The 1980s: Expansion and Commercialization (continued)
From a prize-winning rodeo poster to high-end publishing and the archives of the first international meeting of marblers, the objects in this section illustrate the broad scope of activities engaged in by artists who entered the field in the 1980s.
Galen Berry (b. 1952)
MarbleArt, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Galen Berry, active 1987–present, is a self-taught production marbler and proprietor of MarbleArt, a supplier and manufacturer of marbling materials. As an educator, he has taught thousands of students across the country. Here, Berry’s poster design is shown with two related original papers.
Space Marble, undated.
Marbled paper, stone pattern; acrylic on Neenah Texoprint paper.
Marbling in black and day-glow colors, evoking the feeling of deep space is a motif that Galen Berry frequently employs.
Poster for the Eighth Annual Great Plains Regional Rodeo, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, May 28–30, 1993. Color lithography on machine-made paper.
Galen Berry entered a contest to design this annual poster and won a $500 prize. His original artwork was made by three masked layers of marbling on a single sheet of paper—a black stone marble, a blue moiré, and a light combed pattern.
Dragons in the Sky, undated. Marbled paper, Fantasy Moiré pattern; acrylic on Neenah Texoprint paper.
Although it looks very modern, Dragons in the Sky is in fact a traditional Moiré marbling pattern, enlivened by Berry’s unique acrylic color palette.
Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Galen Berry
Claudia Cohen and Barbara Hodgson. Decorating Paper. Pattern and Technique, 2 volumes. Vancouver: H. M. Editions, 2015.
Claudia Cohen, active 1983–present, is an edition bookbinder living in Seattle, Washington, who makes, collects, and publishes books about decorated paper. Her collaboration with Heavenly Monkey Editions dates to 2003. Decorating Paper is an edition of thirty numbered and six A. P. copies. It includes over 600 different paper samples from North America, Europe, and Asia.
Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Friends of the Thomas J. Watson Library Gift
Russell Maret. Character Traits: An Argument for Digitally Drawn Letterforms. Marbled paper by Stephen Pittelkow. New York: Russell Maret, 2019.
Stephen Pittelkow, active 1980–present, is a self-taught marbler, bookbinder, and box maker living in Fort Myers, Florida. He began marbling to enhance his other work but developed into an instructor and production marbler. His clients are mostly hand bookbinders and fine press printers, like Russell Maret, who commissioned 110 sheets of this Spanish pattern paper for the book’s deluxe edition of twenty-three copies.
Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Friends of the Thomas J. Watson Library Gift
First International Marblers’ Gathering poster in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1989.
The First International Marblers’ Gathering, held at St. John’s College, hosted over 250 participants representing twenty-nine states and ten countries. It was sponsored by Ink & Gall and organized by John Coventry, Polly Fox, Dexter Ing, Katherine Loeffler, Diane and Paul Maurer, and Pamela Smith. It included presentations, demonstrations, a sales room, and a juried exhibition held in the New Mexico State Capitol building.
Letter from Richard J. Wolfe to John Coventry, regarding the 1989 First International Marblers’ Gathering.
In this letter, typed on the verso of the writer’s marbled paper, historian Richard J. Wolf repeatedly declines John Coventry’s invitation to speak at the Marblers’ Gathering. He expresses his doubts about the viability of the speakers and the talents of contemporary marblers. Its date shortly precedes the publication of Wolfe’s important book Marbled Paper: Its History and Techniques (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990).
International Marblers Gathering Program. Santa Fe, New Mexico, August 4-7, 1989.
Following its opening, the conference included two days of presentations by fifteen speakers, and a “Foreign Panel” of nine speakers, moderated by Pamela Smith. Phoebe Jane Easton gave the keynote address, “Marbling in the Spirit of the Times.” Other talks included “History of European Marbling," “Pattern and Color Reproduction, Environment and the Marbler,” “Suminagashi and Science,” “Being a Published Marbler,” and “The Business of Marbling.”
Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of John Coventry
Two photographs from the First International Marblers Gathering, Santa Fe, New Mexico. St. John’s College, 1989.
At the end of the first day of the Gathering, attendees met at the college’s tennis courts where they participated in the creation of a massive marbled fabric.
Left: The “Big Marble”
Right: (left to right): Eileen Canning, Richard Longstreet, Ronnie Watkins, Katherine Loeffler, Diane Maurer, Katherine Radcliffe, Jack Townes, and Peggy Skycraft
Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Katherine Radcliffe