JOE D'AMBROSIO
A Biography
Since 1969, over thirty years ago, Joe D'Ambrosio has worked as an artist within the book medium. He writes the text, sets type, prints letterpress, designs, does the artwork, and binds the work. Sometimes he even makes the paper. The book becomes a total work of art combining many spectrums of fine art and book mediums. His editions are signed and numbered and issued similar to limited edition fine art prints. In more than thirty years he has produced over ninety different titles. His Memoirs of Book Design 1969-2000, is currently published by the Book Club of California (1-800-869-7656). In February of 2005 he was awarded the Club's Oscar Lewis Award for his contributions to the book arts.
He was born in Chicago in 1934, grew up in the suburb of Melrose Park, and in 1969 began his work in the nearby suburb of Maywood after having attended The American Academy of Art first, and then The Illinois Institute of Technology. The first to become an artist, and the second to become an electrical engineer. He moved to Evanston for a time and then returned to Chicago to work with Gordon Heuter, a paper conservator from the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1979 he moved to the Southwest and Sherman Oaks in Southern California. In 1994 he moved to the Phoenix area where he published the newsletter, Artists' Books Reviews.
Joe D'Ambrosio has exhibited in many one-man and group exhibitions, and his works are in many private and institutional collections, including the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and the Huntington Library in San Marino, California.
His archives are located at the California State Library in Sacramento. He gives creative bookbinding workshops, and an illustrated lecture to interested book and artist groups. His lecture not only includes colored slides of many of his works, but also illustrates how he creates them completely by hand.
In 1992, after three years of work, his terrazzo floor design of a rosette of letters emanating from a central point was installed in the rotunda of the new California State Library building in Sacramento.
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