In this workshop/demo, we will explore alternatives to traditional book binding in an effort to challenge the form and offer unique book making options that don’t require extraneous equipment. A series of book structures will be demonstrated with the option to follow along. Basic materials will be supplied but guests are encouraged to bring their own scissors, bone folders, and paper. No previous experience required! No exacto knives or pva glue please.

bex ya yolk is a visual artist, designer, book maker, and adjunct professor based in Chicago, IL. yolk received a BFA in Graphic Design from Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts and an MFA in Visual Communication Design from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago as a full merit scholar. They have received grant endowment from the Atlanta Contemporary, Codex International Biennial Artists' Book Fair and Symposium, the College Book Art Association, VCUarts Adjunct Faculty Research, and the Judith Alexander Foundation. yolk is currently a BOLT artist-in-residence at the Chicago Artist Coalition. 

yolk is the founder of an artists’ book bindery + publishing initiative––THUNGRY which focuses on disrupting what qualifies a Book, complicating traditional ways of book building + semantics through experimentation and queering praxis. THUNGRY explores historical research, sociology, and speculative theory into 'the Maternal Complex' made up of subgenres like care work, reproductive design, abortion access activism, reproductive justice and health care disparity, maternal identities, and the gestational state especially in queer folx exploring the intersectionalities between the Book + these kinds of bodies.