Craig Kelchen
I enjoy making things, so I'm lucky that most days find me working on one project or another, constructing something from paper or wood, thread or nails, ink or glue. Before coming to UICB as a graduate student in 2002, I studied commercial printing, graphic design, and printmaking at the University of Northern Iowa, earning B.A. degrees in Graphic Communications and Studio Art. As a Center student, I was able to create projects that built upon my undergraduate studies while learning new media and techniques. In the summer of 2004, I earned the UICB Graduate Certificate and I began teaching printing, binding, and artists' book courses that fall. I find teaching at the Center for the Book to be a source of inspiration and impetus for my own work, which primarily consists of letterpress prints and digitally-editioned artists' books. I am fortunate to work with many of the people I met and learned from as a student, and enjoy meeting new students with diverse backgrounds who study at UICB. When I'm not making books or teaching students to do so, I can usually be found just across the river in the university Theatre Building, where I work as Properties Master, making props and furniture for the UI Department of Theatre Arts.