In Joy Malcolm’s mudroom hangs a six- by four-foot canvas plastered with paint by her and her kids.

The family has been adding to this communal art piece for years, and it holds a lot of personal meaning for the Hopkinton mixed-media artist and bookbinder. She says there’s something special about the free way kids allow themselves to create.

“I think it was inspiring when we’d make art together, especially when they were younger,” Malcolm said via phone. “They’re not as concerned with making it look good. They’re enjoying the process. I think process-driven art is really important.”

This idea of enjoying the process ultimately drew her to paper arts years ago. Today, she’s a full-time artist and mom of two, working out of a room in their house that doubles as an office and workshop. She creates handmade, one-of-a-kind books and journals, constructed with a variety of techniques and media, including painting, drawing, cyanotype, and printmaking.

Her goal, always, is to create books that bring joy and encourage people to sketch, draw, paint and write without worrying about the end result.

“A lot of people have this fear that holds them back from creating: that what they create might not be perfect,” she said. “But then you learn that [with art journaling] if you do something you don’t like, you can rip that page out. It’s more important to use the books and have them be messy than have a bunch of blank books sitting on the shelf.”

Malcolm, who grew up in Stoughton, Mass., and studied studio art at Wellesley College, delved into bookbinding while working in the college library’s conservation facility between her junior and senior years. There, she learned to repair books, replace spines and create covers or custom box enclosures for special collection items.

“In book conservation, you have to be very precise, with a lot of perfectly-square angles, measuring things down to the millimeter. I enjoyed that and had a knack for it. And it definitely made me consider book conservation as a career,” she said.

For a time, books were what she sought in her profession. After college, she worked at a New York publishing house, and later, she was in library book conservation at Harvard. These jobs fostered her love of texts, but neither satiated her hunger for creativity in the workplace. In publishing, she mostly conducted administrative work, whereas at the library, the emphasis was on production.

“It was about how many books you repair each month. That made me realize I love making books, but I wanted more of that creative bookbinding aspect of it, where I could incorporate different media. I didn’t want to just be working on 20 spine repairs a day,” she said.

It wasn’t until she began teaching high school art in Vermont that she finally tapped into art-making again. She taught photography, digital media, and ceramics, drawing one day and painting the next. One class involved creating a simple, sketchbook-style art journal.

“I let them create with very low pressure. They could paint, scribble, write, or collage, and they really enjoyed it. A lot of kids weren’t necessarily into the strict kind of drawing lessons you’re doing in Art 101. They had this chance to work in an art journal with no rules. It really opened things up,” she said.

It made her remember why she entered the field in the first place: to play and create without inhibition. She began art journaling herself and found an amazing community on Instagram. She says the medium helped her “loosen up” and get over her fear of “messing up a book.”

“I’d been taught through book conservation that these books were perfectly made. I didn’t want to mess them up by drawing or painting on them, and then not having them look good. I would make them and often give them away as gifts. It was hard for me to use them myself,” she said. “Through art journaling, I’ve gotten over that.”

She loves that art journals combine both tangible elements – paper, letters, photographs – and intangible elements, like memories and stories. Maybe it comes from living in rural New Hampshire, but she’s especially inspired by nature and botanicals, constantly venturing outside to gather plants, ferns, and flowers, and then drawing, pressing, and taking photos of them.

One of her goals is to build more community around bookbinding, art journaling and the paper arts in general because, like many art forms, it can be extremely solitary. Once a month, she hosts a paper and book arts meet-up at the Hopkinton Town Library and regularly hosts instructional workshops.

“I want to share all the enthusiasm and generosity that’s part of the paper arts community and connect with people in person, not just online,” Malcolm said. “I want to get more people making and expressing themselves. I think there’s a lot of power in that.”

Three of Malcolm’s handmade books are on display in the League’s “Continuing the Tradition” show at its Exhibition Gallery through March 30. You can learn more about her art and upcoming workshops at joymalcolm.com.

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