Spring 2023

News from the Chapter Co-Chairs

What a beautiful spring we are having! Like the flowers outside, the
DVC is also all budded up and ready to bloom during this year with
informative workshops, fun events, and inspiring exhibits!

Earlier this spring I uncovered my equipment for making Ukrainian

eggs that hadn’t seen the light of day in ten years. This year especial-
ly, it felt like an important mission to put decorated egg magic out
into the world. Pysanky eggs are physical manifestations of well-
wishes for the future. Val joined me for a day of writing on eggs
with hot wax, choosing color sequences for dying, and finally the In this issue
exciting reveal! While looking at an egg with a beautiful butterfly p.2 Upcoming events, Member
design that Val created, I realized that all handmade objects are a bit News
magic, and I am looking forward to making book magic with all of p.3 Call, Valentine Exchange
you! p.4 Bookbinders, Beer & Bowl
ing
p.5-6 Symposium Review
As we continue planning our workshops and projects, we are tempt- p.7 More about Blue
ed to pack in more and more and more to make up for lost time over
covid. It’s certainly a balancing act of portioning work, home, and
pleasure so that life is full but not overflowing. Keep an eye out for Chapter Officers
upcoming email announcements about our annual meeting on July Valeria Kremser &
15th, the Fast, Friendly, Free workshop, and more! Kristin Balmer
Chapter Co-Chairs
Finally, don’t miss the Blue exhibit at City Hall! It is a celebration of Tara O’Brien
Vice Chair & Workshop Coordi-
some of the many projects and collaborations completed during Jen- nator
nifer’s tenure as leader. We are so inspired! The exhibit is open 8am Lisa Scarpello
to 5pm Monday-Friday. Visitors should enter at the northeast corner Treasurer
Rosae Reeder
of City Hall in order to go through security. Tell the guards you are Secretary
going to see the art exhibit on the second floor. If you can’t make it Ruth Scott Blackson
in person to see the exhibit, you can also see images of it on the Jennifer Rosner
DVC website. Exhibition Co-chairs
Valeria Kremser
Webmaster
See you soon! Sophia Dahab
-Kristin Balmer and Valeria Kremser Newsletter Editor
Karen Lightner
Newsletter Designer

Pressing Matter Spring 2023 p. 1

Upcoming Events
Friday, June 9: BLUE at City Hall Artist Walk and Talk
Please join us at 5pm on Friday, June 9 for the Blue Artist Walk and Talk at City Hall! We ask that you
please RSVP HERE. We will be going out afterwards to celebrate the exhibition so come for the talk, stay for
the snacks and bevvies! (No rsvp needed for after party.)

Tuesday, June 27: Fast, Friendly, Free Workshop

We will be making pop-up shadow boxes with Kit Davey. This evening event will be on Zoom! Details and
sign up to follow, so keep your eyes out for an email!

Saturday, July 15: Annual Chapter Meeting

Save the Date for our annual chapter meeting and hangout. More details to follow.

Member News
Beginning in April 2023, Maria G. Pisano’s book Caudex Folium will be part of the exhibit Towers Rising at
the 9-11 Memorial and Museum in New York City, marking 50 years since the 1973 dedication of the World
Trade Center. "The buildings have changed, but the imprint remains the same." - The work will be on view for
over a year.

Two poems in Caudex Folium

Spine of Caudex Folium

The Guild of Book Workers promotes interest in and awareness of the tradition of the book and pa-
per arts by maintaining high standards of workmanship, hosting educational opportunities, and sponsoring ex-
hibits.
The Delaware Valley Chapter–one of ten chapters in the US–is located in the Pennsylvania, New Jersey
and Delaware tri-state area with activities centered in Philadelphia. Our diverse membership includes book
artists, book conservators, fine binders, calligraphers, librarians, paper marblers, teachers, photographers,
printmakers, and graphic designers.
The Delaware Valley Chapter offers a newsletter, workshops, lectures, exhibition opportunities, tours, and
social events. Membership is open to all interested persons and includes professionals, amateurs, and students.
Our website is: https://dvc-gbw.org/

Pressing Matter Spring 2023 p. 2

Call for Participants
The Delaware Valley Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers announces its 2023 collaborative project:
“Whisper to Me: A Conversation Through Time” and invites members to participate.

In 1773, Phillis Wheatley became the first African American to publish a

book of poetry making this year the 250th Anniversary of the publication. In
celebration of the anniversary, the DVC GBW has commissioned the 2022-
23 Philadelphia Youth Poet Laureate, Telicia Darius, to write a poem in re-
sponse.

Participants are invited to create new work to celebrate these two poets.
These works will be exhibited at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania in
November 2023, in conjunction with programming celebrating Phillis
Wheatley.

For more information, please visit the DVCGBW website here:https://dvc-

gbw.org/whisper-to-me/

2023 Valentine Exchange

Real Love
By Kristin Balmer

There once was a book group, DVC

Whose members were all busy bees.
Who spent part of their day
Creating something to say,
Happy Valentine's Day to me!

Pressing Matter Spring 2023 p. 3

Bookbinders, Beer, and Bowling
by Lisa Scarpello

On Tuesday evening, January 17, 2023 the DVC met for our annual Bookbinders, Beer, and Bowling event at
Pep Bowl in South Philadelphia. Our very first bowling party was held at Pep Bowl in January 2014. After a
two year hiatus due to Covid, we gathered again for laughs, pizza, and beer. And, of course, bowling.

Even though only a sprinkling of our members are serious bowlers, the DVC selects Pep Bowl to host this
event because of Pep Bowl’s social mission: they provide employment and services to people with develop-
mental disabilities in the Philadelphia area.

This year was especially fun because our youngest guest used an assist ramp to help his bowling experience!
We hope you will look for our invitation for next year’s bowling adventure!

DVC at Pep Bowl Helping a little person to bowl

Maple Tree Seedlings Karen Lightner

Pressing Matter Spring 2023 p. 4

Review
Pattern and Flow: A Golden Age of American Decorated Paper Symposium sponsored by the Grolier
Club and Thomas J. Watson Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art on March 24, 2023
By Nancy Nitzberg

The one-day symposium was organized into four sessions following the keynote presentation, which included
Ken Soehner (Arthur K. Watson Chief Librarian, Thomas J. Watson Library), and Mindell “Mindy” Du-
bansky (Museum Librarian for Preservation, Thomas J. Watson Library). Their remarks were preceded by a
warm welcome by Eric Holzenberg, Grolier Club Director. Mindy spoke about the Paper Legacy Project and
her role as curator of the Grolier Club exhibition, Pattern and Flow: A Golden Age of American Decorated
Paper, including amassing examples of 20th and 21st century decorated papers to fill in a few gaps in the
Metropolitan Museum’s vast collection. It should be mentioned that a companion exhibition at the Metropoli-
tan Museum’s Thomas J. Watson Library was on view during the run of the Grolier Club exhibition, and is
available online HERE. As stated in the accompanying text of the Metropolitan Museum online exhibition,
“what is apparent in all the books in the library’s paper arts collection is a love of making ornamented paper
and the joy of sharing it. Decorated paper, in all its variations, lifts spirits, enlightens, and imparts a sense of
magic.”

Mindy Dubansky showed many imag-

es of decorative paper makers at
work, sharing her memories of those
she met and whose work she wished
to highlight. One of the images she
showed was of Claire Maziarczyk
(active 1981-the present) demonstrat-
ing her technique of making paste pa-
pers. The image depicted Claire creat-
ing what happens to be one of my fa-
vorite patterns and it was fascinating
to see her method. For this paper, she
used an ingenious method of mounted
Afro combs; the tines created meas-
ured and repeatable passes on the pig-
ment and paste-covered paper. Inter-
estingly enough, a similar piece of
Claire’s paper can be seen in the dis-
play case in the right of this photo, in Mindy Dubansky speaking about Clare Maziarczyk
the top corner of the case!

The sessions which followed consisted of presentations and panel discussions on themes ranging from tech-
niques, to outreach and education, to collecting.

Rather than list all session titles and participants, many whose names you will recognize, the full program can
be found via THIS LINK.

Below is a summary of the themes of each session and those who participated, and some of the ideas I found
significant.

The symposium provided a wonderful exchange of ideas and, for some, was also a reunion for people who
have known each other for as much as half a century or more. The perspectives varied, and included those
who create decorated papers and are attuned to workspace issues and supplies, to suppliers who have various
methods of making their inventory (and artists) available and known to clients.

Sage Reynolds spoke about his paste papers; Garrett Dixon spoke about suminagashi (Japanese marbling)
and its history. Regina St. John spoke about her more contemporary marbling, and Peggy Skycraft and Jack

Pressing Matter Spring 2023 p. 5

 Townes spoke about keeping track of pigments used
for various marbled paper designs so that their future
replications would be consistent, among other topics.

Some speakers described how they became involved

in their pursuit of creating decorated paper. Iris
Nevins, for example, saw a bookbinder working in
Manhattan and was enchanted by the marbled paper
he was using for his project. She pursued learning
more about the craft and eventually it became her
business and career.

Emphasized were issues such as the importance of

having one’s designs copyrighted (and respecting the
copyrights of others) especially when hand decorated
Jack Townes and Peggy Skycraft , Co-owners of Skycraft Designs LLC

paper designs are used to enhance commercial products, and David Aldera of New York Central Art Supply
described working with decorated paper makers.

Marge Salik began her presentation by explaining the meaning of the name TALAS, an acronym for technical
library service. Marge then presented a very interesting bibliographical study of TALAS catalogs, focusing on
how decorated papers were listed. She showed images of a few decades of catalogs and then how the website
evolved. Initially, papers were described only with language provided by their makers, but no images. Eventu-
ally, black and white illustrations were included, and then finally, color photographs. The selling of decorated
papers from print catalogs in the mid-20th century to the creation of the TALAS website in the 21st century
revealed an interesting timeline of advances in advertising and selling decorated papers using available and
cost-effective technologies. It makes one want to search for early catalogs as historical sources of decorated
paper history that escaped being tossed when the latest one arrived, or that survived the advent of suppliers’
websites! Sample books, too, are becoming significant sources of decorated paper history.

The final presentation was given by Sidney Berger, faculty member at the School of Information Science, Uni-
versity of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. He and his wife, Michèle Cloonan, are finely attuned to book history
and are also collectors of decorated papers. He described how their travel destinations are often selected by the
papers they hope to collect, and showed some fine examples from their collection.

Kleenex tissues “Classic Foil” carton with licensed

marbled paper design by Faith Harrison, ca.1987
Examples of Jack Townes and Peggy Skycraft’s
Recordkeeping in the exhibition

Pressing Matter Spring 2023 p. 6

More about Blue!
Our Blue exhibit is up at City Hall through July 15th! The exhibit is open 8am to 5pm Monday-
Friday. Visitors should enter at the northeast corner of City Hall in order to go through security. Tell
the guards you are going to see the art exhibit on the second floor. If you can’t make it in person to see
the exhibit, you can also see images of it on the DVC website. You can also find a copy of the artist’s
statements HERE.

Karen, Kristin & Jennifer installing the exhibition. Alice Austin

Eriko Takahashi

Lou Ann DiNallo

The Collaborations/Group projects case Mary Ellen Carsey

Pressing Matter Spring 2023 p. 7