Printmaking & Publications: Intro to Independent Publishing and Artists' Publications

Catalog description

This course introduces students to independent publishing and artists' publications through print methods in letterpress, Risograph, and Xerox. The class will focus on the self-published artists' zine/book as an affordable, accessible, and easily reproducible format for exploring ideas, disseminating artists' work, and collaborating across disciplines. Students will learn a range of skills, including techniques in both mechanized and hand-pulled forms of printed media (Risograph, copy machine, Vandercook letterpress); short- run editions and binding; design and layout; pre-press and print production; and the web as it relates to and supports independent and democratic modes of distribution. Students will learn about and become acquainted with some of the most significant independent publishers working today and throughout history. Students will leave class having completed three individual projects: a 16-page booklet/zine; a carefully considered online publication, and a final collaborative book designed, developed and published as a class. The course commences with a field trip to New York City's Printed Matter, one of the oldest and most important nonprofit facilities dedicated to the promotion of artists' books, where students will be encouraged to submit a publication by semester's end.