Genevieve Kaplan – Focus on Book Arts

Genevieve Kaplan: Altered Pages and Blackout Poems—Working with Text

In this hands-on creative workshop, we will find our inspiration by excavating texts already written. Using pages torn from discarded books as our starting point, we will explore various physical and intellectual approaches to altering pages. From strike-through to pattern-making, black-out to collage, we’ll cover up, obscure, and reveal existing language to forge new ways of creating, experiencing, and reading. In this class, we will view and consider exciting examples of altered books and erasure poetry, getting inspiration from published works while we try our own hands at the techniques shown.

Genevieve Kaplan: Creative Writing for Book Artists

During this generative writing workshop, we will brainstorm ideas, experiment with language, and tap into students’ linguistic creativity. We will consider contemporary examples of short literary works (poetry and short prose), and examine these texts from a writer’s (rather than just a reader’s) point of view. We will pay special attention to elements of craft—what these authors do, and how they do it—and use our observations to guide us in making our own creative authorial choices.

Genevieve Kaplan: Altered Texts—Obscuring to Reveal

In this one-day workshop, perfect for all levels, students will follow a step-by-step process to create their own small book of engaging visual-literary erasure.