FAU to Host ‘Wayzgoose’ to Celebrate Hand Papermaking Lab

The Arthur and Mata Jaffe Center for Book Arts at Florida Atlantic University’s Wimberly Library will host an “Autumn Wayzgoose” to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the opening of its hand papermaking lab on Sunday, Oct. 29 from noon to 7 p.m., at the T-6 building, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton campus.

Among the highlights planned for “Autumn Wayzgoose” are a big tent, live music by entertainers Brett Staska and Walt Roomey, T-shirt silk screen printing, food, a photo booth lounge, an apple sale and a special Makers Marketplace, which has become one of the Jaffe Center’s signature fundraising events. Local makers and representatives from small creative companies show and sell their wares during the markets that pop-up regularly from October through April in the hand papermaking lab. Proceeds from the T-shirts, which will be printed on site, will benefit FAU Libraries. Proceeds from food sales will benefit the Jaffe Center for Book Arts.

“The Wayzgoose is an old printer’s holiday, but it also was important to papermakers, for that was the day they made waxed paper for windows for the coming winter,” said John Cutrone, director of the Jaffe Center for Book Arts. “It was an occasion for revelry for both printers and papermakers, though, and for us, it seems a fitting name for our autumn celebration.”

“Autumn Wayzgoose,” which will also celebrate Halloween, is the type of fun event that has helped to make the Arthur and Mata Jaffe Center for Book Arts popular among the FAU and local communities. Established after Arthur and Mata Jaffe donated their private collection of 2,800 artists’ books, the collection now includes more than12,000 items and the Jaffe Center for Book Arts is the site of numerous workshops, class visits, concerts and film screenings, and the annual Letterpress Appreciation Day, Pi Day, and “Real Mail Friday” celebrations.

“We were always able to offer printing and bookbinding, two of the core aspects in the book arts craft tradition at the Jaffe Center,” said Cutrone. “Papermaking was the missing link, so it has been a very big deal for us to be able to offer instruction in this key area.”

The hand papermaking lab opened on Nov. 3, 2012, in the T-6 building, one of the few remnants of the U.S. Army Air Field, which was a radar training facility during World War II. The hand papermaking lab has been the site for numerous workshops in papermaking, paper decoration, paper marbling and eco-dying, which is a process that uses the natural pigments in plants to create patterns on paper.

“The building served such an important purpose during WWII and we are delighted that we could repurpose it and give it an entirely new life while helping artists and others in the community to see the book as more than just an utilitarian object,” said Carol Hixson, dean of libraries at FAU.

The hand papermaking lab is located near the FAU Stadium, across from the east entrance of Palm Beach State College at the northeast corner of campus. Blue and white “Makers Marketplace” signs will be posted on campus roads to guide people to “Autumn Wayzgoose.” Some of the activities will take place in the papermaking lab’s studio and others will take place outside.

The “Autumn Wayzgoose” is free and open to the public. For a list of all of the events, visit www.jaffecollection.org .