In October, a bevy of book workers descended on Japan Town, San Francisco for the annual Standards of Excellence meeting of the Guild of Book Workers. I look forward to these meetings each year (in a different city) for the exchange between bookbinders and the great vendors room full of supplies.

I was happy to see Laura Wait there, a longtime friend from old Santa Fe days, who now lives in Steamboat Springs CO. An artist focusing on encaustic painting and unique artist books, Laura studied bookbinding in England during the same period I was in London.

In addition to the professional presentations, a highlight of the meeting was the opening reception of the Guild’s Marking Time exhibit at the San Francisco Public Library. I was treated to a visit from my niece Laurie, nephew Russell and friend Consuelo, who all live in the Bay area (standing in front of my binding).

On Friday night meeting attendees were privileged to have a special viewing of the George Hecksher collection of modern bindings.
I traveled and roomed with New Mexico friend Pam Smith who was selling her Marblesmith papers in the vendors’ room. Afterwards we spent some time in the wine country around Calistoga, where my brother Richard lives. The smell of crushed grapes was in the air and it was good wine tasting!

Fall is a beautiful time of year in New Mexico when the light changes, so when Mom announced that she was driving north to attend the opening of the Taos Art Festival, I did not hesitate to go. It was an inspirational weekend, from the opening Friday night to the studio visits we made on Saturday.

We stopped by the studio of Angie Coleman, an artist my mother has known since the years she and my dad lived in Taos. Angie creates woodcuts, but is also a painter and pastel artist. She graduated from the California College of Arts & Crafts in 1972, the same year I arrived at the college.

As a former printmaker, I loved seeing the process behind the
woodcuts, such at Angie’s inking palette or the different blocks she cuts for multiple color runs.



After lunch at Caffe Renato, we dropped by the Stables Art Gallery to see the Wet Paint exhibit by students of Taos artist Leigh Gusterson. Displayed were brilliant (literally wet) oil paintings after their 5-day workshop with the artist.

Call it serendipity, but among the group was Judi Goolsby, a former book art student from Austin and now a resident of Santa Fe. I also enjoyed sharing London stories with Elizabeth Porter, originally a native of Las Cruces, NM, now a London antique dealer of Chinese porcelain.

The greatest inspiration came from viewing the work of the late Melissa Zink, a memorial exhibit held in the Fechin studio of the Taos Art Museum. Pictures do not do justice to the magic of Zink’s mixed media world, from small ceramic scenes to large bronze cast figurines with layers of ancient book typography and other imagery. Whimsically, sculpted faces emerge from cast alphabet characters.

Taking collage and mixed media to an ultimate height are Melissa’s BOSH!WORKS, her last major works (an acronym for Bibliomania, Obsessive, Serial, Haphazard). Made from type drawers cut and hinged to open like a book, each section displays a fragment — maybe a piece of marbled paper or a handwritten letter. The outside cases are adorned in a collage of old, cut up book covers in cloth or leather, yet all pieced together with a reverence or love of books. In her own words: "Everything I find most beautiful and moving is in some way connected to books."

The show continues through October 25 at the Taos Art Museum, while her work is represented by the Parks Gallery in Taos.

This posting is dedicated to Dorothy Olsen Garwood, whose keen eye and respect for contemporary crafts was truly an inspiration, passed on through her daughter, my dear friend Kiki (her recipes, too!). When I first met Dorothy in 1974, she was a buyer for The Egg and the Eye in Los Angeles, later known as the Craft and Folk Art Museum. Dorothy died June 30, 2009, at age 88. Here she is pictured ca. 1980 in a jacket crafted by her daughter.

 

When I was struck with the desire to learn fine bookbinding in 1978, study opportunities were limited in the United States. In the end, I found a certificate course at the London College of Printing, which I began in August of 1980.

At that time in the UK there was a clear distinction between the professional bookbinder and the craft bookbinder. Professionals earned their title beginning with the commitment of the traditional seven-year apprenticeship system, not really available to young women. Hence, a brief one or two year course with an overview of hand binding including both forwarding and finishing was considered a craft course.

A century ago, the word “craft” was revered following the Arts & Crafts revival started by William Morris in late 19th century England. The movement hit the United States like a fever as numerous art schools and programs were established including the Guild of Book Workers in New York City in 1906 and my own California College of Arts & Crafts, established in 1907 in Oakland, California. Sadly, just four years before its centennial, in 2003 my college (CCAC) dropped the “Crafts” in its name, now called the California College of the Arts, or CCA.

I was and am still proud of the craft of what I have chosen to pursue, the craft of bookbinding, more specifically fine binding. I am an artisan, using my craft for artistic expression.

It was the craft in the California College of Arts & Crafts that drew me as a hopeful textile major in 1972. By the time I received my degree in 1975, my focus had become lithography. Printmaking led me to the handmade book through a letterpress course taught by the esteemed Betsy Davids of the Rebis Press, Berkeley, a long-time professor at CCAC. Within five years I was studying the craft of fine bookbinding. It has been a choice that has remained a challenge and interest for me these 30-plus years.

 

It was an utter surprise to win the prize commission at the 5th Helen Warren DeGolyer Triennial Competition for American Bookbinding, held June 5th at the Bridwell Library, Southern Methodist University, in Dallas. Although I have attended each of the DeGolyer Bookbinding conference events, this year I had been invited to be a workshop presenter — without a clue about being the recipient of this prestigious award.

But, what a full circle moment! The text selected by the Bridwell for the binding is "Goodbye to a River" by John Graves. Reprinted in 1989 for the revived Book Club of Texas, I helped bind the limited edition when working with Craig Jensen at BookLab, Inc. in Austin.

Other winners at the DeGolyer competition include Karen Hanmer for her sample binding and David Lawrence for his proposed design.

Our new town of Truth or Consequences has been called many things such as "quirky’, but this recent article by Judith Fein adds "chic" to the list. Well, I wouldn’t go that far, but I do agree when she states that is is a place "where you can soak in a mineral bath with your honey without getting soaked."

New Mexico Magazine March 2009 article.

It has been two years exactly since we purchased our building here in "T or C" (as the locals call it). Don and I have been enjoying the quirky side of things here ever since.

Even my mom, Annie Spitler, is getting into the swing of things in T or C since moving here from Rio Rancho last summer. She stands by two of her New Mexico paintings shown at the local Rio Bravo gallery during the "Hot Springs, Cool Art" festival all over town last fall 2008.