| Title | Information |
| Instructor | Susan Joy Share |
| Skill Level | All Levels |
| Session/Dates | Session 1: Sunday, June 13, through Tuesday, June 15, 2027 (This price includes buffet lunch for two days) |
| Cost | $475 Workshop Fee + $60 Materials Fee = $535 |
| Times | 1:30 pm–4:30 pm Sunday 9 am–12 noon and 1:30 pm–4:30 pm Monday and Tuesday |
| Buffet Lunch | 12 noon–1 pm Monday and Tuesday |
Summary Description
Inspired by Nepalese sewing kits and Chinese Zhen Xian Bao, build a multi-compartment folded paper structure that unfolds to reveal nested boxes for a personal “repair kit,” whether physical, emotional, or conceptual. You’ll fill it with collage, tissue-paper mending techniques, collected objects, and stories.
Detailed Description
A square box has unlimited possibilities. In this class, we’ll use square folded paper boxes to create custom containers for repair kits, whether physical, emotional, or conceptual, and consider mending as a personal and powerful way to make our lives and the world around us better.
Drawing inspiration from a clever Nepalese sewing kit and the layered, hidden compartments of Zhen Xian Bao, a traditional Chinese folk art, we’ll begin with a kit on a subject of your choice: a single collapsible box with a piano hinge and stick closure.
Next, we’ll learn several box variations, possibly including rectangular forms, and assemble them into a multifaceted structure with folds that roll from the center to the outer layers. You can choose a container with a soft, rounded feel or with more angular, defined edges.
This bundle will hold collapsed and dimensional boxes filled with paper creations, collected objects, and stories. To create content, we’ll experiment with delicate tissue-paper repairs and layering as collage elements.
Throughout, we’ll pay close attention to size relationships, hinges, and spacing. We’ll finish with a book closure, and you’ll leave with an intriguing art piece that reveals itself as it opens and unfolds.
Skill Level: All
Required Tools & Materials Supplied by Student
- Pencils and eraser
- Metal-edge ruler or square
- Scissors
- Glue stick (UHU recommended)
- X-Acto knife (or other) and spare blades, plus a scalpel with #23 blade if you have one
- Small cutting mat
- Bone folder
- Smallish brushes for glue and other uses (½–1”)
- Please bring thoughts, ideas, and penciled-out concepts on repair, mending, healing, and restoration, such as a repair you have made, want to make, have experienced, or that seems impossible to make.
Optional Recommended Tools & Materials
- Special items you may want to include in your repair kit, such as paper/ephemera, photos, writings, old prints or drawings, and small objects
- Some of your favorite drawing and painting supplies, such as colored pencils, markers, stamp ink, or watercolor
Tools & Materials Supplied by Instructor
- Paper for all projects: tissue, 300 lb card, origami papers, pre-cut text weight, scrap paper, baking parchment or wax paper, instructional copies, and thin board
- Double-sided tape, wheat or rice paste, PVA, and glue stick
- Needles, thread, magnets, ribbon, cord, and miscellaneous supplies
- Rubbing crayons, watercolor set to share, acrylic paint, stamp ink, wooden type, and stamp letters
- Tools: book roll, folders, brushes, chisels, scalpels, scoring boards, plexiglass and glass panels for gluing and ink, brayers, and small light table
Instructor Bio
Susan Joy Share is a visual artist, bookbinder, and performer. Her passion for the book form—its structural variations, materials, and movement potential—blends with her interest in sculpture, painting, sewing, and collage. Susan creates an array of wearable books, figures, and architectural forms. Her innovative performances with foldout sculpture connect the book with the human body.
Susan worked in book conservation at the Brooklyn Museum, the New York Historical Society, and the Metropolitan Museum. Teaching includes: Center for Book Arts, New York City; Penland School of Crafts, North Carolina; Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Colorado; Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Maine; and the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Her work is in collections at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Brooklyn Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Jaffe Center, and the Anchorage Museum. She currently lives in Anchorage, Alaska. FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/susan.j.share Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CH8ksMSHioO/ Website: susanjoyshare.com
Click on any image to enlarge. Click again to close.
