A Great Start to the Week!

Kirsten O'Loughlin’s letterpress workshop at Pyramid Atlantic made a great start to the third annual Clarvit Design Week. She put the participants to work setting metal type of a favorite quote or tweet. Citations ranged from Nelson Mandela to Nietzsche to Zooey Deschanel to even Prof. Thorpe. Quite a range indeed.



After an initial orientation about setting metal type, everyone began placing the appropriate letters into their compositions.



The students had to arrange backward-reading letters so that the words read correctly when the relief was printed.



New school meets old school.







The individual quotes were then arranged into one collaborative composition.



The morning session participants had a lively discussion about which ink color(s) should be used. Hot pink was an early forerunner, but it lost out to a teal and charcoal gray combination.





Once the quotes were compiled, a few necessary adjustments were made. Students added dingbats and other typographic marks to separate the quotes from one another.



After a final check of the type to make sure the errors had been eliminated and everything was in order, it was time make the prints. Each participant got a turn at running the press.



Lauren Siewertsen was the first to try her had at printing.



ARHU Dean Thorton Dill stopped by the workshop and had the opportunity to make a print as well. We are pleased to report that she handled the press like a pro. Perhaps we have a design convert in our midst?



Ali Clarvit with her print of the morning session’s quotes.



Nancy Clarvit takes her turn at printing.



After the prints were made, Kirsten shared some of her work from Sensura Studio. From left are Carey Ward, Sofia Chung, Nancy Clarvit, Ali Clarvit, and another special guest to the workshop, Mrs. Barbara Loh.



The morning group from left are Sofia Chung, Carey Ward, Lauren Siewertsen, Christa Ursini, April Chaires, Rebecca Welling, Ian McDermott, Kirsten O'Loughlin, Alex Dinsmore, Nancy Clarvit, Emily Hein, Ali Clarvit, Prof. Buck-Coleman, and Prof. Thorpe.



The afternoon group from left are Terry Coleman, Aurora Colón, Eliza Rownaghi, Asha Augustine, Kirsten O'Loughlin, Sabrena Sesay, Christina Bilbrey, and Brian George.