“Contemporary Growth in Community Book Arts in Chicago & North Branch Projects”

This presentation brings the historical background forward into the present. Founder of North Branch Projects, Igloria is a multi-disciplinary artist, bookbinder and art educator/activist, who has also taught diverse audiences at Hull House. He arrived at age 3 from the Philippines, and grew up in Chicago’s Albany Park, one of America’s most multi-ethnic, multilingual, working-class neighborhoods. NBP is an artist-run organization that builds connections through book arts. Through transmission of artistic techniques, he uses the medium to encourage “working dialogue” between people making art together in an inclusive, reflective setting. The stitching, folding, precision and repetitive motion of bookbinding provide a climate for calm exchange. The potential of the book itself, as format and object of shared communication, can open up sharing where spoken words fail. He sees the evolution of his work moving in the direction of conflict resolution, creating cross-over between contrasting cultural worlds—artists and “non-artists,” people with money and without money, people with increasingly hardened political positions. Igloria has recently come to recognize the connections, across time, between Ellen Gates Starr's work within the bookbinding craft during Hull-House’s first years, its present creative mission, and his community work. NBP’s workshops are open to all ages, and have been presented out store-fronts and from pop-up, portable work-stands. This segment will include images of participatory workshops, participants’ books, and some of his own. Igloria will moderate the discussion following the four presentations, in order to set a present-minded tone.