The Jatin Das Centre of Art (JDCA) organised its 162nd “Meet the Artist” programme at its premises here on Saturday with a session on graphic design and printmaking.
This time, the JDCA had artist Jan Baker to present the topic “Art Books and Rhode Island School of Design”.
In his welcome address, JDCA secretary Shantanu Mohapatra introduced Jan and her husband Mark. Jan, who is a professor in Graphic Design from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), USA, studied printmaking and aesthetics at the University of California at Santa Cruz and received her Master’s Degree from the Yale University in Graphic Design.
Jan in her talk told about art books with hands on experimentation in letterpress printing, papermaking, bookbinding, visual poetry and how to develop notebooks. She also told about book and poster design.
Exhibiting her creations and her students’ works, she explained about the bookbinding process and different shapes of books. She showcased different shapes of books such as flag-shaped book, flag with mango-shaped book and piano-shaped book. She also displayed a book which can be carried in the belt of a pant.
Jan and Mark have come to Odisha to participate in an intern artists’ exchange programme in Raghurajpur, where they have together worked with craftsmen learning Pattachitra, palm leaf etching and Dhokra items.