Gene Valentine is the proprietor of Almond Tree Press & Paper Mill, where he is the master printer and papermaker. At Almond Tree Press, he is responsible for the editing, design, and production activities for the printing, binding, and publishing of fine limited-edition books and other typographical artwork. As a papermaker, he is especially interested in creating fine papers from fibers derived from native plants in Arizona and New Zealand , including cat claw vines, bottle tree pods, New Zealand flax, and cabbage tree leaves. With The Book Arts Program at the J. Willard Marriott Library, he has demonstrated hand papermaking at the Great Salt Lake Book Festival since its beginning in 1998 using pulp made from blue jean denim as a way of demonstrating the use of recycled cotton fibers. His early work with silk as a papermaking fiber led to the formation of the “Paper Project,” an award-winning web site that presents the results of his research into the interior structure of handmade papers using a scanning laser confocal microscope.

Gene is also Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and History of the Book at Arizona State University in Tempe . For more information, please visit http://paperproject.org.