Alfarera (The woman potter). Connecting places and crafts.

In 2021, I attended the postgraduate course Diplomatura en Artes del Libro (Arts of the Book Postgraduate Course) at the National Art University in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Due to the pandemic, it was mostly online.

For the final book project (7), I collaborated with two artists: Catalina Rojas, letterpress printer, and Romina Cabaleiro, writer and editor. Catalina lives in Miami, Romina in Buenos Aires, and I in Chicago (1).

The inspiration for our book was Stonecutter, by Jon J. Muth and John Kuramoto (2), a version of the traditional East Asian folktale about the nature of power and the value of accepting who you are. We decided to make a new version written in Spanish, in haiku instead of prose, and with a woman potter as the main character. Romina created this character to experience different Argentinian scenarios and traditions (3) and Catalina printed this story subtly, debossed, without ink colors (4). It’s a book to read with time for meditation and contemplation.

I provided the general design and layout (5), and the calligraphy for the cover and dividers (6).

The entire process was guided and reviewed by Rubén Fontana, Zalma Jalluf and Patricio Gatti, full professors at the University.

It was an amazing experience merging all of our crafts and a true collaboration in every level, from the content, across the design, and through the printing process.

Specs: Book on sheets, 161 x 200 mm, 76 pages
Paper: Crane’s Crest, 118.4 g
Printed letterpress with polymer, blind debossed