Kaitlin Barber

Friday, 4 November 2016

I had the exciting opportunity to attend INK LDN, the new international antiquarian and book arts fair in England. The venue was a beautiful stain glass covered gothic mansion, which was featured in the popular television show Downton Abbey. There were many wonderful antiquarian books, manuscripts and artists books from European and American dealers.

The booth I found most interesting was Abby Schoolman Books which I was familiar with as she represents my teacher Mark Cockram. Abby is a book dealer based in New York with a fantastic collection of artists books from living bookbinders including Timothy Ely, Sonya Sheats, Celine Lombardi and Mark Cockram. I found these books inspirational and the diversity of the work extremely interesting. They displayed a range of both highly conceptual designs and modern material use and techniques. My favourite binding was Mark Cockrams Sir Patrick Spens utilizing his invented technique of tesseri and cold gold work evoking imagery of water and ships. I look forward to seeing Abby’s collection of bindings at The New York Antiquarian Book Fair in March.

Timothy Ely

Mark Cockram

Timothy Ely

Timothy Ely

Mark Cockram

Timothy Ely

Abby Schoolman

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Kaitlin Barber

Kaitlin is a bookbinder and book artist from Toronto Canada. She is currently working as the first Artist in Residence at Studio 5 in London completing a miniature book commission for the collection of Neale Albert. She has a deep appreciation for the all-encompassing nature of the art of the hand-made book. The artist is in total control of every aspect of the work creating interplay between concept, text, and image. Cover design, hand printed endpapers, and content come together forming a narrative, influenced by the text, but going far beyond. After studying graphic design and printmaking at The Ontario College of Art and Design Kaitlin completed The Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild Diploma program gaining an introduction to the fundamentals of book construction. She is a recent graduate of the two-year bookbinding program at The North Bennet Street School in Boston, Massachusetts. Kaitlin has held conservation internships in the Rare Books departments of The Boston Public Library and New York Academy of Medicine. In 2016 she was awarded the Nell Meldahl Work-Study Scholarship for Paper & Book Intensive in The United States. In 2016 she traveled to London to study contemporary design binding at Studio 5 with internationally recognized and exhibited Mark Cockram. During this time she bound submissions to the International and UK Designer Bookbinder competitions. Mark is the inventor of many proprietary techniques in book construction, decorative techniques and creative problem solving. Studying with Mark has opened Kaitlins eyes to the immense variety of ways in which colour, texture, and materials can be used to achieve flow throughout the work, creating a rich experience that is both visual and tactile.