PSBA Member SPOTLIGHT
We feature a new member each month. Click here for past member spotlights.
If you would like to nominate a member for a Spotlight feature or would like to participate yourself, please email info@pugetsoundbookartists.org.
LeeAnne campos
The third spotlight in our series of interviews is with LeeAnne Campos, who has quite some experience with the spotlight. At the age of seven she played the role of a Siamese boy in a professional production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “The King and I” in Munich, Germany. And she has been engaged in the arts ever since. On a warm early spring afternoon, we met in her music studio at Pacific Lutheran University where she teaches voice.
—Diane Miller
Q: How did you discover book arts? My first book was made out of foam core and acrylic paint. I cut figures of pine trees, and painted snow on them. It was a Christmas card for my soon to be husband. That was in the ‘80s and I didn’t do anything in that style of art for a long time. I thought I needed someone to show me how. Then in 2016 I started going to Becky Frehse’s class and that’s really where it all came together. I’ve been dabbling with art since grade school. With book arts I’m able to incorporate all the things I’m interested in like calligraphy or painting. Not so long ago I thought I’d never be a painter and then I started painting so it could be part of a book. | 
LeeAnne painting the calligraphy onto an antique canoe newly |
Q: Tell us who has influenced your own artist books.
Becky’s class was the beginning for me and my first reaction was: why didn’t I know about this before? Becky has been a model as an artist and as a guide in introducing me to so many different styles. I’ve been attending every Thursday from 9:30 to11:30 for nine years now.
Another artist whose works inspire me is Suzanne Moore—I love her color and calligraphy. Her work is remarkable, almost intimidating—she’s done what I wish I could do.
My long creative journey has been inspired by music and art teachers, and multiple classical composers, including Gershwin, Puccini, and Brahms. My undergraduate voice teacher at PLU, Barbara Poulshock, was a mentor and wonderful friend. She wrote a series of songs using Emily Dickinson’s poems, and dedicated “Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church” to me. I’ve made several books using that poem.
Q: Well, speaking of PSBA, how did you come to join? Becky pointed the way and I stumbled in. PSBA expanded my view to the possibilities of what a book can be. The people in PSBA are so creative, intelligent, informed, and generous. Q: Tell us about a book that has special meaning to you. The book I entered into this year’s exhibition TRABAJAR LOS CAMPOS (to work the fields) has a lot of meaning, given my last name and heritage. I learned a part of history I didn’t know anything about. In 1942, a deal was signed by Mexico and the United States to alleviate the labor shortage in the U.S. during WWII; the agreement created the Bracero program. Bracero means "one who works with his arms" or field hand. In my book, the hands, green and brown, are rough from harvesting. The coarse twine binds vegetables, fruits, and this book. Gray, homesick figures toil from south to north; jolly tiles evoke the colors of home and family. |  |
Q: Tell us about your workspace—where you make your books.
I always have a mess on the dining room table! There’s always a project in some stage of completion. It’s always been like this for me. And I store my supplies and works-in-progress in an old dresser next to the table, and an old silver cabinet.
Q: After all the work you’ve shown me, I see you are a musician, a painter, a book artist, a potter—so, now what is your next project?
I’ve gotten into negative painting. It’s the coolest darn thing—it’s where you take a piece of paper and you draw a background or surroundings of an object, leaving the object itself as a lighter or brighter area. The cover of TRABAJAR LOS CAMPOS is negative painting.
Just a few months ago I tried my friend’s pottery wheel. I had no clue how difficult it was.
I think my next project begins with tubs of F. Carlton Ball pottery beads a friend gave me. There are hundreds and hundreds of beads. My challenge is to figure out how to make them into a book.
Q: If you could invite five people to dinner—from the present or the past—who would they be?
I had to think about this for a bit and then decided to divide the men and women because the conversation would be so different. The women’s table: Emily Dickinson (of course), Pauline Viardot, Clara Schumann, Elly Ameling, and Jane Austen. The men’s table: Arthur Yenk (my grandfather), George Gershwin, Francis Poulenc, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Claude Monet. I’d love to hear a conversation with my grandfather, who was also a composer, and George Gershwin.
Q: Given the list of people at your dinner table, tell us how music fits in your life?
It’s a very important component of my life especially my work with the Bremerton Symphony Chorale. I’ve been its music director for 21 years. I prepare the singers for stand-alone performances, and concerts with the Bremerton WestSound Symphony. The works have included Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the Mozart Requiem, and the Poulenc Gloria which I conducted with orchestra at our 2024 Christmas concert.
Q: Describe your perfect day.
Gardening with my children. Yesterday we went to the garden shop and spent over two hours just walking around, looking and picking out plants. We came home to plant the veggies—we’re going to be urban farmers.
Q: This might be the time to ask you if you have a work motto.
From Emily Dickinson “I’m going all along…”