Shereen LaPlantz (1947-2003) was an internationally recognized book artist, basket weaver, author, and teacher. Born Shereen Buckland on February 9, 1947, in Glendale, California, she went on to attended California State University, Los Angeles where she studied textiles. After graduating in 1968, she continued to explore fabric design and weaving at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. In 1970, she married artist David LaPlantz, a jeweler and metalsmith.

LaPlantz’s early work focused on weaving and basketry as an art form. She authored two books on basketry, began a magazine dedicated to the craft, taught numerous workshops, and exhibited her work internationally. In the late 1980s, LaPlantz took a new direction, creating a series of baskets with small books integrated into the physical context of the work. This project marked her transition into the book arts.

Her recognition that book structures could be a combination of two- and three-dimensional formats and that the structures could tell their own story as well as provide information inspired her to write Cover to Cover: Creative Techniques for Making Beautiful Books, Journals, and Albums in 1995. It provides an overview of book structure and design, with chapters on binding, stitching, and presentation and it remains a standard work in book design. Many of the book structures in this collection are described in Cover to Cover.

LaPlantz is also well known for her books Innovative Bookbinding: Secret Compartments & Hidden Messages, published in 1997 and The Art & Craft of Handmade Books, published in 2001. In addition to her commercial books, LaPlantz created an average of twelve artists’ books per year and was a committed educator, inspiring other book artists’ through the hundreds of workshops she conducted. LaPlantz died on September 11, 2003. Her basketry and artists’ books can be found in collections across the United States, including the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C.