HATCH!

Yesterday I finally got to see some Hatch Show work in person. There was an exhibit on display at the Durham Museum in Omaha. It was so fun to see the enormous wood cuts and to look at the intricate monoprints up close. I'm definitely a fan of the crazy layering of ink. Their attention to detail is phenomenal. The printers of Hatch have created exceptional works of art. Very cool to see some of Hatch's advertising work. We loved the Airstream print.

As for my press, I just ordered 3 new rollers from NA graphics and am sooo excited to get the press going soon. I have my first wedding invitation to letterpress by April so I'm grateful to have a deadline in front of me. Wish me luck! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season.

John, Thanks so so much for sending your holiday card. It was just beautiful. I promptly displayed it on my inspiration wall. Hope you and Robyn are doing great!

Look: Sam's Broadside in a Big Show!

Hi everyone, long time no see. Thought I'd pass along this link. Our dear Sam Reynolds from class entered his poster of John in a show (I think at Cathy's urging) and it got in. Of course it did!

Here's a link to the show, there's a lot of cool stuff.

http://www.23sandy.com/Broadsided/artists/reynolds.html

WHAT'S UP?

It’s been so long since I posted anything here that I’ll have to relearn everything.

  To say things have been hectic here is an understatement. Alex has been back a couple more times to haul off more equipment and give me a few more square feet of space but of course I’ve managed to fill that space quickly. One of the big purchases was a huge Vandercook. It will take a 30 by 32 inch sheet! But it was one of the filthiest presses I’ve ever seen. I’ve slowly been cleaning it as I waited for the electricians to do some complicated (and I’m sure expensive) wiring. They finally finished and I was able to turn the press on and run the cylinder carriage down the bed. Christie, one of my apprentices, said it sounds like a tank and it does kinda rumble. Lots of work to do on it before I get it printing but I’m looking forward to printing really big posters.

  Dana Moore, Penland program director, (I think some of you met her) and Julie Leonard, Penland board of directors member, bookbinder, and teacher at the University of Iowa, came down to Little Rock for a long weekend of R & R and printin’. Dana printed some cards and stuff to sell for the Mitchell County (that’s the county that Penland is in) Animal Rescue fundraiser and some stuff for herself. She’d never printed anything before. Julie assisted Dana and printed some type collages she’ll use to cover boxes. Lots of fun, beer, wine, good food and good conversation were had.

  A couple of weeks later we were back at Penland for their annual fundraising auction. Lots of friends to visit with at the auction including Marisa, Sam and Kathy. We also bought a little art too. The auction did pretty well considering the economy. Sam put a copy of that portrait he did of me in the auction but I can’t seem to find out what it sold for, if anything.

  Lately, my life has revolved around grass. No, not pot, hay! I’ve gone into the hay business. I’m almost a farmer. I bought a bunch of fancy hay equipment and am learning how to cut and bale hay. So far, I’ve made about 500 bales. What a lot of work! And I’m not stacking those bales by hand either, I’ve got machinery to do that. But I’m really starting to feel like a farmer now that I’m selling stuff. But, now my life involves the weather; I watch the Weather Channel all the time now. I plan my days by how much sunshine there’s gonna be.

  Oh, and I’ve been printin’ too. Check your snail mail boxes. I’ve got a couple more projects in the works too. If you’re nice to me, I might send you copies.

Old grouch making sure Dana doesn't smash a finger.

 

Dana doing just fine on her own.

Julie at the Vandercook.

Julie and Lamarie making up a very complicated form.

Julie and Dana folding paper and having fun.

Watching deer after work.

The "tank."

A new sculpture, by Ken Baskin, we just installed at Cedar Glen.

Hello, Georgia

Welcome Georgia. Sounds like you really struck it rich. I'm very interested to learn what type faces you've acquired. It Also sounds like you've got a lot of work to do cleaning everything up, including those type cases. Maine sounds like a nice place to be 'cause it's been hotter than hell down here in Arkansas.

  Julie Leonard of the University of Iowa and Dana Moore, program director at Penland, arrived here late yesterday evening (Thursday) and after a nice Mexican dinner, we settled in for lots of talk, but not before feeding our deer. Today, it's off to the print shop for some serious work. Dana wants to learn to drive my backhoe while she's here so we'll have to word that into our schedule.

Hi everyone, sorry I've been out of touch...I'm a neophyte "blogger" too! (does that make you feel better, John?) Also, have been very busy setting up our new Letterpress / Book Arts program at the Corcoran all summer. We were lucky to bid on (and purchase!) Los Angeles' oldest print shop at an incredible price which included a Uni 1 along with tons of type, Hamilton cases, and miscellaneous items that would have taken an incredibly long time to accumulate. It arrived two weeks ago, and we really have our work cut out for us cleaning up dusty old type drawers! Any ideas would be greatly appreciated...

We also purchased 2 4-T's, and found a "treasure" of old wood type in Richmond which arrived as well. Right now, we have an etching studio PACKED with letterpress equipment waiting for the completion of the studio that it will be moved into. It will be a very busy August I'm sure.

Also went down to Knoxville for a family wedding and visited Kevin and Julie at Yee Haw Industries, and Kevin had lots of nice things to say about you John, when I mentioned our workshop at Penland.

Now I'm heading to Haystack School in Maine on Deer Isle, to teach a two week papermaking / printmaking workshop from July 19-31. Anyone up that way, come visit!! Georgia

From Cari!!

Cari sent this email to everyone but I thought it would be nice to have all the info in one place. So I'm cutting and pasting it here, you know, like I do. Cari wrote:

Hello friends!

I can't believe it's July, and I haven't written a word to congratulate those of you who have gotten presses or are generally doing well! I think about our class at Penland very fondly and it has been inspiring me to create and explore more in every aspect of life. Thanks to everyone for making our class such a wonderful, creative, and incredibly fun experience.

On my way back to Wisconsin, I met up with Alex in Nashville and had a fantastic time! The highlight of the trip to Nashville was Hatch Show Print. They had beautiful presses and LOADS of cool woodcuts and blocks. Seeing Hatch fed my hunger for letterpress until I got back to Wisconsin, but shortly after I returned I started calling up local newspapers looking for a press. I managed to track down a C&P about 30 minutes away,but in the last decade a wall had been built around it. The owner didn't seem to have any interest in it and seemed willing to give it up if I wanted to put the effort into taking it apart and moving it. I decided to keep looking and the next day I mentioned I was in search of a press to someone in town (population 1468). She led me to someone I knew, but had never associated with printing. He has cases of type, slugs, leads, galleys, and a linotype which he had purchased from a printer going out of business a few years ago. Unfortunately this was all packed away in his mother's barn with no place to go. What seemed like another hurdle turned into bliss when he directed me to the previous owner of the local newspaper. Jackpot! I don't believe any of the presses were original to this particular newspaper, but the previous owner had kept all of the letterpress equipment from the other 5 newspapers he owned. This includes 16 cabinets of type, a huge Hamilton composing table, a Challenge proof press, Two C&P presses, a Heidelberg Windmill, and a Kluge. I don't believe Bill will ever part with his collection (even though it hasn't been used in at least a decade), but he's letting me clean, move, and use the shop as much as I please. It's been quite the project to clean and move 10 years of neglect, but the potential here is great. I've already found troves of treasure including at least a dozen brass galleys of different sorts and beautiful wood type. Hopefully now that the theater season is through the initial push to get things rolling I'll be able to spend more time in the studio.

Summer is in full swing here in Wisconsin, so come up for a visit if you please!

Hope everyone is well,

-Cari

P.S. There are some pictures of the presses and cabinets here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/carimyong/3568561579/

ALEX'S VIST

Alex came to Little Rock to pick up two type cabinets and get the tour of my shop. He went shopping in the piles of excess equipment and decided he wanted a proof press too. Then he called his pal Brad at Hatch Show Print and Brad bought a galley rack and a furniture rack. Alex left here with a full pickup truck, John gained 16 square feet of space in his warehouse and around the same amount of space in the tractor shed/printing junk annex.

  Have you ever seen a press fly? Well, here's some photos of one in the air.

Put the press in this empty space.

The press coming off the floor.

Press in the air.

The press going over the fender of the truck.

Real easy now.

Almost there.

Down! Another successful press loading. Nothing dropped, bent or smashed.