Moveable Type

printing coasters for Young Blood

It was a rainy night at Young Blood Gallery – this kept some people away, but we had a good turnout at the beginning of the evening.  And the gallery is awesome – all manner of hand crafted lovelies, from jewelry to posters to candles, etc etc.  I met a sign painter who had just finished some beautiful work on Young Blood’s front window.  He had a few spare hours to kill, and I’ve been feeling like I’m finally ready to commit to some signage on the truck.  We talked about a game plan, and he went and got paint and everything.  But then… the sky opened up and it began to pour.  Game over.

Rebecca prints her own stationery!

The next day, I headed over to my friend Becca’s house for a neighborhood printing party!  It was still raining, but we stayed dry and relatively cozy in the truck, and Becca kept us all happy and fed with mac n’ cheese, pulled pork sandwiches, and (truck shaped!) cookies.  Becca’s friend Mendy is a rep for Mac Papers, and she was kind enough to provide all sorts of beautiful papers for us to play with.  I’ve been getting used to just printing on whatever paper comes my way, which is usually fine, but it was a really nice treat to print on some really nice hefty stock for a change.  Thanks so much, Mendy!  Everyone who came to the party walked away with a big alphabet/type specimen poster, and Becca and a few friends printed their own custom stationery.  This was such a fun way to gather some friends for an afternoon – I’m definitely looking forward to doing more events like this in the future.

release the pressure!

On my last day in Atlanta, I headed over to Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).  This school has its main campus in Savannah, but the Atlanta campus opened in 2005 (I think?).  The facilities are amazing.  Seeing the printshop seriously made me consider going to grad school.  There were entirely separate rooms – big rooms – for letterpress, etching, lithography, screen printing… so much room to work!  And I was really impressed by the work that the students were doing.  I was treated to a really nice lunch with some of the deans and staff before opening the truck doors to students in the afternoon.

The next morning, I woke up with a fever and headed a little bit outside of the city for a day at Kennesaw State University.  Despite the fact that I just wanted to curl up and go to sleep, it was a really fun, laid back visit.  The students I met were smart and curious, and printmaking professor Valerie Dibble was an excellent host.  She and her husband were kind enough to put my sick, pathetic self up for the night.  Next time, you guys, I promise to be more fun!

Reedy River Falls!

GREENVILLE: the lovely ladies from Indie Craft Parade pulled together a great day at the Hughes Library.  We had a huge turnout!  Literally a line down the block.  And everyone politely waited their turn in line, lulled into complacency by the tiny delicious cupcakes from Coffee to a Tea.

love this photo by Indie Craft Parade

Elizabeth and Erin took me out for dinner afterwards, and showed me around their cool little town.  The visit was so short, too short.  I liked the feel of this town, and hope to come back sometime – maybe for the next Indie Craft Parade?  I ended the evening cleaning up at a game of Go Fish with a few strangers at a bar.  Who knew I was a hustler?

Little Kings Shuffle Club. photo by thedayjobs.com

ATHENS: this event came together super last minute.  I was always planning on bringing the truck to Athens – this is one of those towns I’ve always been curious about, as an unusually high percentage of my favorite bands have come out of here.  I knew it was a place I wanted to visit.  But for some reason, I just couldn’t get my act together to book something.  Other things kept coming up and getting in the way of making any plans.  And so I was thrilled when Rick Hawkins, a dealer of letterpress equipment (and scooters, and old computers, and film projectors, and toy accordions, and diesel engines, etc etc) contacted me to see if I wanted any help setting something up.

some of Rick's collection

He ended up securing some parking at Little Kings Shuffle Club, a super low key and awesome bar downtown with a great big patio and parking lot.  He also got the word out to the local papers and you know what?  People showed up!  It turned out to be a great night.  The next morning, I ate a hearty breakfast at The Grit before shoving off to Atlanta.  Athens and Greenville, my visits were too quick, but I will be back some day.  I like you.

giant hand! photo by Nicolai Froehlich

(photo by Nicolai Froehlich)

Letterpress Fest!  Letterpress Feast!  Letterpress Zest!  It was a big week in Charlotte, as I participated in their first annual Letterpress Fest.  This week-long event was organized by AIGA Charlotte, and featured workshops, panel discussions, presentations, film screenings, and an exhibit/raffle, all centered around, you know, letterpress.  It was a ton of fun.  Not only did I get to meet some wonderful folks at AIGA (Nikki Mueller and Melissa Broderick, I’m looking at you), but I was also honored to share a stage with Jim Sherraden (Hatch Show Print), Kseniya Thomas and Jessica White (Ladies of Letterpress) and Beth Faragan (Crayton-Heritage).  The fabulous Kelly Koeppel (k2forma) moderated our discussion about the current state of letterpress printing, the frenzy that is gripping the nation, as well as stories about our own individual practices and studios.  The conversation was really informal, but I think it was informative and interesting for folks in the audience, and I certainly enjoyed hearing from each of my co-panelists.  I think we each occupy a different corner of this world, and were each able to offer a different take on this thing we all love.  Thanks for pulling together a great event, you guys.  Also, Kelly taught me a cool parlor trick involving Scotch.

what does this mean?

Crossing over into NC from the balmy southern Atlantic coast, I was a bit disappointed to find that it was still winter in the rest of the country.  I felt disoriented, and a little betrayed.  But there is no better antidote for betrayal than a visit with the kids at Blue Barnhouse.  (Don’t worry, I don’t know what that means either).

Brandon & Emily

I’ve mentioned this before, but I worked at Blue Barnhouse in Asheville for a year when I first started printing.  Those were wild and beautiful days.  This past summer, they relocated the shop to Wilmington, and so it was toward this port town that I steered the ol’ truck.

here be the presses I learned on: Vandercook Uni I and C&P 12x18

I parked the rig outside Brandon and Emily’s house and let them drive me around for the weekend.  We drank lots of coffee, went to the (cold and windy) beach, took a ferry ride, went bowling, watched Rio Bravo, visited the new shop and, for old time’s sake, I helped them bag cards and package orders.  That’s probably not everyone’s idea of A Good Time, but it felt strangely comforting to me… like, the most mundane, normal thing ever, which was just what I needed to feel less adrift.  So, umm, thanks for putting me to work, guys.

these guys print a *lot* of cards

I lost big time

If I lived in Savannah, I would not work.  Rather, I would sit in parks and write, draw, and think.  I would ditch my car and walk everywhere, all the time.  Sometimes I would drink coffee while walking, and sometimes, because it is legal to do so here, I would drink shandies.  It is always Shandy weather in Savannah.

I visited Armstrong Atlantic State University, and was welcomed by a very large and very sweet group of students who were very excited about getting on the press.  Thanks so much for coming out, you guys – I really like your town.  And you.

Charleston greenery

After spending a day or two fantasizing about my life in Savannah, I headed up the coast to Charleston.  Turns out this town isn’t so bad, either.  I walked around the compact city core, peering into secret gardens and playing the “which house would I most like to live in?” game.  As much as I love being on the road, it probably comes as no surprise that I’m also craving a little stillness, to feel at home in one place.  Even just for a little while.  I find these urges come and go, but they’re definitely in full force when I’m in a place that I particularly respond to.  Walking around Charleston, I kept thinking, “what if this was my neighborhood? What would my days look like?  Where would I walk my dog?  Where did I get the money to live in this house?”  BIG QUESTIONS.  Eventually, I found the house I would want to live in.  It’s not the grandest house in town – far from it – but it feels like a place I would like.  It’s small and Kyle-scaled.  It has a balcony with french doors that I would leave open most of the time.  Check it:

home sweet home!

But enough about me.  I came to Charleston to connect with the rad ladies at Sideshow Press.  Not only are they very talented printers and designers, but these gals know how to throw a party.  A peanut party.  Boiled peanuts, popcorn, sodas in glass bottles with adorable yellow and white straws, a photo booth, and little striped bags for everyone to put their prints in to take home.  I took some terrible photos after dark and after most of the people had left, so these hardly capture the spirit of the night.  But the spirit was very high.

yes, that is a quoin-as-paperweight

earlier in the night, the parking lot was full of revelers

Thank you, Charleston!

After my mini vacation in the Keys, I headed up the coast a bit to Boca Raton, to the Jaffe Center for Book Arts, on the campus of Florida Atlantic University.  Arthur Jaffe, the center’s namesake and founder, is a spry 91 year old man who has been collecting books since he was a kid.  This collection represents the rambling story of his life in books.  We had a fabulous turnout, but this is one of those stops where I managed to not take a single photo (how does that happen?), so here is a photo I did not take, from an event I did not attend.

John pulls a print! Courtesy Jaffe Collection

John Cutrone, the director of the Jaffe Collection, and Seth Thompson, the collections specialist, also run Convivio Bookworks from their home, and they do beautiful work.  They were kind enough to put me up for the night, and sent me off with a starfruit from the tree outside their house.  It was delicious, by the way.

St Augustine harbor

The next day, I drove up the Atlantic coast to St. Augustine, and felt like I crossed over into another world.  Still Florida, but a far cry from the tropical climate and modern development of the southern part of the state.  It’s older here – much older.  And you can feel it.  St. Augustine is apparently the oldest European settlement in the United States, founded by the Spanish in 1565 and, much later, developed by Henry Flagler.  I had never heard of Flagler before coming to Florida but, apparently, he’s “kind of a big deal”.  He’s the guy responsible for developing much of the eastern coast of Florida, building hotels, and bringing the railroad all the way down to Key West in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  In St. Augustine, I visited Flagler College, which is housed in the former Ponce de León Hotel, a very grand hotel built by Flagler in 1888.  It is a grand and gorgeous structure, and it’s insane to me that it now houses college students.

that's a dorm room at the top of the tower...

I got to hang out with an especially awesome group of those students, who admitted that they kind of take for granted that they essentially go to school in a 5-star luxury hotel.  To their credit, though, I doubt many college students really appreciate the grand and historic architecture of their campuses.  I know I didn’t – not really.  I knew my campus was beautiful and the buildings were cool and old, but you know, I was in college.  I was thinking about other stuff.  Anyway, we printed some fun posters in honor of one of their professors, and then they took me out on a walking tour of the city and dinner at The Floridian, which was one of the best meals I’ve on had on this whole trip.  Thanks, guys!

And then, Jacksonville!  I had coordinated with the local AIGA chapter for this event, on a Sunday afternoon downtown.  We had a great turnout, everyone walked away with some Jacksonville souvenirs, and a lucky few had a turn printing their own stuff.  Big thanks to Jessi Bruton for setting it all up, and for providing me with some of her delicious macarons!

[yes]

Overseas Highway - OVER THE SEAS!

VACATIONTIME!!!!!  A vacation from blogging, too.  Instead, photos!

Bahia Honda State Park

KWLS HQ

this road goes all the way to Maine

Key West dog party

"Home of the Sunset"

sunset seems to have found its home

It was a good time.

OH MY GOD FLORIDA IS ENORMOUS.  I feel like I’ve been driving forever.  Sometimes I look at the map and can’t believe that Miami is even part of this country.  I mean, look at it!  So far down there!  But one of the good things about driving to Miami is that you get to go through the Everglades.  AND SEE ALLIGATORS SNOOZING ON THE BANKS OF A RIVER.

Once I got to the city, I went straight to the beach.  I also did a lot of walking around town, looking at the awesome deco architecture.

And I determined that the truck looks good parked in front of these buildings.

I did a workshop at Allie Munroe, a design studio specializing in stationery and wedding invitations.  They have a lot of their work letterpress printed by a shop in Chicago, and it was fun to be able to share the actual process with the staff so they could see what it’s all about.  I also did a public event at Pearl Art Supply in South Miami (with thanks to Ross and Monica!), where I managed a pretty funny typo, later corrected.

woops!

GOOSE!

And the last stop was at Lester’s, a cafe/bar/bookshop/gallery in the Wynwood neighborhood which, in the small world department, is run by Dan, a friend of a friend of mine.  Lester’s has a wall of framed photos of mustachioed men (see above).  I also met Dan’s friend Scott, who is another friend of another friend of mine, and runs a fake/real university called the University of Wynwood – check it out.

courtyard at studio b.

And so… Florida! Ye Old Sunshine State.  My first stop was at studio b, a gallery/studio/creative force in Alys Beach, which is a beautiful and very clean community a little west of Panama City.  I mention its cleanliness because it’s actually kind of insane how clean it is here.  Is it possible for a place to be too clean?  Studio b is a really dynamic and creative space, though, and hosts art shows, parties, cooking classes, life drawing sessions, and just about anything else you can think of.  It is run by photographer Colleen Duffley, and she and I coordinated a really fun morning workshop for 4 people.  We had some lunch, printed some posters, watched a spectacular sunset, and then had a sleepy evening as it began to rain.  Nice.

Panama City Publishing Co.

The next morning, I headed down the coast a bit to Panama City, a lively harbor town and home to the Panama City Publishing Company.  “West Florida’s Premier Printing Plant” is now a museum run by the city, and it’s a very well preserved monument to the work of George West, one of the “founding fathers” of Panama City.  He ran a newspaper here until his death in 1926, and the business was then carried on by his wife and eventually his grandson. who then sold it to the city for restoration and preservation.  It’s a beautiful print shop, and I had fun incorporating one of the old cuts from the collection into the day’s poster.  Lots of people came out to see the truck, make a print, and take home a little bit of history from their own town.

Jennifer's map!

And then, a long drive down to St Petersburg.  I ran into a little truck trouble on this stretch, which had me pulling into St Pete late for an event at Eve-n-Odd Gallery.  But folks stuck around and waited, and when I got there, I was treated to this sweet little chalk drawing on the sidewalk, courtesy of gallery owner Jennifer Kosharek.  Jennifer and her family were kind enough to take me to dinner and put me up for the night.  When we got to their house, I was warned that their two sugar gliders had escaped their cage and were on the loose.  I should be on the lookout.  It wasn’t until after a lengthy late night, kid-driven chase around the house resulting in an eventual capture that I learned that sugar gliders are tiny mouse-sized possums and not bats, as I had been imagining all along.