Dear members of the AEPM,
In the name of the board of AEPM may I send our warm regards and best wishes for the upcoming year 2021. I’m sure we are all looking forward to an improvement in the current situation on many fronts. And I hope that you will agree with me that not everything has been negative over the last twelve months. One positive aspect of the current situation is to know that, as the AEPM, we are prepared to carry on with our beloved organisation.
To do that we need a board to lead the way, even if we are not always sure that we will be able to keep up to the standards we have become used to over the years. One reason for this lies in the person and personality of Alan Marshall whose former museum in Lyon was one of the AEPM’s founding members. Alan has now retired as chair of the Association. What a pity! And as the person who now has to take on the job, my heartfelt thanks go to Alan. It will be a loss to no longer have him as chair. But it is a comfort that he will continue to be an active member of the AEPM board and will undoubtedly continue to contribute to the development of the Association. A decisive help for his successor.
Our heartfelt thanks also go to Guy Hutsebaut who will be greatly missed. As the most experienced type founder and curator of the Plantin Moretus Museum he did an excellent job as AEPM’s secretary a job which has now been taken on by Zahra Benkass. The board will also be able to count on another new member, Joost Depuydt, who will have particular responsibility for our conference programme. Patrick Goossens, incomparable in his knowledge of printing machinery and related collections, will of course carry on in the demanding position of treasurer – another pillar to guarantee the solidity of the AEPM. And with the considerable experience of the other board members, Joseph Belletante, Robert Clerebaut, Pascal Fulacher and Frédéric Terrier, I am sure we are well equipped to steer the AEPM through the difficult months to come in its chosen task of promoting printing museums in particular and printing and European graphic heritage in general. Further information will follow soon about the programs and current projects which the board are already hard at work on.
Yours most sincerely,
Stefan Soltek
Klingspor Museum, Offenbach, Germany
Current AEPM board members:
Joseph Belletante, Musée de l’Imprimerie et de la Communication Graphique, Lyon (France): partnerships and collaborations.
Zahra Benkass, Atelier-Musée de l’Imprimerie, Malesherbes (France): secretary.
Robert Clerebaut, Brussels (Belgium): membership renewals.
Joost Depuydt, Museum Plantin Moretus Antwerp (Belgium): conference secretary.
Pascal Fulacher, l’Atelier du Livre d’art & de l’Estampe / Imprimerie Nationale Paris (France): publications.
Patrick Goossens, Letter-kunde Antwerp (Belgium): treasurer.
Alan Marshall, Mens (France): webmaster and social media manager.
Stefan Soltek, Klingspor Museum, Offenbach (Germany): chair.
Frédédric Terrier, Les mille univers, Bourges (France): publications.