Artisans of the Valley has in our private collection a hand illuminated parchment by Master Penman Rosemary Buczek, who resides in Milford, NJ operating The Gilded Quill with her husband Steve Buczek. Eric discovered Rosemary through her website last year when on a quest to find the right artist to scribe my Master’s Papers. We now have a family treasure to mark the transition of the title of “Master Craftsman” from Master Craftsman Stanley D. Saperstein to his son Eric M. Saperstein.

We’re working on a solid oak frame to display and protect this heirloom now, and there is a rumor the piece may be making a public debut soon. In any case – this blog is not about us it’s about Rosemary’s achievements so we’ll move on.

Once an artist discovers another artist whose talent not only impresses them but inspirations their own creativity, it is common to become a follower. Eric checks Rosemary’s website regularly, just to see what’s new. At his last visit to her website, he discovered one of Rosemary’s latest creations – The Gettysburg Address.

We’ve just started our Blog – so perhaps we’re not offering you breaking news, but it’s going to be an ongoing practice to present the achievements of artists like Rosemary, and offering our congratulations! This discovery warrant’s such a blog …

Below is an extract from http://www.gildedquill.com/ telling the story behind a spectacular work of art.

“About 18 months ago I took a few weeks to letter, illustrate and illuminate in a small book form “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement C Moore. I worked on 2 full sheets of calf vellum and painted in gouache, watercolor and used 23K gold. I sent my finished pages to John Greenawalt of The Book Arts Conservatory in Washington DC where he and his partner, Stephen Vanilio (http://www.bookarts.us/) create the most amazing handcrafted book bindings and presentation boxes.   To our amazement they sold the small book within 15 minutes of it being offered for sale. The gentleman who purchased the book is a key figure in the preservation of the Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC and that led to the creation of Lincoln’s  Gettysburg Address to be presented to President and Mrs. Obama on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 for the gala celebration of the rededication of Ford’s Theatre in honor of the 200th anniversary  of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. The artwork was created on a piece of calf vellum 16 by 22 inches in size. It was then slipped into a tooled leather folder which was then placed in a tooled leather clam shell box made by Book Arts.” – Rosemary Buczek