FOREWORD
The Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum is the only museum dedicated to wood type preservation, study, production and printing. With over 1.5 million pieces of wood type and blocks, and more than 1,000 styles and pattern sizes, the Hamilton collection is one of the world’s premier wood type collections. Hamilton is a working museum that provides educational opportunities, field trips and workshops, and offers opportunities for artists, printers, historians and other scholars to experience this vast wood type collection. Our mission is to advance the understanding of our printing and design heritage by documenting, archiving and reproducing the history and images of American letterpress printing. Our premier collection of printing type, engravings, prints and equipment support scholarship and education at all levels by preserving through use, research and demonstration. For more information visit our website at www.woodtype.org. Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum 1816 10th Street Two Rivers, Wisconsin 54241 920-794-6272
2
3
Jennifer Farrell, SS United States, page 45
Jenny & Jeff Wilkson, WILXBLOX mandala, page 97
4
Lucas Hennessey, Masking Tape, page 54
introduction New Impressions is an international juried exhibition to showcase exploration and creativity with letterpress printing techniques. This call attracted 200 diverse entries from around the globe. The final 49 works on display are from artists in Brazil, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, and the United States. This is the sixth year of the New Impressions exhibition and it was juried by Stephen Coles, Editorial Director & Associate Curator at Letterform Archive; Brenda McManus, co-founder of BRED Letterpress and Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Pace University–NYC; and Claudio Rocha, graphic artist, type designer, typographer, and a founding partner of Oficina Tipográfica de São Paulo. The letterpress printed exhibition poster and cover of this catalog was collaboratively designed by Nick Larson and Stephanie Carpenter. The catalog was also designed by Nick. You can purchase the poster, this catalog, and work from the exhbition online at https:// woodtype.org/collections/all/new-impressions. The exhibition is on display at the museum and online from July 14–September 30, 2020. There is an online Zoom reception for the show on Saturday, September 5, starting at 12noon Central. For more information please visit our website at https://woodtype.org/ blogs/events/new-impressions-2020.
5
jurors Stephen Coles - Stephen Coles is Editorial Director & Associate Curator at Letterform Archive, a nonprofit center in San Francisco with an extensive collection of letterpress printed design. He wrote the book The Anatomy of Type, and he co-founded Fonts In Use and Typographica, online resources that embody his passion for the creation and use of type. Brenda McManus - Brenda McManus is the co-founder of BRED Letterpress as well as an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design in the Art Department at Pace University–NYC. Brenda’s research encompasses typography, integrating antiquated and contemporary technology and methods of making and collaborative design processes. Brenda received her MS and MFA from Pratt Institute’s Graduate Communication Design Program and has experience in design research, design management, art direction, design writing and a passion for typography. Claudio Rocha - Claudio Rocha, graphic artist and typographer, was born in São Paulo in 1957. He is a founding partner of OTSP – Oficina Tipográfica de São Paulo, one of the contemporary references when it comes to letterpress. He is also a type designer (from the digital foundry NowType) and has authored some fonts of the ITC - International Typeface Corporation catalog. He is author of some books on typography and co-editor of the Brazilian magazine Tupigrafia, dedicated to typography and calligraphy. He lived (and occasionally still lives …) in Italy, where he is a regular contributor to the Tipoteca Italiana Fondazione (a Mecca of letterpress) and was co-editor of its magazine Tipoitalia. In 2019, Claudio took part of the Letterpress Workers summit, in Milan, and also went to the Azores archipelago, where he gave a lecture and conducted a workshop at TIPO – A Meeting of Letterpress Printers.
6
Marcos Mello, REC, an experimental dialogue with David Carson, page 70
Erin Beckloff, Star Cluster, page 25
Thomas Mayo & Co, HELLO!, page 69
7
Jessica Spring, Game of Love, page 89
JustAJar Design Press, Bagley the Fiddler, page 58
8
Gabriel Miranda, Tupigrafia 12 Poster, page 77
jurors’ statement As someone whose time the typographic sphere has been primarily digital, the entries that impressed me most were those that fully celebrated printing, in all its tactile, analog, imperfectly perfect wonder. This manifested itself in sheer mastery of the craft, or in the inventive use of technique and materials, such as masking tape or espadrilles. In fact, while there many fine typographic examples among our selections, it was the espadrilles that surprised me, proving that someone who is totally obsessed with type can get knocked off his feet by a piece that is much more graphic than typo. Stephen Coles Editorial Director & Associate Curator Letterform Archive
9
jurors’ statement Thinking about the jury’s task for the New Impressions exhibition, everybody would agree that contemplating a letterpress work but visible only on a screen, instead of seeing it, touching and even smelling it, is not the same. Accepting the responsibility of giving a judicious opinion on both technique and communicative qualities of works from a distance (understandable in this case, of course), was facilitated by the accompanying descriptions provided by the authors with each entry and as well as extra images, mostly concerning production processes. Furthermore, having some previous experience as typographer and letterpress worker helped me to perceive the creative process connected to the technical ingenuity of works produced by passionate and skilled graphic artists. Despite the diversity of approaches, the entries often shared the same tools and resources, both old and new: paper, ink, brayer, proofing presses or printing presses, blocks and… type! And yet in each case the printed outcome — from commercial jobs to woodcuts or linoleum prints — embodied unique personality. In essence, these works were done with visual vocabularies enhanced by the peculiarities of letterpress. Indeed, it was marvelous to see the images of all works (almost 200) prior to the selection for the show. Exchanging opinions with my colleagues on the jury on this representative set from printing and proofing presses from several workshops worldwide, gave me the opportunity to better grasp the state of the art of letterpress in our times. All things considered, I would like to emphasize the importance of this exhibition curated by the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum. Claudio Rocha Founding Partner of OTSP – Oficina Tipográfica de São Paulo
10
Ebe Babini, Abbecedario Tipografico, page 18
Ingrid Ankerson, Untitled, page 14
Laura Bentley, Junction No. 2, page 26
11
Theo Miller, This Green Unpleasant Land, page 74
JosĂŠ Luis Lanzagorta, 6th Anniversary P-109, page 65
12
Matthias Beck & Lars Petter Amundsen, +++, page 22
jurors’ statement It was an honor to serve as a judge for this year’s New Impressions exhibition, a show that promotes such a wealth of expertly-crafted, innovative, inspiring, and creative work. Having the opportunity to peek behind the curtain to explore the vast range of dynamic artists and designers who are creating such vibrant work while tackling such an array of concepts, issues, and techniques was a priceless opportunity. I am even more inspired and motivated than ever, and I applaud every individual who shared their work—the field of submissions was rich and competitive. I implore our community to continue to push the boundaries of letterpress printing with equal vigor in exploring ideas, methodologies, motivations, and content as the visual impact, new forms of messaging, and image-making are endless. A sincere thank you to everyone at Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum for this opportunity to engage with this impressive work and participate in such a thoughtful and passionate discussion with my fellow jurors about this powerful body of work. Congratulations to all of New Impressions 2020 participants and winners. Keep pressing forward! (had to squeeze in one pun) Brenda McManus BRED Letterpress Pace University Art Department, New York City
13
Untitled
12 x 18 in Letterpress NFS 14
Ingrid Ankerson YPSILANTI, mi
Artist Biography Ingrid Ankerson teaches graphic design at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Description of Process Inspired by typewriter art and geometric forms, I’m interested in exploring texture, pattern, shapes, and shadows with hand-set type. This piece is one form of Bembo 14pt e’s and c’s that I moved down the page three times. It is printed on a Vandercook #4 at Penland School of Crafts.
@ingrid_ankerson 15
Lynne Avadenka Huntington Woods, mi
Artist Biography Lynne Avadenka is an American artist/printmaker. She is known for her works that explore text and image, the physical and philosophical idea of the book, and the mystery and beauty of visual language. Among her awards are a 2009 Kresge Arts in Detroit Fellowship and individual artist grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. Avadenka has been active in the Detroit arts community since receiving her MFA from Wayne State University in 1981 and in 2013 she was named director of Signal-Return, a Detroit nonprofit letterpress print shop and community arts center. Avadenka’s art is exhibited and collected internationally, including The Barbican Center, London; The British Library, London; The Detroit Institute of Arts; The Jewish Museum, New York; The Israel Museum, Jerusalem; The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; The New York Public Library; The Meermano Museum, The Hague, The Netherlands; OCT Art & Design Gallery, Shenzhen, China; The Watson Library at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Description of Process For many years I have designed prints to celebrate the secular and the Jewish New Year. This print welcomes the year 5780 of the Jewish Calendar.
lynneavadenka.com 16
5780
8 x 8 in Letterpress From Wood and Metal Types NFS 17
Abbecedario Tipografico 19.68 x 27.55 in Letterpress NFS 18
Ebe Babini Officina Typo | modena, italy
Artist Biography I work with movable type in Officina Typo, Italy. I designed little books with simple stories for young and old. I love Bruno Munari and children publishing. I have two cats, a kid and a typographic blackbird. Officina Typo is an handicraft printshop and we want to preserve letterpress print with movable type and manual presses. Old machines for modern design! Officina Typo produces handmade books, poster and games in limited edition.
Description of Process Totally typographical abc poster, because in addition to the letters of the alphabet, all the figures are also involved with alphanumeric elements and are all to be discovered. Alphabet composed with Triennale wood type. Printed on Korrex proof press. Shiro Tree free Favini paper 200g. Limited edition of 50 copies.
officinatypo.it
@officinatypo 19
Frank Baseman Base Press | Jenkintown, pa
Artist Biography Frank Baseman is the Proprietor and Letterpress Printer of Base Press. The work of Base Press has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions and is included in the permanent collections of the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum, Two Rivers, Wisconsin; the Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography at the Cooper Union, New York; the Print and Picture Collection of the Free Library of Philadelphia; and Tipoteca Italiana Fondazione, Cornuda, Italy. Frank Baseman is also the Creative Director and Principal of Baseman Design Associates, an award-winning interdisciplinary Graphic Design firm, and Professor in the Graphic Design Communication program at Thomas Jefferson University, where he has taught since 1998. The work of Base Press and Baseman Design Associates has received recognition from numerous national and international communication organizations, design exhibitions and publications.
Description of Process I was invited by the University & College Designers Association (UCDA) to design a piece to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the organization, so naturally I thought of making a letterpress print. Working with lasercut states of all 50 states from Moore Wood Type, I created a collage of all of the states (including the District of Columbia; not to scale and not geographically accurate). Enjoying the randomness of the overlapping of the shapes and the colors. Small type of the states names was printed with handset metal type.
basepress.co 20
@basepress
50 States
13 x 20 in Letterpress $50 21
+++
13.8 x 19.7 in Letterpress with plexiglass and fiberglass mesh $50 22
Matthias Beck & Lars Petter Amundsen Tipos en su tinta | Santa Cruz de Tenerife, spain
Artist Biography Norwegian graphic designer Lars Amundsen and German graphic designer Matthias Beck teamed up in 2014 to create the only letterpress workshop in the Canary Islands. Tipos en su tinta as it is called, is a totally manual letterpress workshop and most of the printing tools have been rescued from old print workshops on the island where they both have lived for almost 15 years. Apart from designing and printing limited edition prints, Tipos en su tinta offer creative workshops to the local residents and also to European tourists not only seeking the sun but also a taste of the local culture in Tenerife.
Description of Process This work is part of an experimental series with leftover plexiglas laser cutouts from another design project and fiberglass mesh used in construction applications. While playing around with the triangle shapes as part of a modular system to create illustrations I got curious about the possibility of creating isometric shapes with them. I came up with this triple-plus-3D-shape realized by overprinting the same shape in two colors rotating it 120 degrees. The layer of fiberglass mesh creates an interesting texture, especially in the overprinted areas, giving the solid shape at a closer look, a somehow lightweight and inmaterial character. tiposensutinta.com
@tiposensutinta 23
Erin Beckloff Springboro, OH
Artist Biography Erin Beckloff is a letterpress printer, designer, educator, and filmmaker who preserves anecdotal and technical knowledge of printing history and culture. Her research explores letterpress community’s expansiveness through time and how the letterpress printing process will survive through educating others in the craft. She is the co-director and writer of “Pressing On: The Letterpress Film,” a documentary about the survival of letterpress and the remarkable printers who preserve the history and knowledge of the craft. Beckloff has presented at Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum Wayzgoose conferences; ATypI Antwerp; UCDA Educator’s Summit; College Book Art Association Conferences; Type@ Cooper in New York; as well as taught workshops and lectured at universities across the US and UK. She serves as an Assistant Professor of Communication Design at Miami University and holds an MFA in Graphic Design from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Description of Process Star Cluster represents the idea that history is a web of connections between people through time. The multigenerational letterpress community’s expansiveness through time is like a gravitationally bound star cluster. Referencing a NASA photograph of a star cluster (globular cluster NGC 1898), I created the composition in Adobe Illustrator from scans of my type collection to figure out the correct density. The print was created with metal rule cut and spaced to create long curves; wood type including texture dots from Moore Wood Type; and metal circles/ornaments. The blue to brown layers were inked in a split fountain and rotated 90 degrees for four overlapping impressions. The red type, Greeting Monotone, was set with Daredevil Furniture and a hose clamp to secure the circle. @ebecks 24
Star Cluster
10 x 10 in Letterpress, Wood Type, Metal Type and Rule NFS 25
Junction No. 2
11 x 14 in Letterpress and Relief Printing NFS 26
Laura Bentley Pinwheel Press | seattle, wa
Artist Biography Laura Bentley is proprietor of Pinwheel Press in Seattle where she produces social stationery and limited edition prints. She enjoys the focus on process and attention to detail that letterpress printing demands. Her passion is printing with handset type whether printing in her own studio or assisting with classes at the School of Visual Concepts. Only partially joking, Laura feels like a childhood filled with drawing, Legos, and the Milton Bradley game Operation have prepared her well for the world of letterpress printing. She has been experimenting with creating printing plates from everyday objects, and her current focus is using these plates and ornamental type to create pattern and illustrations.
Description of Process Prints from the “Junction� series are printed from the reverse side of old wood type, wood type shapes, old clock gears, and 20th century metal type. These particular objects were all chosen ahead of printing but with no set plans for composition. Each pass was put to paper in response to what was previously printed, resulting in a series of small editions of prints. All six passes were printed using a Vandercook SP-15 proof press. All the objects show unique textures from their own manufacturing process, while older artifacts also show worn edges and dents from years of use. Metal type numbers and arrows hint at diagrams and engineering plans that would have been used during the manufacturing processes. The addition of the old clock gear is nod to the passage of time that has taken its toll on all of these objects. The resulting image is a modern composition of timeworn industrial artifacts.
pinwheelpress.net
@pinwheel_press
@PinwheelPressLetterpress 27
Mary Bruno St. Joseph, mn
Artist Biography Mary grew up in a small town in Central Minnesota, she is a printer and learned her love of printing from her Design professor father Don Bruno. Since his passing in 2003 she has taken over his small letterpress print shop in St. Joseph, Minnesota and expanded, both physically and figuratively. Mary has an irreverent line of greeting cards and more that is sold nationwide and she teaches the old school tradition of letterpress printing the way her father taught her. She organizes international traveling art exhibitions with printers all over the world. She carves linoleum and hand sets wood and lead type to make posters, broadsides, and anything that she comes up with. Mary is a community go-getter and loves to collaborate with other printers, poets, musicians, kids, other designers, you name it. Printing her designs is what feeds her soul along with travel and meeting new people.
Description of Process I started with a photo taken by a local photographer and transferred the image onto a 12X18� lino block. I did a seven color reduction process for this print meaning that I carved the first layer and printed the first color then took the block out of the press and carved away more of the block and printed the next darker color and so on for seven layers. This print also included 2 layers of hand-inking to achieve this “painting� looking print.
mcbrunopress.com 28
@brunopress
@Bruno_Press
Yellow Rumped Warbler
13 x 18 in Reduction Linoleum Block Print $300 29
I Shall Tell You How This Will Work Out 12.75 x 11.25 in Printed Letterpress from Linoleum and Polymer Plates NFS 30
Sarah Bryant Big Jump Press | Tuscaloosa, al
Artist Biography Sarah Bryant produces artist books and prints under the name Big Jump Press. Her work can be found in dozens of collections including The Yale Arts Library, The Library of Congress, The New York Public Library, and The Darling Bio-medical Library at UCLA. She is currently an Assistant Professor for the MFA Book Arts Program in the School of Library and Information Studies at The University of Alabama.
Description of Process “I Shall Tell You How This Will Work Out” was produced simultaneously with the artist book The Radiant Republic. Letterpress printed from linoleum and polymer plates on Rives Heavyweight Buff paper. The text in this print was gathered from Plato’s Republic and Le Corbusier’s Radiant City. Printed in an edition of 8 in 2018.
bigjumppress.com
@bigjumppress 31
cabaret typographie milano, italy
Artist Biography Cabaret Typographie is a letterpress workshop based in Milan. A handicraft studio with an experimental attitude, a true passion for graphic design and a fascination for fonts. The 3 members of the team are enthusiast graphic designers.
Description of Process A poster to celebrate Futurism. Based on the book by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti it is a typographic interpretation of “Zang Tumb Tumb�. Each piece of letter was laser cut from plywood. The 2 colors poster was printed by Tipoteca Italiana Fondazione.
www.cabarettypographie.com 32
@cabaret_typographie
@cabaret.typographie
Zang Tumb Tumb
27.55 x 19.7 in Lasercut Letterpress NFS 33
Poesia
12 x 12 in Letterpress $30 34
neldubbiostampo Paolo Celotto | Treviso, italy
Artist Biography Paolo Celotto, graphic designer since 1998. He immediately combines professional companies collaboration and his interest in publishing and letterpress production. In 2002 he met Tipoteca Italiana Foundation, immediately fell in love with the world of letterpress printing in movable type and he decides to print the precious Valcucine calendar directly in the Tipoteca. In 2012, after some courses in metal and wood typeface typography, he decided to create himself a typographical workshop in his own studio recovering materials from all over Italy. This is how the adventure of his own letterpress workshop begins. It is called neldubbiostampo-tipografia filopoetica, there he produces limited edition booklets and artefacts in letterpress: pagineotto poems, short stories and much more, their theme is the world of letters, types and words; versi imberbi with toddler sentences mixed with their original drawings; and giacomelli libretti which combine poetry, photography and typography. The study and production of posters, cards and notebooks continues using different techniques and combining digital and letterpress printing. In October 2015 he was invited to participate to the Bibliofili Affamati Forum in Gubbio where he exhibited his pagineotto. Since 2017 he has been taking part in the annual international meeting Letterpress Workers in Milan.
Description of Process
“La poesia è parola di piombo leggera come panno stesoâ€? - Poetry is a lead word, light as a spread cloth. The spaces between words are printed using the foot of various characters. Poster composed with Bodoni metal type, printed in one color on cotton paper handmade in Magnani Pescia, limited edition of 8 numbered copies.
@neldubbiostampo 35
Macy Chadwick Petaluma, CA
Artist Biography Macy Chadwick received an MFA in Book Arts and Printmaking from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and assisted book artist Julie Chen at Flying Fish Press in Berkeley for three years. After fifteen years of teaching at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco Art Institute, and San Francisco Center for the Book, Macy moved up to Petaluma, California, where she is the founder and director of In Cahoots Residency. The residency provides housing and studio space to both emerging and professional artists with a focus on artists books, letterpress, printmaking, writing, and collaboration. Macy continues to create books and limited edition prints in her letterpress studio and her work is in prominent collections in the U.S. and abroad, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, Yale University Special Collections, and the Jack Ginsberg Collection in South Africa.
Description of Process Printed on the letterpress with linoleum and polymer plates on Rives Heavyweight paper. A page from the artists book, Meanwhile. With quotes from A Thousand and One Nights, Meanwhile celebrates the importance of stories over time and across cultures. A series of organic imagery flows from page to page, overlapping and echoing the quality of A Thousand and One Nights as one story leads to another and another. The quoted text is set in shaped text blocks and clusters of letters, like flocks of birds floating amidst the shapes. A few larger lines of text per page guide the viewer through the book, describing Sheherazade’s experience of telling stories and, as a result, saving herself from execution by the King. macychadwick.com 36
@in_cahoots_press
Telleth the Tale
20 x 10 in Linoleum, Polymer Plates, Printed on the Letterpress NFS 37
Double Dagger Issue 3 + Poster 12 x 19 in Letterpress NFS 38
Double Dagger Nick Loaring & Pat Randle | Cheltenham, UK Artist Biography Double Dagger is a 16pp broadsheet printed by letterpress on a Heidelberg SBB Cylinder Press using type that has been cast on a Monotype Composition Caster. Each issue takes us on a journey through the work of printers and artists who are pushing at the boundaries of what it means to print letterpress in the digital age.
Description of Process Double Dagger 3 is a 16 page newspaper which has been printed entirely by letterpress on a 1970s Heidelberg SBB Cylinder from hot-metal type, linocuts, hand-set metal & wood type, laser-cut plastic and wood, litho blankets and ball bearings. We believe the page of letterpress printed text from hot-metal type to be unrivalled for the crispness of impression, the quality of its typefaces and for that illusive third dimension that is completely lacking in much of today's printing. The depth of colour, touch and even smell offer something completely different in today's world of print. Shown here is Issue 3 & it’s accompanying poster featuring the work of Beth Forrester, Dimitri Runkkari, Ellen Bills, Falk Schwalbe, Hannes Hirche, Jo Sweeting, Nick Loaring, Pat Randle, Rory Menage & Vincent de Boer.
doubledagger.co
@doubledggerz 39
Tyler English chicago, il
Artist Biography I’m a multi-disciplinary designer living & working in Chicago. Not long after I had graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where I was first introduced to & fell in love with letterpress printing, I was offered the chance to be given a Chandler & Price platen press. While I had never used anything but a Vandercook cylinder press, I threw myself into it and have been building up a mini studio practice by the name of Ulterior Press.
Description of Process These days I find it’s important not to mince words, and the punk band The Dead Kennedys said it best. Wood type printed on Speckletone French paper. The splatter was achieved using loosened ink and a tooth brush.
ulteriorpress.com 40
@ulteriorpress
Nazi Punkz 8.5 x 11 in Letterpress $30 41
Letterpress Printing Terms 21.46 x 31.03 in Letterpress NFS 42
Jack Halten Fahnestock Providence, ri
Artist Biography Jack Halten Fahnestock (B. 1995, North Carolina, USA) is a RISD Class of 2020 artist, designer, and entrepreneur currently pursuing a solo design practice in Providence, RI. With a focus on lettering and typography he explores a variety of mediums—both physical and digital—often working on projects emphasizing accessibility, DIY construction, and regeneration.
Description of Process Using a brayer and wood type, I manually inked up and hand-pressed each letter, one-byone, working from the edges of the paper inwards. The composition of each word as well as the overall body of words was completely improvised. Referencing a glossary of letterpress printing terms I pressed a subset of what I thought were more commonly used. The poster was made in 2018 as an edition of 1.
jackf.me
@jckfa 43
jennifer Farrell chicago, il
Artist Biography Since 1999, Jennifer Farrell has operated Starshaped Press in Chicago, focusing on printing everything from business cards to posters, as well as custom commissions, wholesale ephemera and limited edition prints & books. All work in the studio is done with metal and wood type, making Starshaped one of the few presses in the country producing commercial work while preserving antique type and related print materials. Jennifer’s work has been repeatedly recognized in books, magazines and design blogs, and has appeared in poster shows throughout the USA and Europe.
Description of Process The SS United States is a four-color representation of one of the last (and fastest) American-built ocean liners. It was entirely made of metal type, ornament and rule while in residency at John Horn’s Shooting Star Press in Little Rock, Arkansas.
starshaped.com 44
@starshapedpress
SS United States
25 x 11 in Letterpress $85 45
P22 Club Card
4.13 x 4.5 in Metal Type and Wood Cuts NFS 46
James Grieshaber Rochester, ny
Artist Biography James Grieshaber is a type designer, typographer, and graphic designer based in Rochester, NY. James now works at P22 Type Foundry as Director of Operations as well as creating typefaces. He also consults with Virgin Wood Type where he is responsible for digitally drawing customer special orders, replacement letters, and new and revival fonts. James has created fonts for P22 Type Foundry, Hamilton Wood Type, Google, Microsoft, and Apple.
Description of Process P22 Type Foundry has had a club for several years now, each year a new club card is printed for its members as a keepsake. This years card was printed in four colors. The art was composed with antique metal type, ornaments, an antique wood cut, and a historic variation of the P22 logo laser-cut into end-grain maple. To make it official, a numbering machine was used to print consecutive numbers and the official logo were printed in a fifth color. It was then finished off with the Rosback Perforator to let the user break it down to wallet size if needed.
@jamesgrieshaber 47
Rick Griffith denver, co
Artist Biography Rick Griffith is a graphic designer and master letterpress printer. His work is an erudite exploration of language, history, politics, science, music, and ethics—typographically-focused and relevant. He is known as a passionate advocate for design. Rick’s true orientation is towards self-reliance, disruption, creative compassion, and independent thought. For most of us, life is long—for lots of reasons, we might begin to act like it.
Description of Process First, there is a thought and that thought must be brought to 1 sentence. The sentence is then set in wood type from our collection at the studio. Color proofs and spacing proofs are made with the intention of annotating the text by re-inserting previously edited text into the work by way of any novel syntactical device available (arrows, slashes, and massive punctuation). Annotations are on a well-synchronized second plate made of wood or paper—typically a digital design cut by laser. Annotation and the various types of ‘slow reading’ that come with this method don’t just ask the reader to think about the content laid before them—but also ask the reader to consider the complexity (and nuanced nature) of the various concepts in play.
morematter.com 48
@rickgriffith
@matter.studio
The Thing, Back to School , & Don’t Call Us Folk
14 x 20.5 in, 18 x 26 in Annotated Letterpress $100 49
If you ain’t got it, get it
14 x 36 in Letterpress $100 50
Nick Hand & Ellen Bills bristol, uk
Artist Biography Nick and Ellen run the Letterpress Collective, aiming to keep letterpress alive in Bristol, a city that employed many thousands in this form of print until the 1970s. We like to work collaboratively with other artists as well as running workshops so that people in the city can understand and appreciate letterpress. Nick also works as a graphic designer and photographer and has recorded the works of many craftsmen and women over a ten year period.
Description of Process My friend told me of a radio show on a country station by Gid Tanner (good enough a name to inspire a poster alone), at the start of each show he would shout “IF YOU AIN’T GOT IT, GET IT” So I looked Gid up and made this poster, the banjo is printed from lino, and it is printed in four passes (as I have to feed the paper from both ends in order to print this size). The paper is made from coffee bean waste. I figure that Gid almost certainly drank a lot of coffee during his radio show. The wood type is from Stephenson Blake an English type foundry that existed in the last century.
theletterpresscollective.org
@theletterpresscollective
@letterpresscoll 51
Katerina Hazell iowa city, ia
Artist Biography Katerina Hazell is an MFA candidate at the University of Iowa Center for the book (degree expected May 2020). Her work uses printmaking and papermaking to explore language, color and texture. Inspired by historical texts and technologies, geometric shapes and fluid lines create a visual language that both affirms and negates the power of the written word and text as a reliable form of communication.
Description of Process This monoprint is printed from modular PVC blocks that I had cut at my local engineering school using a waterjet. The shapes of the blocks reflect a simplified map of Galileo’s 1649 Della Scienza Mecanica, which can be taken apart and recombined in different ways. By feeding paper through the Vandercook Universal at different angles and alternating the colors of ink, I was able to print a wide range of compositions and textures using just a few shapes.
katerinahazell.com 52
@katerina_hazell
@KaterinaHazell
This Is a Book 3
12.25 x 9.38 in Letterpress Monoprint NFS
53
Masking Tape 12 x 18 in Letterpress $30 54
Lucas Hennessey milwaukee, wi
Artist Biography Lucas Hennessey is a Milwaukee based letterpress printer who received his BFA from Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design in 2014. He is currently working as a full time printer at Bay View Printing Company and uses the space and equipment to produce his own bodies of work.
Description of Process The idea of this print came from accidentally printing a piece of masking tape stuck to a Boxcar base on a platen press. That was then translated to repurposing masking tape to fill a base and run through a Vandercook No. 4. 2 passes of yellow and pink create the background, and 1 pass of blue completes the foreground for a total of 5 layers.
@lucas__kills
Lucas Hennessey 55
Sue Huggins Leopard Rochester, ny
Artist Biography Sue Huggins Leopard is an American book artist and proprietor of Leopard Studio Editions based in Rochester, NY. Her work includes fine press editions of her own books, poetry and artwork, as well as one of a kind books and prints with an eye to women’s issues and the environment. Her work is represented in prominent public collections in the US and abroad.
Description of Process The piece was printed from boxy wood type on thin handmade Kitikata paper in white ink. It has been selectively hand waxed , giving the illusion of floating blocks of ice.
leopardstudioeditions.com 56
Sea Ice
14 x 20 in Letterpress on Kitikata Paper with Hand Waxing, Using Antique Wood Type $250 57
Bagley the Fiddler
12 x 18 in Woodcut and Letterpress NFS 58
JustAJar Design Press Marietta, oh
Artist Biography JustAJar Design Press, is a letterpress and design studio run by Bobby & Sara Rosenstock, located in the historic river town of Marietta, Ohio. They specialize in full color, custom woodcut and letterpress posters.
Description of Process Five-color woodcut and letterpress print, printed on a Vandercook SP20.
@justajar
@justajarpress
@justajardesignpress 59
RIchard Kegler rochester, ny
Artist Biography Richard Kegler is the lead designer and founder of P22 type foundry. Mr. Kegler’s background in typography and book arts includes ventures in bookbinding and letterpress printing. However, the historical context and background of type continue to be his greatest interest and shape the evolution of P22. Richard was the Director of the Book Arts Center at Wells College in Aurora, NY from 2014—2019 and a past trustee for the American Printing History Association (APHA). He is former chairman of the board for the Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA). He has a masters degree in Media Study and produced the Making Faces film as a culmination of his interests and experience.
Description of Process This print features an arrangement of 8 different circular advertising wood blocks arranged concentrically and printed in yellow, cyan, magenta, hunter, blue, orange, red, and gold. Using the blocks unaltered from their original state, they become studies in pure color with Pop Art overtones.
p22.com 60
@rkegler
Reduced
15 x 19.5 in 8 Color Letterpress $60 61
Baskerville’s Balancing Act 7.6 x 8.5 in Letterpress $45 62
Naomi Kent Inksquasher | Birmingham, uk
Artist Biography Naomi is a Printmaking Technician at Birmingham City University (UK) and specialises in letterpress. In 2018 she gained a first class MA degree in Visual Communications. She is noted for her innovative use of metal type and ornaments and has redeveloped furniture of the past — angled and circular quads and an adjustable chase — to help other printers in their non-linear typesetting challenges.
Description of Process Letterpress printed using ornaments & type set by hand using the typesetting puzzle method -This is when you set your type and there are no 90 degree angles in which to lock up your type with spacing material. The game is anyone’s guess, you stuff the spacing in, in the most logical way possible, then you’re all good to ink & print as long as that type doesn’t move! Lino printed background. Printed in 4 passes on a galley proof press. You can read more about the inspiration behind this print on my blog www.inksquasher.com Printed as part of a series ‘The Type Circus’
inksquasher.com
@inksquasher 63
Jose Luis Lanzagorta Begiaundi Press | San Sebastian, spain
Artist Biography Founded by José Luis Lanzagorta, Begiaundi Press is a letterpress printing workshop for graphic experimentation and research, aimed to produce limited print editions on a typographic press, using both lead and wood movable type, as well as other materials, from linoleum, MDF, plexiglass, cardboard... to espadrille soles and coins. [Begiaundi in Basque means ‘big eye’, and names a large squid, an animal which protects itself expelling its own ink]
Description of Process This is a tryptic, a series of huge espadrille images, which were letterpress printed using the materials espadrilles are made with: the fabric and the jute sole. The fabric was cut and pasted onto hand cut pieces of MDF and printed in 7 print runs. Then I covered a piece of MDF with white glue and impressed it with actual parts of espadrille jute sole, let it dry and used it as the printing block. The other parts were printed with linoleum. For the typography I used both photopolymer and metal types. It was all printed on a FAG Control 405 Swiss press.
64
6th Anniversary P-021, 6th Anniversary P-109, & 6th Anniversary P-300
12 x 29 in Espadrille Fabric and Sole, Linoleum, Metal Type, Photopolymer, Letterpress NFS 65
Forgive me, Mr. Kubota, 9 x 12 in Letterpress NFS 66
Ellie Mathews The North Press | Port Townsend, wa
Artist Biography Ellie Mathews studied cartography and graphic design before working in software development. She is the author of four books and has won cooking and writing awards while being a letterpress printer off and on for forty years. Along with her husband, Carl Youngmann, she operates The North Press in Port Townsend, Washington, where they focus on poetry broadsides. Together they teach workshops in letterpress techniques. Ellie believes the first step to making art is a willingness to embrace the process. And letterpress printing involves a whole, huge heap of process. She likes what the exacting aspects of letterpress impose on her, because she’s neither patient nor meticulous by nature.
Description of Process Step One: Let the body of the poem find its place on the page. Consider its shape, its density, and, of course, its meaning. Let the poem be the guide. In the case of Forgive me, Mr. Kubota, I visited the Seattle garden that is the subject of the poem. I took pictures and found a way to incorporate the image of a madrone branch that interacts with‚ but doesn’t overshadow‚ the author’s words.
thenorthpress.net
@thenorthpress 67
Thomas Mayo & Co Cheltenham, uk
Artist Biography Thomas Mayo is a letterpress printmaker based in the Cotswolds, UK. He creates a wide range of bespoke printed goods including typographic prints, business stationary and cocktail menus. He also crafts his own printing blocks from wood, using a variety of newfangled techniques which is used within his work and collaborations with other designers. He has worked with clients such as Jameson Whiskey, Marks & Spencer and Transport for London, with his most recent work permanently installed at London— Farringdon underground station. Thomas has an MA from the University of Gloucestershire in Visual Communication and is a Brother of The Art Workers Guild.
Description of Process ‘HELLO!’ is a two colour chromatic letterpress print, printed on a FAG 800 Swiss-made proofing press. I designed the type based on a bold 8-line grotesque I have in my wood type collection. Each piece of type was laser-cut in birch plywood and mounted on plywood blocks. The letters are overprinted to create a third colour, on Colorplan Cool Grey 135gsm.
thomasmayo.co 68
@thomasmayo
HELLO!
31.89 x 11.42 in Letterpress $50 69
REC, an experimental dialogue with David Carson 19.6 x 27.5 in Photography and Letterpress $150 70
marcos mello sao paulo, brazil
Artist Biography Marcos Mello is a graphic artist, typographer and letterpress printer. He is a founding partner at Oficina Tipográfica São Paulo, a NGO dedicated to researching Brazilian graphic memory, courses and projects in experimental typographic language. Rogerio Miranda, Brazilian photographer, based in São Paulo, in parallel of the commercial work he develops research with urban typography. Curious about photographic techniques, he always try to do experimentation with different materials to be printed, the use of polaroids, gelatines, waxes, acrylic, etc. is a mark in his work.
Description of Process The idea of the poster “REC” came from an exchange of conceptual and practical experiences between the graphic artists Marcos Mello and David Carson. In 2019, they started to exchange some of their letterpress posters in order to establish an art dialogue. Carson was finishing his latest book, nucollage .001, and his work was focused almost exclusively on handmade collages made of fragments of typographic posters. The letters “REC” are a fragment of a poster designed by Carson for a festival in Igualada, Catalonia, that he combined in a collage with pieces of Mello’s poster “Conexões” (“Connections”). The idea for the layout of “REC” came from these two posters combined. Thus, REC can stand for “REConnections”, “reinterpretation”, “RECording” or even “reappropriation”. “REC” aims at expressing the artistic process of creating new meanings that is seen at the collage in general. To complement the experimental process with other techniques, the artists invited photographer Rogério Miranda to interact with the poster layout using his photographic language, which resulted in a symbiosis of both photograph and collage, which was then printed in letterpress. The poster was designed with the techniques of cutting and handmade collage, followed by digital design. The file was printed on transparent paper, A3 format, to make a photolith film, which was soaked in gelatin and then photographed under a light table. oficinatipografica.com.br
@mellotipografo
Marcos Mello 71
Melissa Meyer Little Doris Press | Lawrence, KS
Artist Biography Melissa Meyer is a designer and letterpress printer from Lawrence, Kansas. Her press is named, Little Doris Press. She enjoys the process of designing with vintage tools, getting inky and the problem solving it requires. She incorporates new and old techniques in her work. From hand-set lead type and wood type to photo-polymer plates to fly swatters or legos. Melissa demonstrates letterpress printing annually at Albany Days in Albany, KS and works letterpress into client design work whenever possible. Melissa was introduced to letterpress while studying graphic design at The University of Kansas. She interned at Hatch Show Print in Nashville, TN and Hammerpress Letterpress & Design Studio. She has been collecting letterpress skills and paraphernalia ever since.
Description of Process Carved by hand. Printed by hand, one layer at a time, on a Vandercook 0 Proof Press. I began by printing a 6.75” tall by 19.5” wide piece of linoleum with bright orange ink to make the first layer. After printing a stack of those, I cleaned the lino and then carved down the sky to the start of the land formations‚ leaving wispy clouds to create the sky and the slightly darker orange layer far off into the sunset. The third layer is the one that shows the most distinctive showing the actual monuments of Monument Valley. The print really began to have some dimension when this layer was printed. For the fourth and fifth layer, I cut the top half of the lino completely off so I wouldn’t get any more overprinting in the sky.
littledorispress.com 72
@littledorispress
Melissa Meyer
Monument Valley Utah
20 x 7 in Letterpress Reduction Linoleum Print NFS 73
This Green Unpleasant Land
12.25 x 9.25 in Letterpress, 12pt Monotype Border $175 74
Theo Miller Leicester, uk
Artist Biography Theo Miller (b.1991) is a visual artist whose work examines printmaking. His practice currently focuses on Relief printing and Letterpress. Miller is interested in using new technology and a contemporary approach to making work in harmony with traditional techniques and equipment.
Description of Process The print "This Green Unpleasant Land" is part of my exploration of letterpress as a mode of depiction, using 12pt square metal border to render landscapes. I want to push the limitations of the "simplicity" of metal, ink and paper. This Green Unpleasant Land, was based on a photograph of the approach to a coastline at night, the promise of hope and safety at the end of a journey. (Edition of 6)
theomiller.co.uk
@_theomiller
@theo_miller 75
Gabriel Miranda sao paulo, brazil
Artist Biography Gabriel Miranda is a graphic artist based in São Paulo, Brazil. He designs and prints limited edition products and develops his own artistic projects using mostly letterpress and stencil techniques. He also collaborates with artists of various backgrounds, developing special projects and investigating graphic languages. Marcos Mello is a graphic artist, typographer and letterpress printer. He is a founding partner at Oficina Tipográfica São Paulo, an NGO dedicated to researching Brazilian graphic memory, courses and projects in experimental typographic language.
Description of Process Poster designed for the twelfth edition of the magazine Tupigrafia, created and printed in letterpress by Marcos Mello and Gabriel Miranda at Oficina Tipográfica São Paulo in 2018. This edition of Tupigrafia emphasized the work of typographic composition, and many pages of the magazine were printed using this technique. Thus, we conceived and manually produced this poster, printed in 8 colors with wooden types and metal clichés. It was a limited print run and all 40 posters were numbered and signed. The main objective of this project was to create a piece to be printed in a limited print run as an exclusive reward to the supporters of the magazine at the crowdfunding platform Catarse. The poster was also sold at the magazine launch event. The collectible poster establishes a connection with the purpose of the magazine and the work of typographic composition that is evident in the graphic project. @gabpmiranda 76
Tupigrafia 12 Poster
18 x 25 in Letterpress NFS 77
Apollo 11 Paths: Mare Tranquilitatis 14 x 11 in Letterpress $150 78
Ted Ollier Reflex Letterpress | Medford, MA
Artist Biography Ted Ollier was born in the Midwest, lived in the South, and now resides in the Northeast. He has been a photographer, graphic designer, bass player, typographer, web pioneer, informational leafblower and armchair philosopher. He holds degrees from UT-Austin, Texas State, and MassArt. At present, he is a printmaker and conceptual artist working in the Boston community of Medford. He shows through 13Forest Gallery in Arlington, MA, and inde/jacobs in Marfa, TX. He teaches letterpress and printmaking through the Harvard Extension School at the Bow & Arrow Press in Cambridge, MA. He is President of the Cambridge Art Association and the owner of Reflex Letterpress, a letterpress studio in Charlestown, MA.His concerns are with data and its interaction with the consensus reality, and how that reality is affected and changed by that data. Although the didactic element of information transfer is always present in his work, his true focus is on revelation and enlightenment, and the joy of finding a previously-unnoticed detail in the landscape of life. He lives with a patent attorney, a small human, a chow mix and a red tabby.
Description of Process This letterpress print that depicts the markings in the lunar dust made by astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin as they moved around the surface of the Moon. The paths are marked in black, the surrounding crater field is depicted by embossed depressions in the paper.
reflexletterpress.com
@reflexletterpress
@reflexlttrpress 79
Amy E. Redmond Amada Press | seattle, wa
Artist Biography Amy Redmond began letterpress printing in 1998 when her book design work became a quest to learn fine typography. Her multi-year apprenticeship with fine press printers/ publishers Chris Stern and Jules Faye (Stern & Faye, Printers) cultivated an appreciation for traditional and experimental methods. Exploring the duality of letterforms as language and image, she composes editioned prints using metal and wood typefaces, at times incorporating linoleum carving, collagraphs, and pressure printing techniques. Precision requires planning, but migration might be allowed once ink hits paper: color organically shifts; misfeeds inspire future compositions. Committing an idea to paper leaves a tangible impression, simultaneously inviting resolution and opportunity. Amy holds a BFA from James Madison University (Virginia) and prints in her private studio, Amada Press. She works as a visual designer for clients affecting positive change in communities and teaches letterpress printing at Seattle’s School of Visual Concepts. She is a member of Seattle Print Arts, Artist Trust, the Book Arts Guild, and Amalgamated Printers Association (No. 937).
Description of Process This print is from the 2nd edition in an iterative series exploring type as image, under the constraints of time — an exercise in spontaneity and the catharsis of being fully present in the moment. Composed of metal and wood type, all prints in the series began with a base layer formed with the capital letters ‘E’ and ‘I’. The sheets were then divided into 9 stacks of 9. As the ink color migrated on press, new layers were spontaneously designed in reaction to the previous. Each stack (edition) documents the ‘call and response’ process between the printer and the type, in which the divergent and parallel paths of a conversation are visualized. The series was letterpress printed with a Colt's Armory platen press on Neenah Classic Stipple. The characters used in this print are: E I 0 L ! amadapress.com 80
@amadapress
Amy E. Redmond
EI Series [No. 2]
8 x 10 in Letterpress (Handset Metal and Wood Type) $75 81
AmericanaFest Showprint 18 x 25 in Letterpress NFS 82
R-N-R Showprint Ivanete Blanco & David Shields | norfolk, va
Artist Biography R-N-R Showprint is a collaborative letterpress and graphic design studio based in Norfolk, Virginia whose principal designers and printers are Ivanete Blanco and David Shields. They have a combined forty-five years of experience as graphic designers, and their interest in letterpress, fueled in good part by the work of Hatch Show Print, turned to practice upon arriving in the Art Department at Old Dominion University. From the sticky smacking sound of the ink hitting the paper to the feel of the smooth shopworn faces of the wood blocks, they find the physical experience of letterpress to be a powerful counterbalance to long hours spent in front of a computer monitor. They are fascinated by the limitations of the letterpress composing process and the unpredictability of the printing surfaces. Most of their work to this point has been in support of non-profit clients or simply good causes. In 2014, they began assembling a series of letterpress prints that reflect their interest in music, culture and social issues. The Smithville Papers, their largest series, will eventually consist of eighty-four prints, each corresponding to one of eight-four selections contained on Harry Smith’s storied Anthology of American Folk Music.
Description of Process The AmericanaFest showprint was created to promote a series of two shows at Old Dominion University’s Goode Theatre, featuring roots musicians from Texas and North Carolina. In this particular print, laser-cut MDF banner plates were combined with historic gothic wood type faces and then overprinted on a background printed with custom blocks composed of mounted oriented strand board. All passes were printed on ODU’s Vandercook SP-20 proof press. rnrshowprint.com
@rnrshowprint 83
Leonard Seastone Tideline Press | Tannersville, ny
Artist Biography Born 1950. Been printing and publishing since 1972 when I established the Tideline Press. My undergraduate degree was from Fairleigh Dickinson University where my mentor was Loyd Haberly. My MFA in BookArts is from State University of New York, College at Purchase, where I studied with Warren Lehrer (mentor), Phil Zimmermann, Margo Lovejoy, Antonio Frasconi, David Finkbeiner, Bob Berlind, Robert Storr, and Irving Sandler. Recently I have returned to the High Peaks Region of the Northern Catskill Mountains, completing my work of 18 years, A Long Hill Homeward. About 200 cases of type and two Vandecooks help along. Sold my large Washington Hand Press after 47 years together. It was really big, (32” x 46” platen), and is a younger’s person’s game. Living on the northern slope with my wife Lynne.
Description of Process Relief-Offsetting, Relief-Offset, or Letterpress-Offsetting, (the latter being my choice of title): Building information by multiple printings from wood type to layer multiple densities of ink on a Primary Print. Reduction of density by offsetting Primary Print by another wood type sort(s). Final Offsetting of Primary Print on second press to Final Print on Arches Cover. Densities = Values of color, in this case - Black. Utilization of one element on this print via the Pressure Print method.
84
Pg 40 / A Long Hill Homeward / proof
12.25 x 8.5 in Letterpress NFS 85
Emerson’s Transcendental Subway Map (x4)
12 x 12 in Letterpress from Lego Flat Tiles NFS 86
Mike Sonnichsen Moscow, Id
Artist Biography Mike Sonnichsen is an artist and printmaker whose work explores systems and patterns, often driven by light, color, and the mechanics of print and photographic processes. The visual complexity found in his work reflects some of the ideals found in Tantric art, cymatics, and sacred geometry. After a childhood in Puerto Rico he studied architecture at Virginia Tech, lithography at the Tamarind Institute, and received an MFA from the University of New Mexico. He resides in Moscow, Idaho teaching printmaking in the Art & Design Program at the University of Idaho.
Description of Process The work seen here is the result of ongoing ‘Lego Letterpress’ experiments. The Lego baseplate and variety of flat tile pieces provide the letterpress print artist with a peculiar range of form possibilities. While largely free of type or text reference, they acknowledge the visual richness seen in specimen pages and decorative letterpress borders. As print artist, I am driven to make work where I cannot predict the outcome, where the process and results continually surprise and challenge me. I usually give my ‘form-work’ formal constraints then print each color pass 4 times, rotating the square sheet 90 degrees for each pass. I consider this approach efficient (albeit somewhat lazy) yet it allows chance, or at least the unexpected, to play a role on the creation of the work. The resulting 4-way rotational symmetry creates different levels of orderliness while provoking visual curiosity and alluding to both familiar and universal structures.
mikesonnichsen.com
@mikesonnichsen 87
Jessica Spring tacoma, wa
Artist Biography Jessica Spring began her interest in typesetting and printing as a phototypesetter in the 1980s. She has been a letterpress printer ever since, most recently inventing Daredevil Furniture to help other printers set type in circles, curves and angles. Her work at Springtide Press—artist books, broadsides and ephemera where typography plays a central role—is included in collections around the country and abroad. She has collaborated on the Dead Feminists broadside series since 2008 and co-authored Dead Feminists: Historic Heroines in Living Color. Spring has an MFA from Columbia College Chicago and teaches letterpress printing and book arts.
Description of Process Two letterpress printed rotating discs allow the reader to play the game of love, matching the word with an image (like “love bug” or “love boat”). The volvelle includes an additional window which reveals varying X and O letters as the circles move. All the text is composed with wood, metal type, and ornaments, set in circles, and printed on vintage velvet paper.
springtidepress.com 88
@springtidepress
Game of Love
9 x 9 in Letterpress Printed Volvelle $30 89
Veiled
9 x 12 in Letterpress Printing on Handmade Paper NFS 90
Cynthia Nourse Thompson Philadelphia, pa
Artist Biography Cynthia Nourse Thompson is currently Associate Professor and Director of the MFA Book Arts + Printmaking program and the MFA Studio Art program at University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She also serves as Curator and Consulting Visual Arts Director for the Joy Pratt Markham Gallery at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Prior to this position, Thompson served as Associate Professor of Printmaking and Curator of Exhibitions at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. During her tenure, she established a unique vision for the gallery as well as public spaces on campus—securing the University's purchase of works by Willie Cole, Chakaia Booker and Leonardo Drew for the campus public art advisory board. As Curator of WAC she continues to fuel great interest in contemporary art in the northwest Arkansas region, establishing the Joy Pratt Markham Gallery as a premier venue in northwest Arkansas for exhibiting cutting edge, contemporary art. Previously, Thompson served for twelve years as Professor of Book, Print and Paper Arts at Memphis College of Art [MCA], Chair of the Fine Arts Department and Curator and Director of Visiting Artist Lectures. Thompson received her BFA in Printmaking from the Maryland Institute College of Art and her MFA from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. In addition to teaching and curating, previously Thompson worked at Dieu Donne Papermill, Harlan & Weaver Intaglio and the Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper, now the Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions.
Description of Process Letterpress printing on handmade paper
91
Jesse Warne Oklahoma City, ok
Artist Biography Jesse Warne is an educator, designer, painter, and printmaker from Oklahoma City. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the School of Design at the University of Central Oklahoma, where he teaches various design, typography, and letterpress printing courses and is the Coordinator of the Letterpress and Prototyping Lab. He holds a BFA and MFA in graphic design fro UCO. His work spans the full cycle of deconstruction to creation, beginning with the examination of the existing typographic landscape and the current practices in type design and transitioning into the exploration of how shapes form into symbols that can communicate information and aesthetic expression. By breaking down letterforms into their most basic geometric shapes he establishes a system of physical exploration that not only enables but promotes tangible interaction in the type design process. With the use of the letterpress as the vehicle for output, the process has an association with the origins of modern typographic communication built into it, providing context for past and future directions in type design.
Description of Process The work explores letterpress as a medium for hard-edge abstract art using a system of 1/4-inch-thick geometric modular wood pieces that have been cut out with a laser cutter. The process is an organic flow of composing layers in the letterpress, each new layer a response to the previous.
92
Jelly Beans
12 x 18 in Letterpress - 5 colors on French Speckletone Paper $100 93
Trumpet
18 x 24 in Letterpress $150 94
Cory Wasnewsky nashville, tn
Artist Biography Cory Wasnewsky is a printer, designer, and bookbinder currently based in Nashville, TN. He was born and raised in Pittsfield, MA. He earned his BFA in Book Arts from Montserrat College of Art in the spring of 2014. In October 2014 he moved to Nashville to join the Hatch Show Print family where he prints, designs, and maintains and repairs the presses. After hours he works under the business name of Three Cheers Press, where he puts his printing, designing, carving, and bookbinding skills to use creating personal work, as well and designing and job printing for clients.
Description of Process This is part of a body of work titled Instrumental, which is a collection of instruments printed using wood type, metal type, and other printing elements. The type may be printed upside down to achieve a solid square or shape, or in combinations of specific letterforms to mimic the defining characteristics of each instrument. Each print uses multiple layers that may be inked either by hand or press, depending on the needed effect. A number of techniques are used to create curves and angles in the typesetting to mimic the instrument as close as possible. By printing off of ready made blocks, there is a natural abstraction that occurs in both the image as a whole, and the individual letterforms.
threecheerspress.com
@threecheerspress 95
Jenny & Jeff Wilkson seattle, wa
Artist Biography Jenny Wilkson founded the letterpress program at the School of Visual Concepts, (SVC), in 2001. Originally a book designer, she holds a Master of Arts in Design from UC Berkeley, and is fortunate to be one of the few of her generation to have undergone a traditional letterpress apprenticeship. In 2012, she co-created the wiki website Letterpress Commons. These days she oversees the operations, curriculum and community outreach of SVC's letterpress shop at the School's facility in South Lake Union—the epicenter of Seattle's tech boom. Jeff Wilkson is a graduate of the University of Washington's Visual Communications Design program and is currently a creative director at Starbucks, working on global branding, packaging, and advertising. He and Jenny have two kids, four chickens, and various printing presses, but not enough wood type.
Description of Process WILXBLOX is an experimental modular typeface, inspired by ATF's Alpha-Blox. The type was designed by Jeff Wilkson and laser cut from plywood mounted on 4"x4" square MDF bases. WILXBLOX may be arranged and overprinted to create pattern, typographic forms, or illustration.
@wilks_wood 96
@svcletterpress
WILXBLOX mandala
12.5 x 15 in Letterpress $50 97
Angle Chase No. 5
8.5 x 11 in Letterpress from Antique Wood and Metal Types and Brass Rule NFS 98
david wolske denton, tx
Artist Biography David Wolske is a typo/graphic designer, artist, and educator. His hybrid practice combines the traditions of letterpress and printmaking with digital tools and design thinking. Wolske’s work is exhibited and collected nationally and internationally. He is a 2020 LHM Educator Fellow at the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography at ArtCenter College of Design; the College Book Art Association 2018 Emerging Educator; 2016 Visiting Artist at Hatch Show Print; and a 2014 Utah Visual Arts Fellow. Wolske is currently an Assistant Professor in the College of Visual Arts and Design at the University of North Texas.
Description of Process The Angle Chase series expands the letterpress lexicon by re-envisioning antique wood type letters as abstract shapes and modern compositions. The multi-colored circular image is achieved by combining a custom press packing (below the press sheet) with a mask (above the press sheet) that isolates selective parts of the inked wood type. I used a portmanteau word combing isolate and type to name this new technique “isotype” printing.
david-wolske.com
@davidwolske 99
Mikayla Zancanelli Oxford, oh
Artist Biography My name is Mikayla Zancanelli, and I am a recent graduate of Miami University's graphic design program. I was introduced to letterpress printing through a "letterpress for designers" course started by Erin Beckloff, and have been printing ever since! I love the physical interaction that the printing process requires. The tools & machines printer's use to create their final products become an intimate part of their daily life. They connect us to our final product on a deeper level, and connect us with each other! Letterpress printing seems to have a wonderful ability to bring communities together to share knowledge and support each other. I feel very lucky to have been introduced to this and am excited to see where this journey takes me!
Description of Process "Respect" is one of a series of powerful one word posters. This piece reflects on Miami Universities' relationship with the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. In 1846, years after Miami University was founded, many Myaamia people were forcibly removed from their homelands to lands that later become Kansas. They were removed a second time to lands in Indian Territory which later became the state of Oklahoma. Miami University has spent years since reconnecting with the Miami Tribe to create a relationship of understanding & respect, as well as to engage in future educational initiatives together.
mikaylazancanelli.com 100
@m_zanc
Mikayla Zancanelli
RESPECT
12 x 17 in Letterpress with Pressure Print & Woodcut $25 101
Old Cuts & Sorts (1—9) 13 x 18 in Letterpress NFS 102
Karen Zimmermann tucson, az
Artist Biography Karen Zimmermann is a Professor and the Assistant Director of the School of Art University of Arizona. She teaches in the Illustration & Graphic Design Program. She has also taught at the University of Hawaii— at Manoa and Virginia Commonwealth University. She has been an active member and on the board of the American Institute of Graphic Art Design Education Committee, the College Book Art Association, and the College Arts Association. Her art and design practice includes activities in letterpress printing, graphic design and art where her interest in image making and typography can coexist. She started her love of printing in high school where she learned offset printing and typesetting. Her writing has been published in Design and Culture Journal, "The Education of a Graphic Designer", "The Education of an E Designer"‚ "The Education of a Motion Designer", JAB (Journal of Artists' Books), "Design Education in Progress: Methodology and Process", American Institute of Graphic Arts, Zed and Inform. Karen received her MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and her undergraduate degree from Rutgers University.
Description of Process This series of prints are re-appropriated images from a book published in 1957, Old Garden Roses. I printed on the surface of the originals. There are two texts that run through the series. One set of words are word pairings from the original book, such as Persuade & Control. The other text is a set of similes and metaphors that reference the harshness of language. I am interested in miscommunication and phrase—slips of the tongue. The similes are arranged in groupings, first word beginning with A, B, & C through Z (most reference pain in some way). I also wanted to look at juxtaposition of the beauty of the images vs. the violence of language reflecting our complicated lives.
103
woodtype.org