Visiting the First Annual Northampton Book Arts Fair

I was inspired to stop by the first annual NORTHAMPTON BOOK ARTS FAIR at Smith College on Friday, December 4, 2015.  It’’s hard to believe that I graduated from there 37 years ago as one of the early Ada Comstock Scholars. The event was held at the swank campus center not far from from the old one where I studied for hours.

Sheryl Jaffe’s (one of our founding members and main teacher) booth blew me away, as they say, with some of her new works with her handmade papers. I especially loved the wax coated translucent boxes she made from her recent wood cuts executed at Zea Mays Printmaking Cooperative. Walter displayed a number of his beautifully bound leather books made with Sheryl’s unique fiber papers (below book he made for CHNNR). 

One aspect of the fair I really enjoyed was seeing so many poetry books made into unique artists books or small editions. This rekindled my interest in making some books of my own work and perhaps others too using our stock of interesting handmade papers here at the Khandroling Cooperative. Western Massachusetts is a hub in the world of book arts which we are looking forward to integrate into as the cooperative evolves in expertise. 

[Sheryl presenting the book to Chogyal Namkhai Norbu after a teaching, Summer 2014]