MARIE KELZER DESIGNS
2025 Paste Paper Calendar now out.
To purchase go to Ten Women Gallery located in Santa Monica, CA or buy online. The Paper Legacy Project
Watson Library at The MET, NYC Go to https://sfcb.org/FromtheBench to see video
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Marie Kelzer is a paste paper maker, bookbinder, designer, painter and artist. While studying bookbinding in the mid 1980’s, she fell in love with making "paste papers". She has followed a tried and true paste paper recipe for years. Many of her art works come from this medium.
With her paste paper patterns she creates artist books, binds blank books and makes paper products from covered pencils to paper bouquets and flowers. She has a line of ArtWorks suitable for framing, paste papers for bookbinding and has painted on canvas in the form of floorcloths and placements. Marie’s paste paper designs, hand bound books and expressive artists’ books are exhibited and collected worldwide by private collectors, art and academic institutions including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC where 60 of her papers along with books are in the Watson Library. Her works are sold through shows, Ten Women Gallery on Montana Ave. and Main St. in Santa Monica and online sellers Zazzle and Etsy under the names Marie Kelzer Designs and/or Paper Arts. Her designs are available for licensing and have been reproduced on a number of products. Marie grew up in Minnesota on a dairy farm, lived in North Carolina, Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco; and now resides in Marina Del Rey, California near the ocean breezes and positive ions. Women's Voices-an ongoing series of cards on quotes from women over the years. Available at Ten Women Gallery in Santa Monica. Quotes available on totes too. Montana Ave Store Main St. Store |
ARTIST STATEMENT
"Our past creates our future. Growing up on a family dairy farm in MN gave me many introspective days for thinking and observing. Studying bookbinding and working in commercial binderies gave me the skills and diligence to create an end product. Painting onto paper allows creative endeavors to spring forth. These practices allow me to create art works. I practice the art of painting paste papers which I discovered as a bookbinder. I like to experiment with paper, canvas and collage. I am intrigued by color and tones as patterns in architecture and nature.
Designing, binding books and painting on paper allow me to search for what lies beneath the surface and discover what tugs at my heart. My artist books come from life’s daily reactions and observations of people and events. Beginning with a concept, thought or perception, I imagine the content, style and binding to best communicate visually in the form of a book. The book is an ideal form and vessel with which to carry ideas."
"Our past creates our future. Growing up on a family dairy farm in MN gave me many introspective days for thinking and observing. Studying bookbinding and working in commercial binderies gave me the skills and diligence to create an end product. Painting onto paper allows creative endeavors to spring forth. These practices allow me to create art works. I practice the art of painting paste papers which I discovered as a bookbinder. I like to experiment with paper, canvas and collage. I am intrigued by color and tones as patterns in architecture and nature.
Designing, binding books and painting on paper allow me to search for what lies beneath the surface and discover what tugs at my heart. My artist books come from life’s daily reactions and observations of people and events. Beginning with a concept, thought or perception, I imagine the content, style and binding to best communicate visually in the form of a book. The book is an ideal form and vessel with which to carry ideas."