A fellow bookbinder and mentor connected me to a project for an upcoming career celebration in the broader Iowa City community shortly after I restarted my bindery in 2022. Though curious, I was initially uncertain whether I could take on the work. I attended the planning meeting for the project, and quickly learned the book was intended for the parent of a good friend—much to my delight.

To commemorate Dr. Zabner’s leadership as Director of the UIHC Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Occupational Medicine through the first years of the pandemic, his colleagues compiled messages of thanks into a document they wanted bound into a handmade book. Their charge was that the finished piece reflect the spirit of the celebration in a distinctive manner.

Plotting with Dr. Zabner’s family, I designed a cover that visually bookends the span of his career to date. I chose green as a color associated with medicine and new beginnings, and gold as an expression of celebration and accomplishment. And, to meet the request that the whole set feel substantial, I built a matching fitted clamshell.

2022. Various book cloths and papers, book board, gouache, cotton embroidery floss, and machine-made endbands. Perfect binding and fitted clamshell enclosure. 11⅞” x 9” x 1”