Jamie Thome received her MFA in Interdisciplinary Book & Paper Arts at Columbia College Chicago. She spent a year in the mentorship program for emerging women artists at Artemisia Gallery in Chicago. Her work has been shown throughout the country, and is in collections at the Harold Washington Special Collections Library in Chicago, the Newberry Library in Chicago, Evanston Public Library, and the New York Center for the Book, among other institutions. She works primarily with artist’s books, collage, and installation.  

Thome was a founding member of the now defunct Vespine Gallery in Pilsen, was previously on the board of Cherry Preschool, and was a founding board member of Artists Book House. She is an active member of Evanston Made in Evanston IL. Thome received the Excellence in Needlework Award at the 2001 Fiber Focus exhibition in St. Louis, and has had several artist residencies at Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest IL.

As a master teaching artist, Thome visits the public schools to integrate the arts into the classroom curriculum and provides professional development for teachers to envelop visual and poetic arts into their classrooms. She works with Art Encounter, Evanston Made, and the Evanston Art Center. Thome also works at the Evanston Public Library as a teaching artist and a substitute library assistant.

Trish Shepard lives in Aspen, Colorado. Her passion project is a vintage nomadic VW Bus bookshop: Read With Moxie.  A purveyor of used books, one-of-a-kind handbound journals, letterpress printed ephemera, typewriter poetry and soft sculptures. She is the Business and Operations Manager at The Buddy Program, a local mentoring nonprofit. She has lived in Aspen for 16  years and has helped manage The Red Brick Center for the Arts. As the former Base Camp Director at the Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club she built a relationship with many local families. While working at Anderson Ranch Arts Center she was part of the Development Team and planned their Annual Summer Art Auction and Recognition Dinner.

Before arriving in Aspen, Trish was a was a development and membership manager at Columbia College Book and Paper Arts Center, Dartmouth College, The Montshire Museum of Science and The Mohonk Preserve. She studied bookbinding, papermaking and letterpress and loves knitting cozy pairs of socks. Trish holds a BA in Art History from Bates College and an MA in Arts Administration at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.