FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY
Daniel Zaccardi, Studio Coordinator at Jaffe Center for Book Arts at University Libraries, embarked on a remarkable artistic adventure as they participated in a highly sought-after workshop at the renowned Penland School of Craft.
Their experience in the papermaking workshop not only fueled their personal artistic growth but also promises to bring new inspiration and knowledge to the thriving paper studio at Florida Atlantic University Libraries.
A national craft education center dedicated to creative life, Penland is located in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. The center offers total immersion workshops in sixteen studios along with artist residencies, a gallery and visitors center, and community programs. There are a letterpress and printmaking studio, glass, ceramics, metals, woodworking, paper, book, drawing and painting, textile, photography, and iron studios.
Daniel, who creates custom woodcuts and assists in creative printing projects at Jaffe Center, attended the Short Spring session in papermaking at Penland called Imagery in Paper, which ran from April 30 to May 5. It was instructed by Shannon Brock, the former manager of Carriage House Paper.
“She is a brilliant papermaker and a fantastic instructor,” Daniel said, adding that Shannon primarily makes pulp paintings on “overbeaten” abaca and flax.
“It was pretty open-ended in terms of how students used the techniques taught during the workshop. Some people made unique pieces, while me and another student were the only ones who made books. The attitude at Penland is not like the graded assessment approach of other institutions. You're taught what to do, and you carry it out how you see fit, which will vary a great deal from student to student,” Daniel explained.
The idea to apply for a papermaking scholarship first came to Daniel in the fall of 2022 when John Cutrone, the director of Jaffe Center, showed them a beautiful book he had made when he took a workshop at Penland School of Craft in 1994.
“Blue Vapor Without End, a book of poems selected by the late Paulus Berensohn, was made as a collaborative effort between Steve Miller’s letterpress printing and bookbinding workshop and Georgia Deal’s monotype on handmade paper workshop,” Daniel said.
Bound by students, with boards wrapped in a simple and delicate airbrushed paper, text printed from handset type, and two monotype-tipped illustrations from Georgia Deal’s class, the book fascinated Daniel.
They found it not only a beautiful object but also a fantastic approach to instructing students, providing them with a pleasurable and practical example to refer to in future studio efforts.
Only 75 copies of the book were produced, and every student walked away with two.
When the opportunity came to apply for a work-study scholarship to attend Penland for five days in spring, Daniel wouldn’t let it pass by.
“I applied and a couple of months later got an email back, stating I had received a scholarship! I was pretty elated,” said Daniel, adding that during application Penland wanted to know who the students were, why they wanted to attend, and how the opportunity would benefit their life and work.
Although Florida Atlantic University Libraries are fortunate enough to have its own papermaking studio (schools seldom do), Daniel was floored by the paper studio at Penland.
“Tons of natural light, a climate-controlled drying room, four Hollander beaters, four burners for cooking fiber, plenty of western and eastern style moulds and deckles, fibers I had never heard of, a small library including beater logs among its volumes, and abundant table space for a variety of projects. It is the most impressive and well-equipped paper studio I have set foot in, and I hear the same said by veterans of the craft,” Daniel said.
They brought some 22-gauge brass wire along with them to Penland and during the workshop formed a watermark of a bird holding a twig, sitting atop a serif P, S, and C, for Penland School of Craft.
“I secured the bird watermark to a small student grade mould and deckle with thin copper wire and left it at Penland, as an example for future students,” Daniel said.
In a funny coincidence, a day into the workshop that Daniel attended, an additional student arrived: Georgia Deal, the same printmaker who instructed the workshop that produced the book Blue Vapor Without End.
“I mentioned the book to her, and that I work with John. She was extraordinarily kind, and before the workshop wrapped up, she brought her own copy of Blue Vapor Without End to Penland to share with me. Her copy is wrapped in black air brushed paper, John’s is grey, and with two beautiful monotypes, one of which is hers. She was extremely generous with her time and shared all sorts of stories with me,” Daniel said.
Daniel was adamant they walk away with a book from Penland. “If John did in 1994, I was determined to do the same!”
The resulting book is the 44-page pamphlet stitch booklet of pulp paintings preceded by blank transparent flax sheets to pace the reader. Daniel said the pictures wouldn’t do it justice (the book can be seen in the video below) as the luster used in some of the veils is reflective, the surface of the pulp paintings dried in interesting ways, and the pulp paintings are not raised “mounds” of applied pulp.
“They have dried flat to the paper’s surface, and dragging one’s finger over the relatively fine marks of a pulp painting, only to feel no variation in elevation, is wizardry,” Daniel added.
They left Penland thinking about what direction they were headed in, career and life-wise.
“I’m taking everything I observed and jotted down in a sketchbook and applying it to the paper studio here at FAU. I want our paper studio to be an accessible space for students and an efficient working environment,” Daniel said. “Attending this workshop was primarily for enriching my own practice and craft, but because my craft is so centered on what the Jaffe Center can do for the community at large, a lot of what I learned will be applied here.”
Photos by John-David Carcache and Daniel Zaccardi
