Su Bonfanti – Part One: Books

I met Lin in 2002 when she taught a Craft Bookbinding and Modern Lettering course at our local adult community college in Richmond. That class only lasted one term but I and a small group of enthusiasts continued to meet privately at Lin’s home. There we learned about binding books, making slipcases, playing with watercolour, colour theory and so much more. I loved being able to make ‘proper books’ just from card, paper, glue and ink. And making books with my own content was something I had been dreaming about for years without knowing how to start.

There was so much I could do with simple structures. This is a concertina book using fabric screen-prints I had done on a summer school for the images with embossed text on the facing page.

These two books were the product of an exercise in making lines with different implements and paints/inks. Never one to waste things, these sheets of paper became a pair of books in a bespoke ‘drawer’.

Recently I’ve started doing letter-press printing and a whole new world of possibilities has opened up! This was my first letter-press printed book ‘Endangered Species’: wood-block prints of words that are falling out of use.

And here is a taster of my latest book ‘19:59’, where I’ve combined drawings by me and my twin sister with letter-press printed text and an image of circling arrows.

Next time (if I’m invited back): more about my journey towards art school.

You can follow her at Twitter – @subonfanti.

The good news is that I have invited Su back with a resou nding ‘Yes please!’ It has been amazing watching Su become an artist – not just someone who enjoys making things, but really responding to the langage of art. She has undertaken years of self-study and short courses and now she is about to embark on her MA. Part 2 will  be about the latter part of her creative journey  and hopefully we can catch up with her periodically during her course.