This week as her special guest from the arts Ruth Copland is pleased to be interviewing Tom Killion, woodcut and letterpress artist and founder of Quail Press. If you enjoy the interview you can meet Tom in person at Bookshop Santa Cruz on Monday July 13th at 7:30 PM. Born and raised in Mill Valley, California, on the slopes of Mt. Tamalpais, Tom was inspired from an early age to create landscape prints using linoleum and wood, strongly influenced by the traditional Japanese Ukiyo-ë style of Hokusai and Hiroshige. He studied History at UC Santa Cruz, where he was introduced to fine book printing by William Everson and Jack Stauffacher, and in 1975, he produced his first illustrated book on UCSC’s Cowell Press. After traveling extensively in Europe and Africa, Killion returned to Santa Cruz, California in 1977 and founded his own Quail Press, where he published his second book, “Fortress Marin”. Since his first illustrated book in 1975, Tom has continued producing extensively illustrated books including 28 Views of Mount Tamalpais, The Coast of California, and Walls: A Journey Across Three Continents, which draws on his experiences working as administrator of a medical relief program in a camp for Ethiopian refugees in Sudan, and traveling with nationalist rebels in war-torn Eritrea. Along with publishing fine art letterpress books, Tom holds a PhD in African history from Stanford University and has taught at Bowdoin College, Maine and San Francisco State University, in addition to being a Fulbright scholar at Asmara University in Eritrea. He has collaborated with Pulitzer-prize-winning poet Gary Snyder on three books – The High Sierra of California, Tamalpais Walking and the recently released California’s Wild Edge: The Coast in Poetry, History and Prints. Tom is currently working on landscape prints including treescapes, coastal and mountain views at his studio located on Inverness Ridge near Point Reyes, California.
For more info and to hear previous shows visit www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
