Peter Koch
The Book as a Work of Art

Events are Free
Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art Supports Arts, Education, and the Humanities for All

2:00—Welcome and Introduction

2:15—Aaron Parrett, Professor of Literature at University of Providence

Peter Koch: Philosopher of Montana

3:15—Robert Trujillo, Stanford University, Associate University Librarian and Director of Special  Collections. Frances and Charles Field Curator of Special Collections 

Peter Koch: The Printer/Artist as Influencer and the Influenced

4:15—Russell Maret, book artist and letter designer working in New York City. Maret’s books and manuscripts are in public and private collections throughout the world. 

Runaway Train: The Work of Peter Koch

5:15—Peter Koch with his wife, paper conservator Susan K Filter, present:

PRINTING IN THE SHADOW OF ALDUS  the making of Watermark : a Venetian adventure 

In 1974 Peter Rutledge Koch founded a letterpress printing office in Missoula, Montana. In 1978 he moved his press to the San Francisco Bay Area — where he continues to work today. In 2005 he co-created the CODEX Foundation to preserve and promote the arts of the book. His books and prints have been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions including: The New York Public Library, The San Francisco Public Library, The Widener Library at Harvard University, Stanford University Library, The Missoula Art Museum, and The Grolier Club in New York.

ROBERTO G. TRUJILLO currently is Associate University Librarian and Director of Special Collections and holds the endowed chair as the Frances & Charles Field Curator of Special Collections at Stanford University. The Department of Special Collections assignment at Stanford includes direction, management, and supervision of the manuscript division, the program for rare books and the book arts collections, the exhibit and publications program, the public services program, and University Archives

"Dr. Aaron Parrett is professor of English at University of Providence and has published widely in many fields, including a essay in Parenthesis on Peter Koch's work called "The MInotaur and the River." He learned letterpress printing from Peter Koch, and founded the Territorial Press in Helena, MT, hailed as "largely a philosophical enterprise." His books include The Translunar Narrative in the Western Tradition, Literary Butte, and Montana Then and Now. "

Russell Maret is a book artist and letter designer working in New York City. He began printing in San Francisco as a teenager before apprenticing with Peter Koch in Berkeley and Firefly Press in Somerville, Massachusetts. He set up his own press at the Center for Book Arts, New York in 1993 and has been printing and publishing ever since. In 1996 Russell began teaching himself to design letterforms, leading to a twelve year study before he completed his first typeface in 2008. In 2009 Russell was awarded the Rome Prize in Design from the American Academy in Rome. In 2011, he began working to convert some of his type designs into new metal typefaces for letterpress. Since then he has produced four metal typefaces, including Hungry Dutch, a new face for Monotype composition casting, as well as multiple suites of metal type ornaments. He has been the printer in residence of the Press in Tuscany Alley, San Francisco (1990); Artist in Residence at the Center for Book Arts, NYC (1996); Printer in Residence at the Bodleian Libraries Bibliographical Press, Oxford (2017); the North American Chair of the Fine Press Book Association; a trustee of the American Printing History Association; and a Master Lecturer in the MFA Book Arts & Printmaking Department of University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Russell’s books and manuscripts are in public and private collections throughout the world.

Susan Filter has worked as a professional conservator for paper materials, both historic

and modern, since 1985.  She received her B.A. in Art History from U.C.L.A., earned a M.A. in Art History and Museum Studies from U.S.C., and a degree in Art Conservation from the Instituto Internazionale D’Arte in Venice, Italy.  She was formerly a Senior Conservator at the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts, a regional conservation center in Philadelphia. Susan has worked with collections from institutions such as the Pennsylvania State Archives, Independence Hall in Philadelphia, The National Park Service, as well as Special Collections in many universities as well as private clients in Italy and the United States.  She has lectured on various paper conservation topics nationally, in Italy, and Australia. Some interesting conservation projects include the parchment Charter from Charles II giving the province of Pennsylvania to William Penn in 1681, John Wilkes Booth’s diary, the Confederate campaign map for the Battle of Gettysburg, and the very rare print by Paul Revere of the Boston Massacre.

 She co-founded The CODEX Foundation in 2005 with Peter Koch and is currently on its Board of Directors.  She has her own publication imprint, Del Million, under Peter Koch Printers and has published various titles including Paris (an abc-darium about people who lived in Paris), A Ore Perse and Scemo Sciopai by Franco Delfino Ferrare (poetry in English and Venetian dialect), Tanger Socco, letters by Paul Bowles to Ira Yaeger, and was instrumental in the publication of Watermark by Joseph Brodsky.