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• Lunchtime Conversation with Allie Alvis

  • When
    27 Aug 2025
  •  
    12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom
  • Spaces left
    22

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  Lunchtime Conversation with Allie Alvis
  
  Wednesday, August 27, 2025 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm
  Zoom

  Registration is Required

  We are delighted to welcome back Allie Alvis, Curator of Special Collections, Winterthur Library, to continue our exploration of color.  Allie curated an exhibition of materials focused on color at the Library titled "That Pleasing Art: Color in Theory and Practice" which featured 400 years of scientific and artistic material, illuminating how humans have interacted with color throughout the centuries.  In this presentation Allie will share artifacts from the exhibition.

  The ZOOM link to this presentation will be sent the day before the event as well as the morning of the event. Registration for non-members will open on July 27th.

  Meet the Presenter Allie Alvis 
  Allie Alvis is Curator of Special Collections at the Winterthur Library. Their research is diverse and far-reaching, and includes publications on the history of rebinding illuminated manuscripts, the reuse of type ornaments in 16th and 17th century England, the work of bookbinders Douglas Cockerell and Son, and the use of arsenical green pigments in bookbinding. Allie is particularly interested in the use of social media for communicating book history, and maintains popular accounts across various platforms as Book Historia. They received their MScs in Material Culture and Book History, and Information Management from the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow respectively, and a BA in Linguistics from the University of Kansas.

  For more information about Allie, visit her Instagram page or website.

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• PSBA Summer Potluck Picnic

  • When
    30 Aug 2025
  •  
    11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
  • Location
    Wapato Park
  • Spaces left
    54

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  PSBA Summer Potluck Picnic
  

  Saturday, August 30, 2025 | 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
  Gathering begins at 11:00 AM | Lunch served at 11:45 AM
  

  Wapato Park, 6500 S. Sheridan Ave., Tacoma WA 98409

  Registration is Required

  This will be a time to share a meal and socialize with your PSBA friends old and new. Bring a potluck dish to share (and serving utensil).

  PSBA will provide drinks, paper cups, plates and plastic ware.

  Optional book arts show and tell: bring something you’ve been working on, a sample from a workshop, a new tool or how-to book you’ve discovered. Nothing precious—we will be outdoors and there will be food and greasy fingers. Nothing to share? Come anyway!

  This event is FREE, but please REGISTER so we'll have a head-count.

  Looking forward to seeing you!

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• Lunchtime Conversation with Pietro Accardi

  • When
    4 Sep 2025
  •  
    12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom
  • Spaces left
    78

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  Lunchtime Conversation with Pietro Accardi
  
  Thursday, September 4, 2025 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm
  Zoom

  Registration is Required

   Many PSBA members have had the opportunity to attend workshops with Pietro and to explore the artistry of paper marbling. During this presentation we will learn more about his work and the art of marbling. which will include continuing our exploration of color combinations. Pietro will share insights into his own application of color theory and effective ways to use color resources to create beautiful combinations of color.

  Meet the Presenter Pietro Accardi
  Pietro is from the Italian city of Turin where his father Gaetano Accardi once operated "Tipografia Accardi," a state of the art printing press. From a young age he assisted his father in the the bustling press.

  Pietro went on to establish "La Legatoria del Sole," his own bookbindery in Turin for 12 years. He worked in Turin restoring and binding books. He also ran his own paper marbling and decorative box making business. In 2006, he met Vanessa, then a University exchange student. They were soon married and she later "imported" him to America. Since then he has offered workshops and presentations on the art of marbling for PSBA, FOBA and countless other groups.

  For more information about Pietro, visit his website.

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• PSBA Q & A

  • When
    6 Sep 2025
  •  
    11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Register

  
  

  
  

  

  PSBA Q & A         September 6, 11:00 am Pacific

  What do you want to know about PSBA?

  What do you want to learn about Book Arts?

  Who would you like to take a workshop from?

  Would you like to teach a workshop or mini-workshop?

  What makes you joyful in your work with book arts?

  Join me on zoom and tell me about yourself and what you are working on and ask questions about PSBA and our work.

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• Introduction to Paper Marbling

  • When
    13 Sep 2025
  •  
    9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
  • Location
    2926 S. Steele St
  • Spaces left
    0

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  Introduction to Paper Marbling

  Saturday, September 13, 2025 | 9:00AM – 4:00PM
  2926 S. Steele St, Tacoma, WA 98409 – 2nd Floor
  

  Registration is Required

  Introduction to the art of marbling will provide students with an understanding of the history, styles, tools and techniques of classical European Marbling.

  • Morning discussion will cover all the foundational elements of Marbling practice: acquisition and proper use of the supplies, (many and varied) including carrageenan, primer, paints, trays, rakes, combs, etc.
    
  • During the discussion each student will also be engaged in the preparatory mixing of the water medium in their own tray.
    
  • Pietro will then demonstrate to the class how Marbling is executed. With helpful instruction on handling paints on the water medium, dealing with known and unknown variables; he will show how to create classical and basic Marbling patterns (as well as spontaneous designs) using a diverse array of rakes and combs.
    
  • Students will have ample time for their own practice and experimentation with personal guidance from Pietro. Each student will have their own tray, set of paints, rakes, combs and paper.
    

  
  Meet the Presenter: Pietro Accardi

  Pietro learned Paper marbling more than 30 years ago in Italy, thanks to a German marbling kit that was donated to him. He is self taught meaning that he has learnt from millions of trials and errors. At that time he had a lot of space in the family printing press to make the first messing experiments. It was love at first sight: when graduating from a bachelor in Graphic Arts the subject of his graduation Thesis was about applying the knowledge of scientific color theory in paper marbling.

  He started using his marbled paper when working with the restoration of books for libraries. Pietro loves to teach and to share his knowledge. He has discovered that ,sharing freely all the “secrets” of the trade, he has learnt, in return, so much from all his students…… and he keeps learning.

  http://www.accardibookarts.com/

  
  

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• Fabric Marbling

  • When
    14 Sep 2025
  •  
    9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
  • Location
    2926 S. Steele St
  • Spaces left
    3

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  Fabric Marbling

  Sunday, September 14, 2025 | 9:00AM – 4:00PM
  2926 S. Steele St, Tacoma, WA 98409 – 2nd Floor
  

  Registration is Required

  Students will learn how to choose the right fabric and how to prepare it for the marbling process. We’ll start learning the most common marbling patterns and print them on paper in order to gain an understanding of the process. I will also teach basic instructions on how to make simple color combinations using the color wheel. When confident, Students will start marbling on fabric. At the end of the class you will have produced 12/15 different unique marbled pieces of cotton and Pima cotton (15”x24”in size). When dry, the marbled fabric will be heat set with hot iron in order to make the paint permanent.

  For quilters, seamstresses, designers, book artists or anyone who will be interested in learning this delicate and fascinating process of marbling textiles.

  
  Meet the Presenter: Pietro Accardi

  Pietro is native to the northwestern Italian city of Turin where his father Gaetano founded and operated a commercial printing press. His youth spent in the press led him to paper marbling, restoration and bookbinding. Pietro in 1997 established “La Legatoria del Sole,” an artisanal and production-oriented bookbindery in Turin. It served Turin’s Municipal Archives, public and university libraries. After coming to the U.S. he started teaching paper and fabric marbling at the “San Francisco Center for the Book” and at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno.

  Together with his wife Vanessa he has founded Accardi Book Arts: a book arts studio and bindery in Gardnerville to follow his passion of marbling fabric/paper and to preserve the tradition of handmade books and boxes.

  http://www.accardibookarts.com/about

  
  

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• Mini-Workshop: Collage Book with Accordion/Tunnel Surprise

  • When
    20 Sep 2025
  •  
    9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom
  • Spaces left
    0

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  Collage Book with Accordion/Tunnel Surprise

  Saturday,  September 20, 2025, 9:00AM–12:00PM (PST)
  via ZOOM

  Registration is Required

  Workshop Fee: $25.00

  Using random ephemera, images and scrap paper we will build an unique structure that houses a folded accordion which when fully opened, reveals a dimensional tunnel attached to the inside back cover. We will collage and paint the covers, the accordion and tunnel. Create a story that carries the viewer from the front cover, to the inside panels and then to the dimensional collage in the back. Work can be based on a theme or a random exploration. Experience making books and working with collage is helpful, but not necessary. All skill levels are welcome.

  Instructor Bio: Rosemary Rae is a creative director/designer, artist, and design educator living in San Diego, CA. A graduate of Moore College of Art & Design and Vermont College of Fine Arts, she currently works as a graphic designer. In addition to designing her unique line of letterpressed greeting cards, she also creates collages and artist books, which have been featured in many juried exhibitions.

  Skill Levels: all levels

  Questions? Contact Belinda Hill @ benjisnewadventure@gmail.com
  

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• Lunchtime Conversation with Karen Kunc

  • When
    23 Oct 2025
  •  
    12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom
  • Spaces left
    69

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  Lunchtime Conversation with Karen Kunc
  
  Thursday, October 23, 2025 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm
  Zoom

  Registration is Required

  We are so pleased to welcome Karen Kunc to our Lunchtime Conversations. Today we will have the opportunity to learn more about her creative practice. Particularly intriguing is her use of colors as a hallmark of her work. Her reflections on color are shared in this online interview:
  (Source: https://www.reflectionsoncolor.com/interviews/karen-kunc)

  “I really believe that colors “speak” to me…..as I look while printing and studying each stage, while seeking for some color sense that seems to be needed….it calls to put something there, to bring that color in, to see something in the next run that responds or reacts to what has already been printed. That is the best state to be in for me, when the colors and the developing image starts to take over and lead me on.”

  Meet the Presenter Karen Kunc
  Karen Kunc is an internationally recognized print and book artist.

  Kunc was born in Omaha, Nebraska. She received her BFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1975, and her MFA from Ohio State University in 1977. She is professor emerita of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she taught since 1983.

  She is recipient of numerous awards and accolades and has exhibited her color woodcut prints and artist books both nationally and internationally. In 2023 many PSBA members were able to see her work up close during the BIMA exhibition: Karen Kunc: Forms and Forces. In 2014 she opened Constellation Studios as a creative work-site for print, paper, and the book, inviting artists for residencies, workshops, collaborations, exhibitions

  For more information about Karen, visit her website or Instagram page.

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• Panel Book Box

  • Start
    25 Oct 2025
  •  
    9:00 AM
  • End
    26 Oct 2025
  •  
    1:00 PM
  • Location
    Studio of Becky Frehse, 2926 South Steele Street
  • Spaces left
    7

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  Panel Book Box 

  Saturday, October 25 | 9:00AM - 4:00PM
  Sunday, October 26 | 10:00AM - 1:00PM
  
  Studio of Becky Frehse | 2926 South Steele St.
  Tacoma, WA

  Registration is Required

  The workshop will explore the panel book structure composed of double boards glued to bookcloth hinges to form stacked double-sided panels that sit on top of a small, lidded box to house small objects. Workshop participants will learn how to assemble the structure without access to a nipping press. Various approaches to covering the boards will be demonstrated.

  
  Meet the Presenter: Elsi Vassdal Ellis

  Elsi Vassdal Ellis retired in June 2017 after 40 years teaching design production and book arts at Western Washington University. As EVE Press she has produced over 148 editions via offset, letterpress and digital printing, and 127 unique books since 1983 in a well-equipped studio. Her work is permanently housed in over 135 collections including the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, San Francisco Public Library Grabhorn Collection, Yale University Library Arts of the Book Collection and The Wiener Library for the Study of Holocaust and Genocide, London, England.

  http://evepress.net

  Additonal Information 

  Tools to be provided by students:
  

  • Metal ruler

  • Cutting mat

  • Snap-off blade knife/X-Acto knife

  • Scissors

  • Bone/teflon folder

  • Glue stick (if adding embellishments to covered boards)

  • PVA and glue brush

  • Medium size binder clips (30)

  
  

  Materials provided by students precut for the workshop:

  • Personal collection of text-weight decorative papers

  14 4.25” squares - either of two colors or more for panels

  1 4" x 13" strip for walls of box

  + Leftover paper to fill the negative space between the turn-ins of covered squares

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• Lunchtime Conversation with Randi Parkhurst: Explorations of Color and Form

  • When
    13 Nov 2025
  •  
    12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom
  • Spaces left
    75

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  Randi Parkhurst: Explorations of Color and Form
  Thursday, November 13, 2025 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm
  

  Zoom

  
  

  Registration is Required

  We are delighted to welcome PSBA member and educator Randi Parkhurst to our ZOOM Lunchtime Conversation series. Randi invites us into her Olympia studio to share her colorful works on paper, including eco prints, gel prints and more. Her papers are used to embellish her handmade books, boxes and intricate constructions. Randi is also beginning her exploration of natural dyes and will showcase this work during her presentation!

  Randi shares her knowledge via teaching art workshops nation-wide. Her work can be viewed at The Evergreen State College Rare Books Library, Penland School of Craft and in numerous private collections, publications and online.

  
  Meet the Presenter Randi Parkhurst
  

  The forms, colors and textures in nature have been a lifelong inspiration for Randi. She combines her hand painted papers, botanical prints and knack for building structures to create interactive art forms. Part boxes, part books, part buildings, her work is intricate and precise, while remaining accessible to the viewer. Her botanical prints are framed or used as material for covering boxes and book covers, notecards and small paper houses. There are often tiny books and other surprises hidden inside her delightful constructions.

  
  

  Randi’s studio is located in Olympia, WA, in an idyllic, park-like setting. It is surrounded by a large garden, lovingly cared for. When making her botanical prints, she need only walk outside her studio door to gather colorful leaves for her compositions.

  ParkhurstPaperArts.com
  Email: Info@parkhurstpaperarts.com

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