Book a Workshop

Lise works in schools through the Ontario Arts Council’s Artists in Education program. She is available to work in schools, galleries or museums, libraries, or even people's homes, designing cross-curricular and age-appropriate lessons.

Lise especially enjoys teaching pop-up bookmaking techniques to young people. Designing pop-ups is a cross-curricular activity: visual imagery, design technology, story-telling and writing skills are all integrated parts of the finished work. Pop-ups can be tied into many classroom activities. (See “Popping Up with Madame Pop-up” below)



Some samples of student works



Samples of Adult Student work


At a workshop at Women's Studio Workshop at New York State, Maeve Maurer created this tunnel book.
Photo credit: Pamela Wright


This is Maeve's carousel book.
Photo credit: Pamela Wright


A pop-up book made by Serena Ataples at the University of Calgary.
Photo credit: Laurel Johannesson


A pop-up book made by Melissa Lim at the University of Calgary.
Photo Credit: Laurel Johannesson

Artist's Bookmaking Workshop (one day)

This is a workshop for artists who would like to explore the book form as a vehicle for their work. It will be of interest to poets, photographers, printmakers, textile artist, those who paint and draw in a small format, and anyone who uses text or narrative in their work.

The workshop will introduce participants to a variety of non-traditional bindings. Materials and instructions will be provided for five small books: a meander book, made of one piece of paper, a "flag" book, a simple pamphlet with paper cover, a Japanese -style stab binding and an accordion. Additional models will be available to examine, as well as a number of binding "texts." Ms. Melhorn-Boe will discuss the design of an artist's book, using examples of her own books and examples and slides of other artists' work.

Family Fables Workshop: Beyond Scrapbooking (two days)

Every family has its share of stories: tall tales or sagas, romances or fables. And most of us have albums or boxes overflowing with family photos. This workshop will give participants the opportunity to learn several basic book-making techniques and to create books about their families, using one or more of their own stories.

Lise Melhorn-Boe works with her own, and other women’s stories, using the texts as a springboard for inventive book objects. She will talk about her own creative process and guide participants through the creation of a book that is visually and textually integrated. Workshop participants will be encouraged to use familiar materials in new ways.

Making Books in the Classroom (one day to one week)

Through the development of skills such as visual and verbal storytelling, problem-solving, original thinking and hand-eye coordination, bookmaking promotes literacy, creativity, self-expression and self-esteem. Making a book is a cross-curricular activity, linking visual art with language arts, computer skills, social studies, math and science. Teachers will learn how to make several styles of books, including one-sheet books, accordions, sewn pamphlets, Japanese stab bindings, as well as pop- ups, all of which can be used in the elementary classroom.

Marrying Content and Form (one or two days)

Does a book have to have four corners? What if it is about hairy legs? Lise Melhorn-Boe has been making unusually-shaped books, in which the content determines the form, for over twenty-five years—books that resemble a TV dinner, a dog dish, a leg-shaped book, a pair of breasts. Melhorn-Boe will share examples of her own and others' books and then guide workshop participants to consider how their own stories might lend themselves to a book form other than the usual rectangle.

Popping Up with Madame Pop-up (one or two days, or more for keeners)

Basic Pop-ups:
Start out with cut and fold techniques, such as boxes and V-folds, and move on to attachments, backbones, towers and floating planes. With lots of samples to look at, you’ll soon be ready to make pop-up books or greeting cards. This workshop is suitable for teens and adults. Teachers are welcome—Madame Pop-up has many years of experience in Ontario classrooms. Making pop-ups is a cross-curricular activity that can be geared to younger students as well.

Pop-ups Beyond the Basics:
Learn how to combine basic pop-up techniques to make more intricate structures. Form solid and sculpted shapes. Create movement on the page using V-folds and hidden straps. Techniques can be used for cards or books.



Rhythm in the Visual Book (two days)

This workshop will explore the relationship between text and images in the artist’s book. We’ll talk about which comes first—does it make a difference? Through a series of exercises, we will examine ways of using text to create movement in a book. Looking beyond image as illustration for text, we will explore how images can modify or contradict the text. For the second day, students should bring a short text and or images with which they would like to play.

Sculpted Pages (one week)

Lise has been creating unusually-shaped books for almost thirty years—books that resemble a TV dinner, a dog dish, a pair of breasts. Often her work incorporates pop-ups or sculptural book-structures. This workshop will cover many aspects of sculptural book design, including a variety of folding and cutting techniques to create pop-up pages. Participants will be encouraged to explore their ideas and discover ways to take those ideas off the flat rectangular page. Design, theory and practice will be discussed in this five-day intensive class.

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