I submitted three bookworks for current exhibition of the California Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers (GBW): The California Effect. The show runs from October 4th, 2025 through March 8th, 2026. Two of the three pieces had not been previously exhibited, so I was chuffed to see the catalogue in the mail. 

The hornbook took ages to create. It was originally slated for the Hand Bookbinders of California’s 2023 annual members exhibition but the idea and materials shifted in the sands of time. At one point I was going to present a mobile phone on a paddle with AI apps that children would need to learn in order to communicate in the next three-quarters of the 21st century.

Hornbook for the 21st Century: a Labyrinth & a Spirangle

A hornbook traditionally consists of a printed sheet of paper — with the alphabet, a cross, and the Lord’s Prayer — tacked onto a small wooden paddle and covered with a veneer of horn to protect it from a learner’s grimy hands. Such primers were popular from the 15th through the 18th centuries to teach children to read.

Nowadays, between mobile digital devices and generative pre-trained language models (GPTs), children can learn language from any number of computer software programs. Instead of printing the alphabet and prayer — or, indeed, a list of educational apps — this hornbook presents two modes of learning. A pupil can meditatively contemplate and guide a ball bearing (BB) through a labyrinth. Or, on the flip side, one can mindlessly watch as the BB swirls along through a 70-angle spirangle, which is a shape used in digital search algorithms.

Materials: laser-cut oak panels (produced by Sarah Pike of Freefall Laser), abrasion-resistant polycarbonate film (horn substitute), a ball bearing, and brass tacks.