Co-Directors
Tom Balbo is currently artistic director and founder of Morgan Conservatory. He graduated with a BA from Baldwinn-Wallace university and has a MFA and is a fellow from Syracuse university. Tom is a potter, printmaker and paper maker. His work has been widely exhibited internationally. Teaching paper workshops both western and eastern style along with casting and sculptural techniques has been a mainstay for thirty-five plus years. Tom is currently a board member of Hand Papermaking Magazine.
Brien Beidler the proprietor of Beidler Made, a bookbinding and toolmaking practice centered around making bespoke leather books for book lovers and specialized tools for bookbinders. His book work explores the structure and aesthetics of pre-industrial bindings in a 21st century context, and his toolmaking focuses on the creation of hand-engraved finishing tools. Brien holds an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from the College of Charleston, where he was first introduced to bookbinding in the library’s Special Collections. He was the Director of the Bindery and Conservation Lab at the Charleston Library Society from 2012-2016 before establishing his own practice. Brien often shares his binding and toolmaking through workshops and presentations at various art and craft institutions, and he has taught both nationally and internationally.
Anna Embree is Professor and Coordinator for the MFA in the Book Arts Program in the School of Library and Information Studies at The University of Alabama. She teaches courses and workshops in bookbinding, box making, and special topics in book preservation and book history. Anna has a strong interest in the physical and material aspects of book structures. She has collaborated with printers and papermakers on limited edition handmade books, and has exhibited widely.
Julie Leonard maintains a studio in Iowa City and is Professor of Book Art at The University of Iowa Center for the Book. She is interested in both contemporary and historical forms of the book from traditional and historically based applications to more experimental and artistic possibilities and the intersections to be found between the two. She has bound many editions in collaboration with artist printers and produces her own editioned and unique artist book works.
Matthew Liddle is a book artist and teacher who lives in western North Carolina. His work includes prints and artist’s books that play with language and book structure, explore personal histories, and examine the intersection of human experience with the natural world. Originally from Albany, New York, he received a BA in Visual Studies from Dartmouth College and an MFA in Printmaking/Book Arts from The University of the Arts. He recently retired as a Professor in the School of Art and Design at Western Carolina University, where he taught printmaking and book arts in the undergraduate and MFA programs for over 25 years.
Giselle Simon is the Conservator at the University of Iowa Libraries. Her interest in books, prints and paper began at the Kansas City Art Institute, where she received a BFA in printmaking, and continued through book conservation work at Northwestern University Library. From 2001-2012 she worked at the Newberry Library in Chicago, first as Collections Conservator and then as Director of Conservation Services. She has taught bookbinding and conservation classes at Columbia College Chicago Center for the Book and Paper Arts and collections care courses at the University of Chicago’s Graham School. Her work involves handmade paper, both as a conservation material and printing surface.
Co-director Emeriti
William Drendel
Cathy Hunt
Maria Fredericks
Steve Miller
Jessica Petersn
Pamela Spitzmueller
Eileen Wallace
Founding Co-directors
Timothy Barrett
Gary Frost
Hedi Kyle