Charlotte Philippa Gardiner, daughter of Rebekah Lord Gardiner, New England Chapter Programs Co-Chair, was born March 19, 1996. Welcome!
Priscilla Spitler, in Austin, Texas, will move her studio after September to Buda, Texas, 13 miles south of Austin. With more space, she will be able to offer workshops for larger groups. Her summer boxmaking and binding classes take place at her current address: 1511 Pasadena Dr., Austin, TX 78757.
Erin Loftus, newly-elected Potomac Chapter President, can be reached at 3039 Macomb St., nw, Apt. 24, Washington DC 20008, 202/237-7553.
Pamela Barrios, in Provo, Utah will teach "Fundamentals of Bookbinding" for the University of Utah Art Department in Fall 1996.
Cathleen Baker has completed the first draft of By His Own Labor: The Biography of Dard Hunter. She recently moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where she will help Steve Miller, proprietor of the Red Hydra Press, hand print the limited edition of her work. Publication is expected in late 1997. The facsimile edition will come out in 1998. Her new address is: P.O. Box 40983, Tuscaloosa, AL 35404-0983.
Bob Muens has left the Library of Congress Conservation Office to set up in private business in Key West, Florida. His new activities will include bookbinding, book conservation, book making, consulting for collections care and teaching. His new address: 1108 Pearl St., Key West, FL 33040, 305/294-6331.
Ginny Wisniewski retired as Book Conservator and Head of Conservation & Bindery at the University of Cincinnati on January 1, 1996.
Virginia Plemons has taken early retirement from the State of Illinois and plans to put more time into the book repair work she has been doing. Her address, at 222 Dresser Rd., DeKalb, IL 60115, remains the same but she will have one phone listing (no Fax) at 815/756-9773.
Rebecca Shaffer, of Full Circle Bindery, writes: "I am having a bindery built above our three car garage. By August I shall have a beautiful 650 sq.ft. space. What a joy to move out of the basement where I've been the last two years since moving to St. Louis. If anyone travels this way, please feel welcome to stop by. Since coming to St. Louis, I have had to spend the first year just reorienting. During the second year I've made too many boxes and completed three small editions. Finally a really enjoyable commission - the Potomac Chapter's Fables! I just received the text block and am delighted. If any of you are binding it, I am sure you agree that the paper is very sensuous and the Goudy type and blue decorative capitals are perfect choices for this project. The Potomac Chapter has presented us with a feast."
Jean Buescher is currently binding her latest letterpress printed book, What's Out There, an accordion in an edition of 45. the book is a poem illustrated with nine original cyanotypes. She will be teaching workshops in August and September at Hollander's in Ann Arbor MI, and at the Brookfield Craft Center in Brookfield, CT in October.
Honorary Member Polly Lada-Mocarski is back home after being in the hospital for a couple of months following a hip injury. We wish her a speedy recovery.
Madelyn Garrett, rare book curator, Marriott Library, Special Collections at the University of Utah, and Tom Kass, Department of Architecture, taught an architecture class "Theory and Method Through the Structure of the Book" that has resulted in student work now being shown in an exhibition at the University during the summer.
Peter and Donna Thomas were invited to go last March to Australia to teach a number of workshops on book and paper making. They started with a weekend in Sydney at Primrose Paperworks, then traveled north up the coast to teach stance and sheet formation at a week-long conference, the Fiber Forum, in Mittagong. Then on to Canberra for a week of teaching in the Graphic Investigations Workshop at the School of Art. They printed an edition of 20 miniature books based on the typography of an acrostic manuscript. Each student set a page in type and then, as in a word search, rubricated in red to reveal a hidden message. At a cooperative printmaking studio with a letterpress, they made a larger book. Each student brought a print, a text and title page were printed and they were bound into a book on the last day.
Their daughters, Tanya and Suzanne, attended school in Canberra while their parents taught at the University. They found interesting differences between the Australian and American school systems. The Thomases' last teaching session was done at the Tasmanian School of Art.
During their visit they camped in a national park and visited with a paper-maker, Penny Carey-Wells, whom they had met at a papermaking conference in the States. Peter says, "The country was really similar to the USA on first impression, but closer observation showed that just about everything was subtly different. There were woods everywhere, called the bush, but all the trees were eucalyptus. They have banks, and no Social Security numbers (they have the dole for unemployed and pensioners), so banks tax each cheque written on an account. On Easter, the Easter Bunny brings chocolate eggs wrapped in brightly colored tin foil. The list goes on and on."
LOST SOULS
The following membership renewal forms were sent back to Bernadette Callery, Membership Chairman, as being undeliverable. If anyone has newer information as to their whereabouts, please contact Bernadette. (fax: 412/244-0922, e-mail: bcallery@pgh.net)
Robert A. Ash, Box 754, Market St., Keene Valley NY
12943-3801
Sally Key, 136 Pilgrim Rd., Weymouth MA 02191
Paul Sawyer, 19 W. Granada Blvd., Ormond Beach FL 32174