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Martha Schermerhorn

CATEGORIES: Visual Arts, Launguage Arts, Misc.
CURRICULUM CATEGORIES: STEM, ELA
AGES: K-12, Adults, Seniors
PROGRAMS: Available Virtual or Live
ALSO AVAILABLE: Customized Programming, Special Needs, Senior Living, Team/Goup Building

Award-winning Rochester Book Artist Martha Schermerhorn works in multiple media, including collage, painting, photography and 3-D art. Her unique Ikon-A-Paks, made from recycled materials, have won Best of Show for the Artists’ Row at the Rochester Public Market multiple times.

Martha’s favorite teaching experience is watching students’ positive reactions. Their hands-on experience with the Artists’ Book form opens the door to a wide range of creative possibilities. In these classes and workshops, artists of many ages and skill levels are guided through concepts and techniques that make the Artists’ Book a rich vehicle for self-expression.

The actual content of a program and its activities can always be tailored to the interests and abilities of a specific group. Please contact Teaching Artists ROC to discuss ideas for your groups. We can design projects to fit your groups’ unique needs.

Book Arts Programs: Available Virtual or Live

Timeline Accordion Book
A simple, folded book with four faces for student-drawn artwork and text; bound with a decorative closure ribbon through eight slits. This book can be made to be a historical timeline (i.e., dates of the revolutionary war), a personal time line or a family history. Eight events can fit comfortably in this format. The amount of space is small so any explanatory text is necessarily kept simple and brief.

(Grades K-6) 40 minutes, 2 sessions

Name Scroll Book
This simple, linear book features student-drawn art inspired by ancient Egyptian and African scrolls, the oldest form of bookmaking. A long, narrow strip of paper rolls into a cylinder and is secured by a length of yarn. Students use a hieroglyphic alphabet to represent their names pictorially. The Names Scroll project can be used as a starting point to discuss the meaning of names. Students can ask their parents why they chose their particular name.

(Grades K-6) 40 minutes, 2 sessions

Japanese Stab Bound Book
This easy-to-master, yet sophisticated book style is inspired by a traditional Japanese format used for personal journaling and poetry writing, Students hand-sew the binding for the ten-sheet book and create their own content consisting of haikus, poems, and/or imagery. Depending on available time, the content and sophistication level of this workshop can be adjusted to grade-appropriate skills; e.g. an illustrated haiku book in support of English Language Arts or a themed Visual Arts project using watercolor paper as pages.

Grades 6-12, Adult and Seniors, 40 minutes, 3-5 sessions

Screw Post Album
Students handcraft their individual version of a traditional scrapbook or photo album-style book that can be used to store and present memorabilia. This book consists of covers, paper pages, and two or three album posts, which are inserted in holes drilled in the assembled book. This type of book can accommodate a variety of content, both sourced and original, text and graphics to explore a chosen theme.

Depending on available time, the content and sophistication level of this workshop can be adjusted to grade-appropriate skills.

Grades 6-12, Adult and Seniors, 40 minutes, 3-5 sessions

The Altered Book
Students create a unique book using an existing hardcover book as a starting point. By reworking pages and covers and painting, stamping, cutting, collage, over-writing, folding, gluing, etc., a one-of-a-kind book emerges from the creator’s imagination.

Depending on available time, the content and sophistication level of this workshop can be adjusted to grade-appropriate skills.

Grades 6-12, Adult and Seniors, 40 minutes, 3-5 sessions

Multiple Edition Book
In this workshop students produce a pamphlet-stitched book in an edition of three to five books using a photocopier to reproduce the pages. This book is an ideal vehicle for students interested in creating comics, manga and chapbooks.

Students learn the process by first making a dummy book or mock up and designing a story. Once they have completed the layout, they copy the pages, fold, cut, and bind the books using the pamphlet stitch. Because of the complexity and sophistication level of this project, it is best conducted as a five-session workshop.

Grades 9-12, Adult and Seniors, 40 minutes, 5 sessions

Book Arts Programs: Live Only

Paper Bag Collecting Book
Students use lunch-size paper bags to create pages and envelopes for enclosures, such as a leaf collection, color swatches, or collectable cards. Students stack bags, alternating ends, punch holes, bind with ribbon or yarn, and then fold the books in half. Open-edged pages for collecting alternate with closed-end pages for descriptions (text and/or drawings) of the collected items.

Grades K-6, 40 minutes, 1 session

Cereal Box Cover Book
This popular project utilizes a bookbinding machine that students love to use. Students pick out “covers” from various recycled cardboard types, cereal box covers, etc. and then pick text pages and a comb for the binding. When they are ready, they advance to the binding machine to punch holes for the comb and perform the actual bind step that magically puts the combs in place. This is a workshop that covers many levels of ability. Elementary thru adult and differently-abled populations have great success with this project. The book is a custom piece for each student reflecting his or her unique personalities.

Grades 2-6, Special Needs, 40 minutes, 1 session