Classes start this week for my final semester! Only A few more months before I complete my M.F.A. Program!

I have been able to take some amazing classes while in the program, however I have yet to take a class from the Book & Paper program, until now. One of the wonderful things about being part of the Interdisciplinary Arts department is the connection of three different grad programs at Columbia: the Interdisciplinary Arts, MA program; the Interdisciplinary Arts & Media, MFA program; and the Interdisciplinary Book & Paper Arts, MFA program. As an interarts student, I have access to the faculty and classes from all three programs. On Wednesday, I will start the class Artist Books, taught by brooklyn-based multimedia book artist Miriam Schaer.

According to the class description, artist books dares to go where few books have gone before, and explores the creative application of traditional and non-traditional materials to the book format, as well as sculptural aspects of artist books.

I’m super excited about this class, and hope that it will provide an opportunity to work on my take-aways for the thesis show this may. Because I don’t come from a book-making background, I was a little worried I would be behind all the book and paper students in the class who already understand some basic book-making structures. I voiced this concern to Miriam, and on Saturday she graciously lead a seven-hour intensive workshop for students who wanted a refresher or introduction to book structures. In a few hours she had already taught us over five different book structures. This is going to be a great class.

For more information on classes offered through the Interdisciplinary Arts department check out our website here.

Also, be sure to check out the amazing work by faculty member Miriam Schaer at her website www.miriamschaer.com.

The bindery. Photo courtesy of the Interdisciplinary Arts department.