Folded Paper

Make Books with Me!

Classes, Folded Paper

Beginning Tuesday, March 16, I am teaching a Chapbook Making Class for adults through my good friend Leslie Shipman’s Literary Agency. I have a long history of working with both poets and artists, the book above was a collaboration between myself and Elaine Equi.

This class is for anyone interested in making basic book structures. Over 6 weeks, students learn and practice making several different chapbook designs using stitching and folding techniques. We will explore the pros and cons of different designs based on your specific needs and ideas. Whether you want to make unique books or an edition of 100 or more, you will have the skills and knowledge to confidently create the chapbook for your writing at the end of this class. In the first four weeks of class, you will be learning and practicing various book techniques and then image making.

One sheet linocut book, Pocket Forest

The virtual class offers unlimited interaction and we make the books together. If you are a writer who has always thought about publishing your own chapbook, an artist interested in making books, or a person from a completely unrelated field interested in learning something new, perhaps you want to make journals, this class is for you.

Class is 6:00 to 8:00, March 16 through April 20. It is $300 and you can click here to sign up.

List of Supplies for the First Class:

  1. Several pieces of 18” x 24” paper. It does not need to be precisely that size. You can use a newspaper, brown paper or even wrapping paper.  If an art supply shop is close by, you can get a pad of newsprint paper. 
  2.  Scissors 
  3.  Pencils, pens, markers, crayons, colored pencils, anything you have on hand. 

If you have it, you can add a cutting mat, x-acto knife, glue, cardboard, or heavy board, decorative paper or cloth, (use any rags), but it is not necessary. 

Once you sign up you will receive a specific list of supplies to include such things as: Bone folder, Awl, text weight paper, Cover stock, Bookbinding needle, Small binder clips, ruler, pencil, a simple supplies you may already have.

I hope to see you in class!

Portrait of Hilary Lorenz in her NM Studio by Barbara Yoshida.

Paper Boats

Folded Paper, linoleum block print, Prints

After thinking about all the catch-up posts I could write at the end of 2019, rather than look back, I will show you what I am doing now, right now.

Hilary Lorenz Paper Boat

22″ x 15″ linoleum block print

I spent the last month carving a  22″ x 15″ linoleum block of three boats. The prints from this block, an edition of 24, will be folded into paper boats and exhibited in San Juan Puerto Rico during the Southern Graphic Council Conference, April 2020.

Curated by Mary Sherwood Brock, the exhibition chair of the Los Angeles Printmaking Society, 20 artists will be creating work for this themed portfolio. Also, two of my boats set sail to Los Angeles this week to be exhibited a part of a Paper Boats traveling installation first opening at Self Help Graphics’ January 11, 2020 exhibition ImMigration.


I began working with the theme of boats, specifically canoes and self “home” made boats two years ago. I have a fantasy of building my own boat, launching it into the Hudson, and quietly paddling away with my two labradors, camping as we travel the countries rivers.  I have made ceramic boats, paper boats, carvings of boats, watercolor, and pencil drawing of boats. My next step is a  life-size canoe that I can float from  Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, LMCC, Governors Island studio to my home in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

This paper boat project allowed me to think more about island living, attempts to cross oceans, whether it be for adventure, escape, sport, or migration. During my carving, I listened to “438 Days, An extraordinary story of survival at sea” about José Salvador Alvarenga, a Salvadoran fisherman who is swept up in a storm and kicked around by the sea from Mexico to the Marshall Islands. A harrowing tale for sure. But there is something romantic about boats, they can be built from almost anything, and if you live by the water, that means endless possibilities.

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Side view of Paper Boat, by Hilary Lorenz

Top view of paper boats by Hilary Lorenz

Inside view of the paper boat, by Hilary Lorenz

Folded boats in process

Folding paper boats with Hilary Lorenz

For the next few weeks, I will fine-tune my folding skills and printing the edition of 24. I may make a few alterations as I am three months ahead. I am incredibly pleased to be a part of Mary’s themed portfolio. I can’t wait to see what this project ushers in.

I will set sail into the new year, 2020 with these.

Happy New Year, everyone!