Honesty, integrity and the importance of inner peace.

Marie is a paste paper maker, bookbinder, painter and artist. While studying bookbinding in the mid 1980's, she fell in love with making "paste papers". Many of her art works come from this medium.

Paste papers are decorative papers hand painted using brushes, tools and household gadgets to create designs over a surface covered with a paste and acrylic paints mixture. These works of art, known as "paste papers" were used by bookbinders as early as the 13th century as both cover papers and endpapers. Marie primarily paints onto a 19" x 25" archival printing paper.

Marie Kelzer has enjoyed working with her hands, from working on production lines in factories to creating pieces of artwork in Minnesota where she grew up. In 1982, she worked for a small family-run bindery where interest in bookbinding and the book arts first developed. Aside from being self-taught Marie extensively trained in the traditional family operated binderies, trade commercial library binderies and Academic Institution's Book and Paper Preservation labs. She studied under Anne Kahle in Oakland, California.

She combines her love of painting paste papers with her interest in making and designing hand sewn and bound books. Her limited edition Artist Books come from life's daily reactions and observations of people and events. Beginning with a concept, thought or perception, she imagines the content, style and binding to best communicate visually in the form of a book.

Marie's paste paper designs, framed Art Works, hand bound books and expressive artists' books are exhibited and collected worldwide by private collectors, art and academic institutions such as Otis College of Art and Design, Yale University and the Rhode Island School of Design and are featured in art book publications.

Her finished works are available on Etsy, Imagekind and her website.