Beyond Bookcloth: Coptic Binding as Expression

Kelly Dean-Crowley

Sunday, December 6, 2026
10:00 am to 3:30 pm (with a short lunch break)

$220 non-member/ $195 member
$25 materials fee paid directly to the instructor

Location: Arts Benicia Annex, 991 Tyler Street, Suite 116, Benicia
Level: All levels
Age minimum: 10
Minimum 8 | Maximum 10

Class description: Bookmaking is another way to express yourself and a great addition to your studio practice, whether you are a printmaker, painter, or mixed media maker. Learn how to create a lay-flat book or sketchbook, and you will never buy one again! We will make Coptic bound books or sketchbooks using available materials, which extends creative possibilities beyond a typical cloth cover. No bookmaking experience is needed, and the instructor will bring a variety of papers that could be used for the covers. Participants will create a blank book approximately 7.5 X 8 inches. Participants may have the opportunity to create a second book, time allowing. Additional materials will be available.

Notes:

There will be a 30-minute lunch break, so bring a sack lunch, beverages, or snacks.
Participants should bring papers that they like, including decorative papers, test prints or proofs, gelli prints, etc.

Kelly Dean-Crowley. Bookmaking entered Kelly’s practice as rehabilitation and recovery from an injury that did not allow other media. What began as a therapeutic exercise has since become a path of inquiry in her studio. Coptic binding is entirely self-taught, using readily available materials. This workshop grows directly out of that path — from recovery, to habit, to a structure now integral to how the research and thinking behind the current body of work gets held.

Instructor Website: kelleydean-crowley.com