Event—Adult Education

Ex Libris Hodie: The Art of Creating a Personal Bookplate

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Create your own personalized Ex Libris Bookplate!

The inside front cover of a book. On the left, it shows a sticker that says "The Roger Baskes Collection, The Newberry Library Chicago". Underneath that is a handwritten Ex libris. On the right, it shows a print depicting the inside of a library labeled "Bibliotheca Krevzensteiniana".

Ex Libris from Geographia vniversalis: vetus et nova, Ptolemy, ed. Sebastian Münster, 1540. Source: The Newberry Library, Special Collections.

Class Description

This five-session course begins with a presentation of some of the fabulous Ex Libris examples from the Newberry’s collection as well as various masterful copper-plate prints from the library. Beginning from this basis of historical examples, students will be led through the creation of their own Ex Libris drypoint engraving in copper. Upon completion, all students will have multiple prints of their own Ex Libris, as well as a copper plate that can be reprinted and the know-how to do so.

Anna Wagner is a Brazilian-American artist and educator based in Chicago. She is invested in working with antiquated techniques to explore how marginalized histories resurface throughout time. Anna teaches printmaking, drawing, and art appreciation to all ages throughout Chicago.

Prairie Koziol is an artist, metalworker, and lay researcher into the esoteric world of reliquaries, amulets, and accessible design. They teach, make, and build community with the Lillstreet Art Center in Chicago.


Materials List

Required

  • Pencil
  • Black permanent marker
  • Ball point pen
  • Ruler
  • Instructor-Provided Supplies—$45 fee collected during registration

A Brief Syllabus

  1. Introduction
  2. Creating Drypoint Plates
  3. Proofing Plates
  4. Printing
  5. Pasting and Sharing

Cost and Registration

5 Sessions, $255 ($229 for Newberry members, seniors, and students). Learn about becoming a member.

We offer our classes at three different price options: Regular ($255), Community Supported ($240), and Sponsor ($270). Following the models of other institutions, we want to ensure that our classes are accessible to a wider audience while continuing to support our instructors. You may choose the price that best fits your situation when registering through Learning Stream.

To register multiple people for this class, please go through the course calendar in Learning Stream, our registration platform. When you select the course and register, you’ll be prompted to add another registrant.

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Call us at (312) 255-3700 or send us an email at adulteducation@newberry.org.

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