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 Handmade tools and baskets were among the exhibit features at the 3rd Street Gallery opening reception for Croft and Woodland Family Book Arts and Craft on Friday. Jake Barber/Argonaut
The Croft and Woodland families have books sitting on their shelves just like any other family. The difference? They’ve made some of theirs.
Both families are craft workers in the art of medieval bookbinding, along with crochet work, embroidery, painting and weaving. Many of the items they’ve produced are being showcased at the Third Street Gallery above Moscow City Hall.
Jim Croft and his wife, Melody Eckroth, are self-described hippies. They were part of the back-to-the-land movement in the 1970s and have been working on self-sufficiency since before the term came into common use.
“I’ve been making things since I’ve been old enough to want to make them for myself,” Eckroth said.
The pair lives on five acres in Santa, Idaho with no electricity or running water. They chop their own wood and make their own tools. The last two elements are crucial to their book-making process.
Croft has been making books since 1970 after a trip to Europe opened his eyes to the potential of medieval bookbinding.
“I’m concentrating on Europe and that style,” he said.
He learned his techniques mostly from books and practice. He primarily makes books similar to ones that come from the 1300-1500s time periods, since he said those books have stood the test of time.
“The books are all about making the whole book from raw materials,” Croft said. Croft and Eckroth grow their own flax, hew their own tools from wood and bone and make their own paper from hemp using a water-powered press.
The things they make range from simple and functional items such as bowls and spoons to intricate brass clasps and Celtic knots embossed into paper and wood.
“(Our artistic) talent evolved from our way of life,” Eckroth said. “Our saying is that we … are preserving ancient techniques viable for a new time.”
And the two have already started passing on their techniques to people in that new time: their daughter, Nara Woodland, and her husband, Brandon Woodland.
Nara Woodland took her first bookbinding class from her father when she was 12 years old.
 Moscow mayor Nancy Cheney, right, speaks with Kelly O'Neill, left, and Ben Lucas at the 3rd Street Gallery opening reception for Croft and Woodland Family Book Arts and Craft on Friday. Jake Barber/Argonaut
“With lots of tears and frustration … I was able to produce a beautiful book,” she said.
Woodland, a 2005 University of Idaho graduate, used the skills she learned to help earn her Bachelor of fine arts degree. Her husband later took a class from Croft, and the Woodlands have produced 10 books together.
Ten might seem like a small number of produced works, but Croft said one of the books he produced took more than 400 hours of labor.
“People should look for the wonderful craftsmanship that goes into each piece,” Woodland said.
The exhibit features examples of the tools and machines that both the Croft and Woodland families use in order to produce their crafts. Also included are step-by-step stages of the papermaking and bookbinding processes.
“It’s a multi-sensory exhibit,” said Moscow Mayor Nancy Chaney.
Chaney said the exhibit has a hands-on nature.
“I’m so thrilled we were able to secure (it) here,” she said.
Croft is hoping to pass on his talents to other people by planning to teach a weekly course in Moscow over the winter. He’s taught in universities across the country and his special connection to UI is in restoring the school’s Sir Walter Scott collection.
“My parents are a real inspiration,” Woodland said. “It is good for people to know that we are a family of artists.”
The exhibit will be open until early October. The Croft and Woodland families will be hosting a lecture and a question-and-answer session at 10 a.m., Oct. 7 at the Third Street Gallery.
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