Concertina Books
Adult Class | Registration opens 2/3/2026 10:00 AM MST
Folding a flat sheet of paper into a concertina (or accordion) form opens up complex possibilities in book design. By incorporating additional folds and cuts, you can create unique solutions for integrating your art or text. In this class, participants will explore in depth and master at least three variations of accordion models with enclosures, including one that combines sewing pamphlet binding with an accordion and creative pockets or frames for small objects and sculptural form.
Each morning, the instructor will lead the discussion and present a variety of books and narrative devices (i.e., Kaavad or Storyteller's Box, image courtesy of the Denver Art Museum) with inventive, playful, and poetic qualities to inspire participants' projects.
By the end of the class, every participant will have created a one-of-a-kind book. There will be a Book Art exhibit featuring this format during summer 2026, and all participants are encouraged to create a book and enter.
Assortment of paper and book cloth (available at any art supply stores)
Personal collections (stamps, travel documents, photos, etc.), small in size and not thicker than 1/8”
Glue (such as PVA or Elmer’s) and glue stick
A pair of scissors
Cutting knife, x-acto knife
Cutting mat
Optional: mixed media, collage materials – participants’ choices (not thicker than 1/8”), paints, brushes, markers, pencils, any mark making tools
Sammy Lee
Sammy Lee is an interdisciplinary artist and a proprietor of Studio SML |k (small k) in Denver, Colorado. Her work focuses on spatial, narrative, and sequential qualities in personal and smaller communal history, as Lee incorporates her diverse explorations in art and architecture. Lee was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea and moved to Southern California at the age of sixteen. Lee studied fine art and media art at UCLA and architecture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and also learned bookbinding under a master bookbinder Daniel Kelm. Her work has been exhibited internationally and can be found in collections at the Getty Research Institute, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Spencer Museum of Art, and the Spanish National Library in Madrid, Spain. Lee is recently a resident artist at Redline, currently serves on the Board of Directors for Asian Art Association at Denver Art Museum, and operates a new contemporary Asian art project and residency space called Collective SML | k in Santa Fe Art District, Denver.
Artist's website: www.studiosmlk.com