The annual Oscar Lewis Award of The Book Club of California honored STELLA PATRI for her contributions to The Book Arts at a reception in San Francisco on February 27, 1995.
DEBORAH HOWE has accepted the position of Collections Conservator at Northwestern University Library as of January 16th. Her address is 1935 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208; (708) 491-7607; e-mail: d-howe@nwu.edu.
PAT HINKLEY's work is being shown in an exhibition of the works of fifteen artists, "Art & Text", curated by Ellen Hackl Fagan. It was shown at Gallery 53, in Meriden, Connecticut in March and will travel to the Stamford Museum & Nature Center from May 14-July 16.
We report with regret the death of DR. FRANCIS ARCHER, on January 1, 1995 at his home in Evanston, Illinois, at the age of 75. Dr. Archer, a pathologist at Illinois Masonic Hospital, taught pathology at the University of Illinois Medical School for 13 years. He retired in 1985. In the 1970's he took up bookbinding as a hobby, taking courses at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Newberry Library. He also trained under several local binders. Operating his own business for several years, he bound many books as well as journals for the library of the Chicago Botanic Garden. He was a member of the Guild of Book Workers for many years.
JOANNE SONNICHSEN and SÜN EVRARD appear, along with the seven other founding members of AIRneuf, in photographs in Art & Metiers du Livre #188, Nov-Dec 1994. They accompany a report on the one-afternoon showing of the work of this new group in Paris. At this unique presentation on September 25, 1994 in the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris, each of the nine binders presented their work and discussed it with a large crowd of visitors. In a highly unusual exhibition, especially in Europe, the books were laid out on tables instead of being in cases, and elicited many questions and much interest. Among the books exhibited were the Crossed-Structure bindings devised by the Italian binder, Carmencho Arregui, which were shown at the New Horizons Conference in September. Her description of this binding technique, with variations, and diagrams, appears (in French) in the same issue of AML. The English version will be in the New Bookbinder 1994.
ROBBIN AMI SILVERBERG's work was exhibited in March at the HarperCollins Exhibition Space in New York City in a show entitled "Women's Work: An Open Book", the work of twelve women, curated by Donna Slawsky.
CRIS TAKACS, Midwest Chapter Chairman and Bookbinder, says she is taking THE PLUNGE and hiring an assistant, Stephen Wilson, who arrived at the end of March. Good luck to you both!
DANIEL TUCKER and CLAIRE OWEN are celebrating twenty years of partnership in Turtle Island Press with an exhibition opening April 3 at Drexel University's Design Arts Gallery in Philadelphia and moving on May 1 to the Wallace Library of Rochester Institute of Technology. It closes on May 26th. The exhibitions present selections of the more than thirty titles they have produced during their first twenty years. Turtle Island Press was founded in 1975 to produce limited edition and one-of-a-kind artists' books. Their goal has been to create original works which combine the physical attributes of the fine press with the contemporary artist book use of original content.
Clearly, the reason they make books is because they love them. "For us," says Tucker, "no other medium is so richly associated with love, learning, discovery, mystery, beauty, poetry and enjoyment as the book. Claire's and my childhood experiences with books confirm this and form the impetus behind what has become our lifetime involvement."
Thomas Gartside, in New Arts Examiner, April 1985, said, "The books of Turtle Island Press are seductive in two ways: in theme, they represent a sustained affirmation, an oasis of poetry and fantasy in the information age: and in form, they embody the timeless traditions of craft and the "beautiful object."
Daniel Tucker is also the founder of the Ah Haa School for the Arts in Telluride, Colorado, which has recently become the American Academy of Bookbinding. The school offers six weeks of course instruction each year, leading to a Master of Bookbinding degree. Tini Miura, with the assistance of her husband, Einen Miura, and various visiting instructors teaches courses in all aspects of bookbinding.
Claire remains in Philadelphia with Turtle Island Press, going to Telluride in the summers to teach. She is the Chairman of the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Guild.