Chela Metzger BB ’93
I love books as structures. I love them in all their manifestations. The opportunity to work with the mind and hands together, within the world of books, is a dream come true.
The NBSS experience is unique. Two years at the bench in the Bookbinding program taught me to use my mind and hands in a whole new way. I took full advantage of every minute and the level of instruction rewarded my efforts. The bench work was crucial to my development as a bookbinder, and proved an advantage as I moved into conservation.
I realized about a year into the Bookbinding program that I loved the conservation aspects of book work. After graduation from NBSS, I applied for a Kress grant to pursue an internship in rare book conservation at the Library of Congress, as did a classmate of mine. We both got financial support to study in the Library of Congress conservation lab for nine months.
After the internship, I worked as a project conservator at the Huntington Library in Los Angeles for five years which led to an opportunity for a three-month Fulbright in Argentina. I now work at the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation, where I teach and care for their library and archives collection. I am very pleased with my career.
The NBSS experience is unique. Two years at the bench in the Bookbinding program taught me to use my mind and hands in a whole new way. I took full advantage of every minute and the level of instruction rewarded my efforts.
