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Newsletter
DECEMBER 2025
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Hello Book Artists,
I have been writing a note in the newsletter for the last three years as President of NBG. This is my last note and I wish I had some great words of wisdom or insight. I have immensely enjoyed the last three years working with a great group of volunteers. I absolutely could not have done this job without everyone’s input and support. This guild works because of all of you being willing to show up and do the work of learning from each other. We as a guild have accomplished so much and we are continuing to grow. We have so many great committees who are developing programs and projects, plans for 2026 are underway with new adventures ahead for all of us.
Thank you to all of the board members and the advisory council for your work the past three years. I want to especially thank Laurel Herbeck who kept me in line and focused.
I would like to welcome Rebecca Morse our new guild president and Chris Greenfield-Pastro the new vice-president. I look forward to working with you both and seeing where you take us.
Corlis Taylor,
NBG Past-President
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As I step into the presidency of Northwoods Book Arts Guild, I am thankful and honored
to bring my leadership skills to an organization where I am committed to facilitating us to
move forward with vision and purpose. 2025 has allowed us to develop further our book
making skills and share our work with the larger community in the grandest of ways.
We have an exciting year ahead, and I look forward to working with you and sharing in
that process. Blessings to you all during this season of gratitude, reflection, and
anticipation.
Rebecca Morse,
NBG President
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WINTER SOLSTICE SOIRÉE
Thursday, December 18, 4-7pm
at the NBG Studio
Meet and Greet
hosted by NBG new President & Vice-President
Rebecca Morse & Chris Greenfield-Pastro
Join us for good company and lively conversations as we celebrate the Winter Solstice. Bring spouses/significant others and guests! The Boreal Showcase will be freshly stocked with creations for holiday giving. This will be an opportunity to renew your membership or become a member for 2026. Members may shop at Paper Birches and take advantage of a sale on select items.
Light refreshments will be served.
Sign up for a door prize (you need not be present to win)!
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SAVE THE DATE!
NBG's First Program Meeting of 2026
Saturday, January 31
1-3pm
In-Person!
at the Noel Wein Active Learning Lab
(1215 Cowles St)
This will be a special meeting to introduce
AN EXCITING NEW NBG PROJECT
You won't want to miss it
Look for more information in the January Newsletter
Mark Your calendar now!
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4th Tiny Book Party Appreciations
On behalf of the Northwoods Book Arts Guild, I would like to extend a huge thank you to all of the volunteers and participants that helped make the 4th Annual Tiny Book Party our biggest success yet. With a record 41 attendees, we introduced able to gather in-person to create, catch up friends (old and new), and participate in the ever-popular silent auction.
Katie Sanders did an exemplary job teaching the slot-and-tab structure. The amount of preparation it took to undergo such an endeavor is immense and we are so thankful for her willingness to share her expertise! Everyone made at least one model, and I'm sure our members will be inspired to expand upon the idea and make more in the months to come.
The NBG Advisory Committee outdid themselves again by organizing a fabulous silent auction. Thank you to everyone that donated items. There was a wide array of both useful and unusual offerings this year from decorative paper to homemade jam. An auction is not successful unless members purchase items, so thank you to everyone who contributed to the auction’s success and went home with new treasures.
The real highlight of the auction was the Small & Tiny Book Display, organized by Margo Klass. Friends of NBG from Boston donated 12 books to start the collection and eleven of our own members created books to add to it. Thank you to the following book artists:
Susan Campbell, Chris Greenfield-Pastro, Susheila Khera, Margo Klass, Rebecca Morse,
Oralee Nudson, Sherrill Peterson, Katie Sanders, Pat Sheehan, Stephanie Strandberg, Ashley Thayer.
It takes many people to make an event like this successful⏤ from set-up and take-down to tallying up purchases and processing payments. An additional thank you to Georjean Seeliger for her painstaking work in keeping the paperwork and payments in order! The Tiny Book Party was a wonderful way to close out the year, and we are all excited for what next year’s party will bring.
With a heart full of gratitude,
Ashley Thayer, TBP Coordinator
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Handmade Books: Remember and Invent
NBG Outreach: Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
November 11 and November 13, 2025
A group of tenacious OLLI students created two different accordion structure books. NBG members Vanessa DeWolf and Chris Greenfield-Pastro assisted students as they brainstormed and drafted narratives, created accordion structures, explored collage, and learned more about bookmaking tools and materials. Thanks to the OLLI students and staff for a fantastic experience.
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Girl Scouts Earn Book Artist Badge
NBG Outreach: Farthest North Girl Scout Council
November 3 & November 17, 2025
Members of Girl Scout Troop 187 earned their Book Artist badge after participating in two sessions with NBG members. In early November, Chris Greenfield-Pastro assisted troop members as they made a basic accordion book. In another session, Margo Klass and Rebecca Morse joined Chris as the troop explored Letterlocking techniques. The session concluded with a presentation of a variety of books made by NBG members. Many thanks to Leila Pyle for inviting us to share the art of book making techniques with the troop.
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Books on Books Collection Acquisition
Mechanical Hornbook by Ashley Thayer
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Ashley Thayer’s Mechanical Hornbook (2025) has been acquired by the Books On Books collection curated by Robert Bolick! The work will join the Books on Books Collection at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England. The Fairbanks community enjoyed seeing this book in NBG’s BOOKS AS ART 4 exhibition as part of the Hornbook Collection.
Read the blog entry for a full description, including materials,
terminology for each of its parts, and historical context:
Books on Books: Exploring the History of the Hornbook
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Rumination on Type
Bruce Campbell, NBG Letterpress Master
NBG’s letterpress shop, Northwoods Press, has drawers and drawers of type. Over fifty at last count. Including more than a dozen typefaces, in numerous sizes and fonts. But modern writing has emphasized several characters that are not in our type drawers (cases).
A few years ago, we got together and printed calling cards. Historically, these could be as simple as a single line with one’s name. Today, they could include one’s name, phone, and email. All of which seemed fine, except, sacré bleu, email’s key character is absent from our type cases. Our cases do not include “@.”
I tried a substitute, and it didn’t work. No one understood * was being substituted for the @ symbol. Hmmmpft! Fortunately, Skyline Type Foundry (www.skylinetype.com) offers Collection #6 of symbols including @, #, %, *, /, and ] in multiple type sizes. So now, a future calling card project can go forth at any time, knowing we can include email contact information.
NBG is fortunate to have a fully operational letterpress shop. Integrating “old school” letterpress printing with 21st century needs is a joyful challenge. Northwoods Press opens a breadth of possibilities for NBG artists to incorporate hand-printed type and images into their artist books. I welcome your ideas and queries.
For more information about NBG Letterpress Studio: BRUCE
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UAF 2026 WINTERmester
(Summer Sessions & Lifelong Learning)
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Contemporary Sewing on Cords with Margo Klass
Friday January 9, 6-8:30pm
Saturday January 10, 10am - 4pm
Sunday January 11, 10am - 4pm
In-person at Murie Building, Room 203, UAF Campus
Cost: $225
This workshop explores the historic binding technique of sewing on cords, re-imagned for contemporary bookmaking. Traditionally hidden within the spine, the cords in this variation are intentionally exposed, creating a striking spine. Instead of folded sections, the text block will be built from single pages of richly colored Japanese Momigami paper. Each page incorporates a thread embedded along the spine edge, making it possible to sew single pages across, rather than up and down, the spine. Participants will personalize their elegantly chunky books with content of their own design using collage, stamping, drawing, or writing.
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NORTHWOODS BOOK ARTS GUILD
CALENDAR
NBG Open Studio & Boreal Book Arts Showcase
Every Wednesday, 12-2pm
(Sunday Open Studio hours paused)
No Open Studio Dec 24 & Dec 31
Winter Solstice Soirée
Thursday, December 18, 2025, 4-7pm
at NBG Studio
NBG Letterpress Studio
Letterpress Sessions
By Appointment with Bruce Campbell
NBG SIGS- Special Interest Groups
Coptic Binders Meet Up
Fridays 1-3pm in NBG Studio
December 5, No Meet Up in January
Beginners Cohort
Two Fridays 6-8pm in NBG Studio
January 9 & 23
All Members Welcome. No Materials or Tools needed. Drop-in & free
Email: Vanessa for the month's structure.
NBG JANUARY PROGRAM MEETING
Announcing AN EXCITING NEW NBG PROJECT
Saturday, January 31, 1-3pm
in-person at Noel Wein Library (1215 Cowles St)
Art-O-Mat Location
December
Peony Patch Uprooted (825 First Ave)
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