Bettina Pauly Bio

Bettina Pauly studied at the Academy of Art University San Francisco in the Book Arts  and Letterpress program under Chris Rolik, Dorothy Yule and Macy Chadwick. In  addition she took classes at the San Francisco Center for the Book, taught by Mary Laird,  Kumi Korf, Julie Chen, Michael Burke, Kitty Maryatt and Shawn Sheehy, amongst others.  

Bettina is living in San Francisco as a book artist/letterpress printer and working as a  letterpress printer with Kim Vanderheiden at Painted Tongue Studios, Oakland, California.  She taught book arts and letterpress classes at the Academy of Art University, including  the summer art experience for High School Students.  

Since 2012 she has been regularly teaching book arts and letterpress workshops at the San  Francisco Center for the Book. In addition to teaching classes at the SFCB she is leading  field trips for elementary, high school and college students.  

She loves books and boxes both as physical objects and as containers of meaning. She is  interested in a variety of folded, sewn and woven structures in which she can incorporate  her printing. 

Bettina is one of the 2016 artists for the small plates edition at the San Francisco Center  for the Book. Her contribution was a pop-up accordion Grimm’s Fairy Tale Theater  Haensel & Gretel. 

Part of Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here she made a broadside and an artist book. In 2016 she was speaking in Portland, OR, at the opening of the Al-Mutanabbi Street  Starts Here Exhibition. 

In 2018 she was invited to a presentation of her own work ‘Next Generations Printers  Showcase’ at the Book Club of California. 

She is on the board of the Hand Bookbinders of California, a member of the Movable  Book Society and the Fine Press Book Association. 

She has been volunteering and/or exhibiting at CODEX international book fair since 2009  

Recent exhibitions: 

2021/22: Finding Common Ground – SFCB – San Francisco, CA 

2021: HBC 49th year exhibition – American Bookbinder Museum – San Francisco, CA  The Illustrated Accordion – Kalamazoo, MI 

Movable Medley – Alicia Bailey – Abecedarian artist’s books – Denver, CO  Content – Nikki Thompson & Adele Shaw – at the Artery in Davis, CA  2020: HBC 48th year exhibition – Arion Press – San Francisco, CA 

retro/introspection moving past into the forward – SFCB – San Francisco, CA 

Her award winning work is included in library collections at: St John’s/Saint Benedict College Minnesota 

Minnesota Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah University of Denver, Colorado  

University of Colorado, Colorado Springs 

San Jose State University, California 

Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia 

University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Nebraska 

University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom 

Cornell University Uris Library, Ithaca, New York 

San Francisco Public Library, Special Collection, San Francisco, California  

Publications: 

500 Handmade Books 

Good Mail Day 

1000 Artists’ Books 

Thread Loves Paper 

Newsletter for the Movable Book Society, Ed Hutchins 

Movable Book Society Cover Interview with Ann Staples, 2015