over the loss of or destruction of the environment (realizing that there is much to be discussed in this regard), we are choosing to celebrate the physical properties and mythical histories to remind viewers of the constant beauty and strength inherent in the world of trees.
Dos Rapporté Binding Workshops
- Workshops temporarily postponed due to COVID – dates TBD
January 22, 23, 2022 10:00 am – 1:00 pm both days
January 29, 30, 2022 10:00 am – 1:00 pm both days
Cost: $150 + $35 materials fee
Dos Rapporté is a contemporary binding designed by Benjamin Elbel of Elbel Libro Bookbinding based in the Netherlands. This unique design has a spine whose edges fold back on themselves, a little bit like a hollow. This allows it to be made off the book and later attached (in French: rapporté). Beyond the fact that the books bound this way open well, this spine construction stands out through its clean, stylish shape, and through the quality of the transition to the boards. If it is well made, the spine and boards end up perfectly level, with a line in between which is neither a score, nor a groove, but something else, something unique, pleasant to the eye and to the touch.
This will be a two day workshop to allow our text blocks and covers to dry under weight for the night. Classes will be taught at my home studio in Winnipeg and will be limited to three participants allowing for plenty of one on one interaction and hands on instruction.
This is an advanced class that requires previous bookbinding experience. Please contact me if you have questions.
Registration can be purchased through my online shop
Coptic End Bands
February 26, 2022 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Cost: $95 + $35 materials fee
Prerequisite: Intro to Bookbinding
End Bands, or head bands are both beautiful and functional. They add strength and can enhance the overall design of a coptic bound book. In this workshop we will prepare wood covers and begin our session by sewing up a book (ability to sew up a book using the two needle coptic method is required). This could be a good opportunity for a refresher on your coptic binding skills! We will then learn the technique of sewing end bands on the head and tail of our books.
Workshop will be held at my home studio and class size will be limited to 5 participants allowing for plenty of one on one interaction and hands on instruction.
Registration can be purchased through my online shop.
March 4 – April 30, 2022
Feast, Famine explores how climate change relates to food: how it’s served, prepared, grown, and distributed. Exhibiting artists investigate the crisis of food production alongside possible solutions, crafted with a thoughtful connection between materials and maker. The works are displayed on a large table in the gallery, an intimate setting that brings to mind packed holiday dinners with extra seats squeezed in, shoulder to shoulder – a dinner party with eleven artists invited to contribute.
Show opens to the public on March 4, 2022 6-8 pm for First Friday to the general public.
Official opening reception will be March 11, 2022 6-9 pm by appointment with timed entry to manage group sizes, contact tracing, etc. Artist, supporters and the general public are welcome. Register here.
