Together with artist Siri Beckman, Susan co-teaches an annual workshop in book arts and journal keeping in Maine, usually in mid-September. They present several bookbinding forms and explore many ways to use them, culminating in a Coptic-bound paste-paper journal in which students experiment with water colors and pen and ink drawing. The workshop is open to people of all levels of experience.

A well-known printmaker and book artist, Siri Beckman received her MFA from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She has taught at the University of Maine, Haystack Mountain School of Craft and in her own studio in Stonington, ME. Her work has been published both through her own private press and nationally known publishers, most recently by Down East Books (A Week at the Lake and Maine Artists in Winter). Over the last seven years, Siri has been awarded a number of artists' residencies in National Parks, including Acadia, Rocky Mountain, the Badlands, and Hovenweep, which began her love of making and keeping journals.

Eagle Island is a tiny islet accessible only by mail boat off the coast of Deer Isle in Penobscot Bay. Hosts Bob and Helene Quinn offer their rustic farmhouses and three sublime meals a day for a reasonable rate. Eagle Island provides an inspirational setting for "paying attention to what else is here with us" — a theme for the five-day workshop.

For complete information about the Eagle Island workshop, email: siribeckman@mac.com or susan.bonthron@verizon.net.

For information about accommodations at the Quinns, call Helene Quinn at (207) 348-9316.

Sunset over Penobscot Bay is a daily treat on Eagle Island.

Students display selected journal entries in their beautifully bound books.

The Quinn's Farmhouse on Eagle Island