Here’s another one from the Biblio Files, a periodic profile of a community member, highlighting what makes ABAC an awesome place to work and to learn!

1. What drew you to study book arts?

In the early 90s I discovered Paper Arts in Dallas (in its first incarnation as Paper Routes). I started making greeting cards with the fabulous paper I found there. When I asked the proprietor where I could learn more about what to do with paper, she suggested the Craft Guild of Dallas. There I found my first teacher and mentor, Catherine Burkhard. After a few classes I was hooked! I studied there with Catherine and then in her home studio for well over a decade.

In the late 90s I began performing repair work on Catherine’s projects under her supervision. Eventually, I began building my own book repair business that continues today.

I’ve been quoted a few times saying about becoming a bookbinder: “It’s a hobby that got out of control!”

2. What are your favorite book structure to make? Why?

My favorite structure is usually the most recent one I’ve learned. Although I rarely have time to make them, I’m drawn to exposed spine sewing. Why keep all that work under cover?

Also, I think I could sew link stitch books forever. It’s a very Zen activity. In fact, I find a lot about bookbinding and book repair meditative. So, for me, it’s not so much a favorite structure, but the ability to become hyper-focused on the task in front of me and toss aside whatever is worrying me that day.

3. Who are your biggest influences?

I’ve attended about a dozen Guild of Book Workers’ Annual Standards of Excellence Seminars around the country; all but the first Helen Warren DeGoyler Triennial Exhibition and Competition in Dallas. I traveled across the pond in 2001 to attend a Society of Bookbinders conference in Oxford, England. Additionally, I’ve had several opportunities to study with some of the best binders of our time through workshops. I even got to study with Monique Lallier—one of the best fine binders of our time—for two weeks in her North Carolina home studio.

Each time I’m in the presence of the talented individuals I’ve been lucky enough to encounter, I try to soak up every morsel of information that is tossed out. Being around the masters of any craft can only improve one, no matter if you’re a beginner, experienced or a pro.

I count all the talented binders that I was lucky enough to experience in the first decade or so of my learning curve as huge influences on what I do each day. I guess it takes a village to train a bookbinder!

4. What do you enjoy about teaching at ABAC?

It’s fun to meet people with diverse backgrounds and interests. I remember how proud I was of the first pamphlet stitch book I made, and hope that every student has a similar experience at ABAC. 

1.  Who are you and what do you do?

 I’m a native Texan, with a book arts studio in Houston’s East End called Domestic Papers.

The name Domestic Papers comes from my love of everything paper and my love of travel in search of cool finds for my studio, always with the promise of returning to my home.  I make map/travel journals, sketchbooks from library discards, and the one-of-a-kind, blank paper-filled journals that writers love to get their hands on.  I also teach bookbinding at local museums and in my own Domestic Papers studio.

When I travel, I search flea markets, junk shops, and antiquarian stores for vintage or foreign-language ephemera to further distinguish my one-of-a-kind work from something mass-produced and to assure my customers they are getting a book like no other.

I see my role as a Rescuer, giving forgotten images and techniques from the Past a fresh Future with a new audience. Plus, each book makes a good Present!

2. Why do you enjoy book arts?

I enjoy every step in the process of making a book! From the selecting of materials to cutting and folding pages (a soothing repetition) to stitching it all together and adding the final touches, each of these actions gives me satisfaction as I see a whole, one-of-a-kind book appear in my hands.  I also love to share my love of bookmaking with others, telling my students they can now make the book of their dreams!

3.  How do you work?

Surrounded by stacks of old book materials in my studio, I select a vintage image—a book illustration, a postcard, an atlas map or other ephemera- that attracts me and I’ll design the complete book around it.  I love mixing rescued book parts with acid-free papers to create a unique and unexpected, but useful, blank journal or sketchbook.  My goal is a nod to its history, a use for today, made to last for years to come.

4.  What’s your background?

I’m a life-long artist/maker with a love of everything paper.  

I grew up in a creative family of hand makers and antique junk collectors always on the look-out for new/old inspiration.  Family trips through the Midwest to visit our grandmother instilled an appreciation for everyday objects and ephemera.

After earning a BFA in art history, I worked in the art business in Houston before I became a painter full time.  After steady years of painting first on paper, then on canvas to create commissioned works for art consultants and galleries throughout the U.S., I decided to return to my true love—paper.  From hand papermaking to handmade books was a fairly swift transition and from there everything fell into place.  Every part of my artistic, and family, history came together to bring me to this most satisfying craft that I find fresh with possibilities every day.

5.  What’s integral to the work of an artist?

I would have to say community with other creative people.  Anyone with a separate studio space knows it can be lonely working in solitude day after day.  While we need alone-time to focus and produce what we see in our heads, we also need the companionship of other artists or makers, those fellow souls who really “get” you.  No matter the medium, we can always feel a spark of inspiration seeing what our friends are making.

1.What is your role at Austin Book Arts Center?

I am the resident polymer plate maker, California wash dealer, and Intro to Polymer class teacher. I volunteer to print the stationary and announcements, and I volunteer for events now and then.

2. What is a special memory of teaching at the center?

Watching students working together on their projects.

3. What do you enjoy about letterpress?

I think letterpress is just the most perfect form of printing. Reading a book printed letterpress is an absolute pleasure. The words seem to take up actual physical space.

4. What is your background?

My parents were letterpress printers. When I was a baby they had a warehouse in San Francisco that was the printshop, and we lived in the loft. I began my career as a printer working for master printer Russell Maret in New York City.