In 1987, former Gilpin County Commissioner Gail Watson became interested in printing art books. She met a professor at the University of Denver and an octogenarian woman who inspired her to take up the niche art of using a printing press to make art from books, which made a resurgence in the 80s. She applied for a scholarship under the master apprenticeship program of the Colorado Council on the Arts and Humanities, and she received the opportunity to apprentice under a master printer over a summer. She also received a grant to create her first book and buy her first press.

Fast forward over thirty years to 2021, and she continues to create letterpress books on her presses from the from the 1800s and one-of-a-kind artist books. She is represented by Vamp and Tramp Booksellers and Abecedarian Gallery in Denver. The Gilpin County Public Library is hosting a retrospective of her works, 30 Years + Books, in October & November. She initially planned to host a retrospective show at Denver University in March 2020, the month the COVID pandemic started escalating in the United States. This retrospective has been pushed back several times and is still yet to be hosted. For now, though, Watson is honored that she is able to get a retrospective in Gilpin and have her work supported as a local artist.

The artworks included in the retrospective will include limited edition art books, some of which include text written by her and some of which include text written by others, including a short story by Ursula K. Le Guin. She hopes that the exhibit will increase awareness in the niche of making art out of books and demonstrate her work towards pushing the boundaries as to what is considered a book.

To learn more about Gail Watson’s work, go to her website at gailwatson.art. Her retrospective 30+ Years In Books is currently being hosted in the Gilpin County Public Library, 15131 Highway 119, Black Hawk. While the library is closed until September 27, 2021, due to a COVID outbreak, once the library is open again, visitors can view the retrospective until the first week of December.