Handmade Books
Sketchbooks, Visual Journals, Design Notebooks...
…all are important visual research tools but how do different people choose to use their sketchbooks? On show here in the Yorkshire Craft Centre are a variety of books all created by students of BA (Hons) Contemporary Surface Design & Textiles at Bradford School of Arts & Media. Our students approach visual research and drawing in diverse ways, using a wide range of styles and techniques. Some choose to create ‘life-like’ representational drawings or illustrative narrative pieces, while others explore textural qualities with mixed-media experimentation.
Sketchbooks can be used for a multitude of different purposes; an observation tool, preserving memories, documenting artefacts, creating imaginative ideas, developing a narrative, planning how to construct something, ‘thinking things through on paper’, playing, testing out media or surface textures, developing a colour palette, visualising an idea or reflecting on the journey.
While some of the books on display here use standard manufactured sketchbooks and simple white paper quite a number are handmade or use more unusual papers or alternative pages. Books can be constructed to suit the needs of the artist or designer; from handmade paper or tissue paper to leather, cloth or plaster. Old books can be used and repurposed, stitched into and dyed. Our students love to use varied media to create different surfaces or include found objects with their drawings.
We hope you will enjoy looking at the work of our students, and perhaps you will find inspiration for your own sketchbook adventure.
Showcase exhibition runs from 4th until 18th March
Exhibition open from 10am until 4pm, Monday until Friday