Carousel Books with Ken Gerleve
Saturday, August 16, 2025
12pm to 4pm
About the Workshop
In Tunnel Books, students learned how to assemble a single, dimensional image using layered paper cuts sewn into a collapsible structure. Like tunnel books, carousel books create tiny worlds in miniature, but the structure allows for multiple vignettes to be viewed, either linearly or in the round. In this class, students will learn two carousel book structures: a single segment structure which can be combined with others to form a completed carousel book, and a multi-segment book, where the segments are created together from strips of paper and then sewn into the final structure.
In advance of the workshop, students will receive an email with more information about the class and visual examples of what will be made in the workshop. Basic tools, materials, and a practice “kit” will be provided. Students are encouraged to bring ideas and sketches of what they would like to create, and any drawing pens, colored pencils, watercolors, makers, specialty papers or collage materials they would like to use for the project.
About Ken Gerleve
Ken Gerleve is an interdisciplinary artist who uses narrative and image to tell stories, which are often darkly humorous. His artwork juxtaposes the traditional elements of the Gothic with contemporary culture. This can take the form of an illustrated book of original verse narrative, animation, puppet building and performance, or installation. He often uses Scherenschnitte, or paper-cutting, and dimensional book structures, like Tunnel and Carousel books, to create sculptural scenes reminiscent of the silhouette animations of Lotte Reiniger. Ken earned an MFA in Interdisciplinary Book and Paper Arts from Columbia College Chicago.
Saturday, August 16, 2025
12pm to 4pm
About the Workshop
In Tunnel Books, students learned how to assemble a single, dimensional image using layered paper cuts sewn into a collapsible structure. Like tunnel books, carousel books create tiny worlds in miniature, but the structure allows for multiple vignettes to be viewed, either linearly or in the round. In this class, students will learn two carousel book structures: a single segment structure which can be combined with others to form a completed carousel book, and a multi-segment book, where the segments are created together from strips of paper and then sewn into the final structure.
In advance of the workshop, students will receive an email with more information about the class and visual examples of what will be made in the workshop. Basic tools, materials, and a practice “kit” will be provided. Students are encouraged to bring ideas and sketches of what they would like to create, and any drawing pens, colored pencils, watercolors, makers, specialty papers or collage materials they would like to use for the project.
About Ken Gerleve
Ken Gerleve is an interdisciplinary artist who uses narrative and image to tell stories, which are often darkly humorous. His artwork juxtaposes the traditional elements of the Gothic with contemporary culture. This can take the form of an illustrated book of original verse narrative, animation, puppet building and performance, or installation. He often uses Scherenschnitte, or paper-cutting, and dimensional book structures, like Tunnel and Carousel books, to create sculptural scenes reminiscent of the silhouette animations of Lotte Reiniger. Ken earned an MFA in Interdisciplinary Book and Paper Arts from Columbia College Chicago.
Saturday, August 16, 2025
12pm to 4pm
About the Workshop
In Tunnel Books, students learned how to assemble a single, dimensional image using layered paper cuts sewn into a collapsible structure. Like tunnel books, carousel books create tiny worlds in miniature, but the structure allows for multiple vignettes to be viewed, either linearly or in the round. In this class, students will learn two carousel book structures: a single segment structure which can be combined with others to form a completed carousel book, and a multi-segment book, where the segments are created together from strips of paper and then sewn into the final structure.
In advance of the workshop, students will receive an email with more information about the class and visual examples of what will be made in the workshop. Basic tools, materials, and a practice “kit” will be provided. Students are encouraged to bring ideas and sketches of what they would like to create, and any drawing pens, colored pencils, watercolors, makers, specialty papers or collage materials they would like to use for the project.
About Ken Gerleve
Ken Gerleve is an interdisciplinary artist who uses narrative and image to tell stories, which are often darkly humorous. His artwork juxtaposes the traditional elements of the Gothic with contemporary culture. This can take the form of an illustrated book of original verse narrative, animation, puppet building and performance, or installation. He often uses Scherenschnitte, or paper-cutting, and dimensional book structures, like Tunnel and Carousel books, to create sculptural scenes reminiscent of the silhouette animations of Lotte Reiniger. Ken earned an MFA in Interdisciplinary Book and Paper Arts from Columbia College Chicago.