The California Chapter will meet April 6th at the Heritage Book Shop in Los Angeles where they will be shown outstanding examples from the wide variety of binding styles in the collection of the shop and browse among the books. They will each bring two sheets of paper to exchange with others.
The chapter's July meeting will be held on July 13th with David Brock demonstrating Tool Sharpening. Their October meeting will be held during the Standards Seminar in Ann Arbor mi.
John Newland, president of the NSW Guild of Craft Bookbinders and editor of Morocco Bound, will give a slide lecture on the Australian binders' group. It will be held June 6th at Kater-Crafts Bookbinders.
Kitty Maryatt, Director of Scripps College Press, reports that their latest book, Mutatis Mutandis, won first place in an international book arts exhibition, Turning the Page, at the Academy Art Center Gallery in Honolulu. (See Publications)
The Delaware Valley Chapter will meet three times in the Spring of 1997, covering a variety of topics: March 13, Materials and Sources; April 10, Jigs & Tools; May 8, Teflon Folders, with Hedi Kyle and Denise Carbone showing members how to make various sizes. Barbara Mauriello will give a workshop on April 26 on The Postcard Box. The Chapter's first Members' Exhibition moved to the Frances Loeb Library at Harvard University in January and closed February 28. Claire Owen, who has been Chairman of the Chapter since its establishment, feels it is about time she stepped down (though remaining involved). The Chapter is calling for a volunteer.
The New England Chapter will hold its Spring Chapter Meeting on May 10 at the Providence, (R.I.) Public Library, where they will tour the Library and the Papermaking and Bookbinding Studio of the Rhode Island School of Design. Dr. Philip Maddock, a private collector, will speak on Irish bookbinding. Terry Buckley gave a workshop on Dyeing & Staining Leather on March 29 at the Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven, Conn. The Chapter's Winter meeting was held February 1 at Harvard's Graduate School of Design where they viewed the Delaware Valley Chapter's exhibition. At the business meeting, President Jim Reid-Cunningham introduced Mark Esser as the new Treasurer, replacing Michele Waters, who has resigned. The program of the meeting was given by Scott Kehoe on photographing books. Monique Lallier will give a workshop at CAW on April 25-26 on Edge Treatments.
The New York Chapter sponsored a workshop with Hedi Kyle on February 7 entitled "Fold Single Sheets into Intriguing Book Forms" in the Conservation Lab at the New York Academy of Medicine. On March 1 they arranged an Open House at Ursula Mitra's new studio in Hoboken nj; on April 4 Jeff Peachey hosted an Open House at his new studio, Peachey Conservation, in lower Manhattan. Monique Lallier and Don Etherington gave lectures on March 13. Monique spoke on "The Art of Bookbinding and Conservation", Don gave his slide lecture, "Will the Real Otto Zahn Please Stand Up", showing some amazing bookbindings by the relatively unknown binder. Don presented this slide lecture in 1995 at the Wells College Symposium. Don and Monique gave a joint workshop the following day at the New York Academy of Medicine Conservation Lab on "Tips in Bookbinding Design and Conservation".
The Potomac Chapter has arranged with Pyramid Atlantic and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington to exhibit the bindings of their book "Fables" during Pyramid Atlantic's Art Book Fair November 22-23, following its month-long showing at the World Trade Center in Baltimore in September. They expect to produce a post-card catalog for the show.
The Southeastern Chapter met on February 15 for the first time since the inception of the chapter. After the refreshments and an introductory welcome, the dozen or so members attending got down to the serious business of discussion and election of a small slate of officials. Paula Marie Gourley agreed to serve as coordinating chairperson for another year. Mary Ann Sampson was elected co-chair; Val Roberts and Terry Taylor will share the task of producing their True Grits & other sorts newsletter.
The group discussed the purpose of the chapter and came to a consensus that the focus of their endeavors should be education in the book arts. They will put their collective energies toward hosting and sponsoring workshops and lectures on the various arts of the book with the intention of improving skills and knowledge in hand bookbinding and allied crafts in the region, as well as teaching teachers and students in the schools.
Their first chapter-sponsored event was co-hosting a talk by Birmingham book historian Mary Rhinelander McCarl on February 19th. She spoke on "Smuggled Ornaments and Printers' Dodges", in the second of the Glenn House Book Arts Lectures at the University of Alabama. The series honors retired UA faculty member Glenn House, who was the first director of the University's program in the book arts.
The meeting was followed by the opening reception of "The Usual Suspects: Four Alabama Book Artists" in the Fifth Floor Book Arts Gallery.
The Rocky Mountain Chapter reports many workshops and other upcoming events. Please consult the Calendar. Look especially for bookarts workshops in Idaho and New Mexico. Tim Ely is scheduled to teach "The Painted Book" in Santa Fe for two weekends in May - a great time to visit this magical, albeit touristy, town.
The Rocky Mountain Chapter Members' show in Utah had some 23 entries, of high quality according to the juror Carol Pallesen Hicks and my co-chair Pam Barrios. I (Laura Wait) will be teaching a foundation workshop on tooling in May to coincide with the opening of the show.
News of people: Martha Little is building a studio attached to her house in Santa Fe. We are renovating the other side of our studio building here in Denver. Diana Phillips and Bryan Allen, a letterpress printer, are joining forces in Diana's Denver store, "Two Hands Paperie". Polly Fox writes that her new house and studio are slowly making progress; they are able to sleep on the second floor of a 12 x 12' shed - a better alternative to continuous camping.
Nancy Culmone and Paul Maurer have moved to Mosquero, New Mexico. Welcome. Charles Alexander has returned to Tucson, Arizona. There are two other bookbinders rumored to have moved to Denver, but they have not surfaced yet.
On a more sobering note: Nancy Missbach is recovering from the unexpected death of both parents within the space of two months. We all wish her the best. She will be traveling to Turkey this summer for the calligraphy conference and to Telluride for Frank Mowery's class in German bookbinding.
Laura Wait, Co-chair, Rocky Mt. Chapter