Workshops
Embark on a unique book arts mentorship with veteran artist and designer Richard Reitz Smith. Spend the week in our studio leveraging Richard's 40 years of experience, blending mentorship with artistic exploration, and gaining personalized insights and guidance.
Dates:
Jul 8, 2024 - Jul 12, 2024
Levels:
Beginner,
Intermediate,
Advanced,
Workshop Fee: $1195
Workshop Duration: 1-week (Monday-Friday)
Workshop Location: On-campus
Class Size: 8
ACT QUICKLY!! Just ONE seat remains!
2024 is an auspicious year. It is the 10th anniversary of the Maine Media Book Arts Charles Altschul Studio. It marks my 60th year on this planet, 40 years as a “working artist”, and 35 years as an avid artist using book forms. My experiences are very varied and I have gleaned tips here and there over the years from amazing instructors. So I want to share some of that knowledge and experience with a group of you who are willing to venture to Maine in July.
In this weeklong workshop, you will be setting the agenda! You can pick my brain for all the questions of the book universe; I will gather a list of topics to cover, and we will go from there with a majority-rules list of topics. As a group, we will cover skills and forms that you want to explore. Maybe you have always wanted to know how to tie a certain kind of binding knot. Maybe you want to know more about paper? Maybe you just never learned the best ways to make even accordion folds? Maybe you have never quite understood how paper grain works. We can cover all these and more. You will set the agenda.
I’ll throw in some of my own pearls of wisdom that have been passed on to me from my mentors and ones that I have discovered during my studio explorations. This week might be all about structures, different bindings, or whatever you want it to be. Think of it as a potluck dinner for book arts that lasts all week long! There are sure to be surprises and discoveries!
Learn more about the Maine Media Book Arts & Design Program:
Watch: Learn more about your mentor, Richard Reitz Smith, and Maine Media’s incredible book arts program
This Workshop is Sponsored by:
Fine Art Washi Papers, Digital Inkjet Papers, Origami, Stationery, Papercrafts, Stationery and Washi Decor crafted in Tokushima, Japan - for Photographers, Fine Artists, and Designers. Visit Awagami.com to learn more.
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Instructor: Richard Reitz Smith
Richard Reitz Smith is a letterpress and book artist who excels in marrying traditional techniques with technology and is the Book Arts Program Chair and Studio Manager at Maine Media. He is the owner of DoubleDoor Creative in Camden, ME. In 2015, Richard was the first Book Artist in Residence at Maine Media where he wrote, illustrated, printed, and bound a limited-edition abecedary of alliterative haiku. Richard received a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University in painting and illustration.
After working for three years developing products for Crayola and Liquitex, he returned to school and earned an MFA in graphic design (Tyler School of Art- Temple University). Then started a five-year tour of universities as an art and design professor which led him to New York City, where he taught at Pratt Institute and School of Visual Arts. While doing this, he freelanced as an illustrator and graphic designer for companies like The GAP, Macy's, American Craft Museum, Metlife, Pearson Education, and Scholastic. Then he took positions at Clicquot, Inc. and Clinique Cosmetics consecutively. For Clinique Cosmetics, he managed multi-million-dollar, international, seasonal product and promotional launches as the director of package design worldwide. For Clicquot, Inc. he was a one-person art department for the wine importer/promoter of Veuve Clicquot, Krug, Bouchard, and many other ultra-premium wines. It was in NYC, that he found and frequented The Center for Book Arts learning much about letterpress and the book as an art form.