Media Contact: Leanne Ingle, lingle@timberland.lib.wa.us; 360-704-4508, or Christine Peck, Aberdeen Timberland Library Community Librarian, 360-533-2360.

Calligrapher Shari Jobst will present "Saint John’s Bible: The Medieval Meets the 21st Century" at 2 p.m., Sunday, March 23 at the Aberdeen Timberland Library. The program is free of charge and geared to a high school through adult audience. This is the final presentation in the library’s Winter Lecture Series for 2003.

Saint John’s Bible is the first to be written and illustrated entirely by hand since the invention of movable type more than 500 years ago. It is a contemporary work of art being created with medieval techniques. Ms Jobst recently traveled to St. John’s University in Minnesota to witness its making. She will explain how this extraordinary work came to be and describe the process of its creation in Wales while being supported by Saint John's University in Minnesota. She will also discuss how modern technology is being used to support ancient techniques that have proven to last for centuries. And she will share how people can monitor the progress of the project until its projected completion in 2006.

Ms Jobst began studying calligraphy in 1992. She has studied with nationally and internationally recognized calligraphers. Her work has been featured at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle and at Barnes & Noble bookstores and has won several awards. She attended the 22nd International Assembly of Lettering Artists at Saint John's University in June 2002. There she was able to view the completed pages of the Saint John's Bible that were on display during the conference and attend a lecture by a project manager and one of the scribes of the Saint John's Bible.

More information on the project can be found online at www.saintjohnsbible.org. For further information about Jobst’s presentation, call the library at 533-2360.