Three Days of Books, Paper and Print

For several years, I have taught bookmaking workshops here in my own studio, at Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in Maine and at the Shaker Museum in New York. Those classes ordinarily include eight to twelve students.

This February, I’m bringing that experience home for a much smaller and more intensive three-day retreat. The Book and Paper Retreat will be limited to just four participants.

We’ll spend the entire first day learning. Together we will construct six or seven different book structures, examining how each one is folded, sewn and assembled. The goal is not simply to follow a set of instructions, but to develop a working vocabulary of structures that participants can adapt to their own ideas.

On Saturday, we’ll move into the print shop for an hour or two of hands-on letterpress work. Participants will then begin independent projects using the structures and processes introduced during the retreat.

The remainder of Saturday and all of Sunday will be open studio time. Each person will be able to pursue an individual project while working alongside the group, with the tools, materials and individual guidance needed to carry the idea forward.

This is the same intimate retreat format as my leatherworking weekends: three full days in a working artist’s studio, with enough time to experiment, make decisions, encounter problems and solve them. With only four participants, I can work closely with each person as the projects develop.

The link below will allow you to pay $250 to secure your spot at the table. The balance is due when class begins.

Three-Day Book and Paper Retreat

February 19–21, 2027
9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. each day
The Workshops of G.B. Davis — Noblesville, Indiana
Tuition: $720, including all materials
Limited to four participants