Chapter Board

Chapter Chair

Jodee Fenton attends the American Academy of Bookbinding in Fine Binding and is a diploma candidate. She studies with Donald Glaister and the faculty of the Academy. Fenton received her undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Literature from Ripon College. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Chicago in Library and Information Science and a BFA in Painting from the University of Washington. She is a member of Guild of Book Workers, Puget Sound Book Artists and the Book Arts Guild. She served as President and board member of the Book Club of Washington for over a decade. She has been the Head of Special Collections for the Seattle Public Library from which she recently retired to pursue her studio work full time.

www.aubergineatelier.com (to launch in August 2020)

Secretary & Treasurer

Elsi Vassdal Ellis has been a practicing book artist since 1983 beginning with offset printed limited editions focusing on typography. Over the years she diversified her methods and narratives to include letterpress, cloth and digital editions. She has produced 150 editions and 127 unique books with work permanently housed in over 135 collections including the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, Yale University Library, and The Wiener Library for the Study of Holocaust and Genocide. She received a B.S. in Visual Communication Education with a K-12 teaching certificate and a MEd in Industrial Technology Education from Western Washington State College. She holds a PhD in Educational Communication from the University of Washington. Her bookmaking skills have been developed through curiosity and experimentation and lots of workshops. She is a member of the College Book Arts Association, Guild of Book Workers, Puget Sound Book Artists and the Book Arts Guild. She retired in June 2017 after 40 years at Western Washington University teaching design production and occasionally book arts. During her last six years she served as the first chair of the newly formed Department of Design.

Email address: elsi.vassdal-ellis@wwu.edu

Website: www.evepress.net (reserved but not yet up)

Director of Communications & Website

Mel Hewitt is a book artist working her way towards becoming proficient in all aspects of the book arts. Her skills currently lie in traditional and contemporary binding structures and finishing techniques, paper marbling, paste papers, and incorporating letter press, screen printing, and relief printing into her pieces. Mel’s work ranges from utilitarian one-of-a-kind journals to sculptural artist books. She is a board member of Spokane Print and Publishing Center where she also teaches classes on the book arts. You can learn more about her and her work at melismaking.com.

Director of Programs

For Bonnie Thompson Norman books are a passion and a profession. She has been proprietor of The Windowpane Press, a letterpress printing and book arts studio, for over forty years as well as working as a hand bookbinder in a commercial bindery for nearly twenty years. Evenings and weekends, she has taught classes in printing and bookmaking. Her studio has many things found in a traditional print shop and bindery as well as a wonderful library. Works produced at The Windowpane Press reflect concerns about timeless and/or contemporary issues, offering challenging questions, provocative puns and inspiration in the form of broadsides and artist’s books. These pieces are included in institutions and collections throughout the United States and in New Zealand, France and England. 

Email address : InkdArt@gmail.com

Website : www.thewindowpanepress.com