Thomas, Peter, 1973-...

Biography

Peter Thomas was born in 1954 in Los Angeles and graduated in 1978 with a major in Aesthetic Studies. Donna (Millar) Thomas was born in 1957 in San Francisco, California, and graduated from the School of Expressive Arts in 1979.

Peter and Donna Thomas established a private press in 1976 and have worked individually and collaboratively on creating books, making paper, letterpress printing and book binding. Their books have been shown in the U.S.A. and abroad and purchased for collections around the world. They printed their first book in 1978 and concentrated on producing "fine press" books for the next ten years in both full size and miniature formats. They have always made the paper, printed and bound the books completely by themselves.

In the late 1980s they began exploring new formats in non-traditional book structures and shaped book objects, as both limited editions and one-of-a-kind books. In 1992 they printed Good Books, a bibliography of their work, listing over fifty titles representing many authors and a wide range of subjects. They have lectured and taught workshops internationally and have published articles on papermaking and other aspects of the book arts. In the early 1990s, they began a project to document the history of papermaking, both at home and abroad. They have published a number of books that document the renaissance of the craft and also made video documentation of traditional hand papermakers in Europe.

In 2005 Peter and Donna published The History of Papermaking in the Philippines, which was the culmination of almost twenty years of work. It began with Peter attending a one-day papermaking workshop in Santa Cruz taught by Nida Dumsang from the Philippines. Upon learning that there was no written history of papermaking in the Philippines, the idea of writing the first history of Filipino papermaking was born. He first visited the Philippines in February of 1990 and gathered various information over the following ten years. The book includes discussions of the pre-historic precursors to paper, including Philippine bark cloth. It contains a survey of the first printed books made in the Philippines and the paper they were printed on. It ends with a chronological history of both commercial and hand paper making in the Philippines up to 2000.

Peter and Donna Thomas received many awards and recognition over the years: In 1997 their binding was given special mention for innovative design in the Helen DeGolyer Triennial Exhibition. A Collection of Paper Samples Handmade in the USA was featured by the Guild of Bookworkers as the set book for a national traveling show titled Paper Bound during 1997-1998. In 1997 the Miniature Book Society presented them with the Norman Forgue Award for their work promoting in the miniature book. In 1998 and 1999, one of their books was chosen for the Distinguished Book Award. In 2001 their binding of James Joyce's Ulysses was awarded the Judges Distinction for Innovation in the Helen DeGolyer Triennial for American Bookbinding, and the Art Museum of Santa Cruz featured their work in a comprehensive show titled Art Undercover .

From the guide to the Peter and Donna Thomas papers on the History of Papermaking in the Philippines, 1980-2005, (University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections.)