Shaped Poetry

Bound by Donald Glaister

Shaped Poetry
by Glenn Todd and Andrew Hoyem
Arion Press, San Francisco, CA 1981

Blue Hewit Pentland goatskin binding with recessed panels on front and back covers. Pop up strips of goatskin with title over spine. Onlays of goatskin, snakeskin and laminated Mylar. Sanded leather and acrylic paint. Top edge polished graphite. Paste-downs and flyleaves of cork.

The binding is focused on the shape of writing and mark making, particularly the segmented Mylar laminated painting.

Donald Glaister is a book artist now living and working on Vashon Island Washington, near Seattle. He began his bookbinding career after taking degrees in painting and sculpture from San Jose State College in California, and studying binding privately with Barbara Hiller in San Francisco and Pierre Aufschneider and Roger Arnoult in Paris. His over thirty year professional career in design bookbinding has centered on the exploration, development and use of unexpected binding materials, visual humor and spontaneous visual expression, while working within the classical framework of the European binding form. Beginning in 2002, Don's work expanded to include the design and production of editions of artist's books which include painting, sculpture and poetry that Don has made.

Don has taught binding and design privately and as Professor of Book Arts at The University of Alabama. He currently teaches classes and serves as the Director of Fine Binding at the American Academy of Bookbinding in Telluride, CO.

Don's work appears in private collections throughout North America and Europe, and in institutional collections such as The Library of Congress, The National Gallery of Art, The British Library, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Getty Center, Scripps College, The Lilly Library, The Ruth Mortimer Collection at Smith College, The Bridwell Library, The Houghton Library, The Cornell University Library, The Jaffe Collection at Florida Atlantic University, The Pierpont Morgan Library and The National Library of the Netherlands in The Hague.