As a trained printmaker and artist, Denise Bookwalter seemed fated with a last name to transform her into a bookmaker as well. At the letterpress, a formerly industrial piece of equipment used worldwide and centuries old, she uses her body weight to roll paper through the large machine multiple times to print images and text. Much like a rubber stamp, the ink is transferred from a raised matrix.
It’s an art form in revival, and Bookwalter is invigorated to work with digital programs and physical equipment, limitless in her etching, screen printing, relief printing, sewing, and papermaking. She works in large themes for long periods of time, gathering information from collections and museum archives and approaching topics in refreshing ways. Regardless of the medium, however, audience interaction is an important aspect in all of Bookwalter’s explorations.
“I like the magic of making, and the idea that you can turn something very simple into something else like paper or fabric,” said Bookwalter.
Lately, the FSU professor has taken a special interest in textiles. Her collaborative installation, “Shaping,” explored the tactile experience of textiles on the body, using wools, cottons and silks. The series was accompanied by a set of large prints made from handmade paper with printed woodcut images. Another show called “Swatch” used small laser-cut etchings to play with the ideas of color and ink mimicking textiles. She then took those small samples and digitally printed them onto fabric that was then fashioned into aprons that the viewer could try on and wear.
A member of the College Book Art Association, Bookwalter is excited to have her colleagues in Tallahassee for the annual conference this week. Titled, “Conspire: Collaboration, Cooperation, Collection,” the conference focuses on the interdisciplinary aspects of bookmaking and how it brings together artists, scholars, writers and more. It will also give Bookwalter a chance to show off the Small Craft Advisory Press (SCAP), an organization she began at FSU that facilitates collaborative artist books, giving tours of their letterpress and other equipment.
In addition to panels and speakers, a keynote speaker from Gainesville’s CoLab will present on how to find collaborators and bring groups of people with similar interests together. An exhibition at the William Johnston gallery called “Flash Point” will exhibit another of Bookwalter’s collaborative books with other artists in SCAP. The other major exhibition at the FSU Museum of Fine Arts will feature 55 books that represent the association’s membership, with an opening reception from 6- 8 p.m. Friday.
Bookwalter grew up in Ohio and her mom surrounded their home with opportunities to create, signing her and her four sisters up for music and art classes. Attending Northwestern University in Chicago, Bookwalter was first a geology major. She added art as a major and by the end of her degree had a balance of the arts and sciences.
“It was great because I had something to make work about by studying geology and I had this outlet for making with my art classes,” says Bookwalter. “Studying geology I loved figuring out the world and how things work. I’m interested in things that allow you to understand the world in a different way and I approach subject matter like a scientist, investigating something or looking at it more in depth.”
Or visit the Tallahassee Democrat to read more