Jill and I were participating in a collaborative 2016 calendar project for the Chesapeake Chapter of the American Printing History Association and I thought a black & white photo would work nicely to show the production of my July effort.
Read moreHamilton Wood Type Museum Exhibition / July - August 2015
A selection of our Tour de Lead Graffiti 2011 - 2014 broadsides was the inaugural exhibition in the new gallery space at the Hamilton Wood Type Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. We watch the daily broadcast of the Tour de France and then translate those events into a broadside designed and printed the same day. Using handset wood & metal type & other objects, we print the old fashioned way via letterpress to create 23 broadsides in 23 days. We call it “endurance letterpress.”
We were very pleased and excited to display such a large quantity of our project and we thank museum director Jim Moran, for offering this honor to Lead Graffiti.
The new gallery has a 50′ wall which is perfect for hanging 42 broadsides very close together. You’ll see below that the exhibit looks kind of like a high-speed peloton on a long, flat stage across central France. The Museum, adding a special touch to the display, included a nice 40-year-old racing bike to hang with the work.
Jill and I traveled to the Hamilton Wood Type Museum 10 years ago or so. They’ve since moved into a new space which we hope to get out and see. The museum represents a major component in the history of printing & typography and it is great that there is some serious effort at preserving it.
For this show, we built a new set of frames designed specifically to hold the tour posters, and painted them awarm grey. The 14.5″ x 22.5″ posters are printed on Somerset Textured White 300 gsm paper, which is lush and sexy. The frame shown below is the wooden version which we have hanging in our studio. The frame slightly curves the poster which helps keep it locked in and also creates a slight angle change which helps show the impression we get from letterpress. The posters are works on paper, and we like them to feel like it.
All of the work (except for the date / stage / signature block in the lower left corner) is printed from handset wood and metal type. Many of the runs (Majka wink wink! above) are handrolled directly on the type to produce a more painterly quality.
Here are some photos from the exhibition taken by Lead Graffiti friend, photographer and letterpress lover, Lauren Rutten. Special thanks to Lauren for letting us share her photos.
Lauren Rutten with the opening panel of the exhibition.
A grouping of some of our favorite colorful posters from 2014. The labels explain how the events in the stage helped form the visuals for each poster.
Another group of favorite broadsides from 2013.
Yep, that’s the way Ray Nichols would suggest hanging the broadsides—a long line running at high speed. It looks like the museum did a great job of getting them straight, drafting one another just like the peloton headed across central France.
Another gallery view from a little less acute angle.
A closer look at the opening panel with our Lead Graffiti logo.
John Nash (1928–2015) & Alicia Nash (1933-2015)
The recent death of Nobel Prize winner, John Nash, reminded me of one of my favorite design projects and a beautiful evening. Bob Gill, one of my design heroes, said a good idea should be “Surprising. Original. Inevitable.” I think this idea for a poster promoting the event fits that rule quite nicely.
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2015
WHYY-TV’s Best of 2014
Back in June 2014 WHYY-TV in Philadelphia, who does a weekly show on goings-on in Delaware, did a nice segment on Lead Graffiti. In the photo below you can see the WHYY-TV cinematographer recording Tray working on our Intertype C$ linecaster. Be sure to link to the almost 4:00 segment below.
They had just listed their WHYY’s Best of 2014 entitled “First for Friday, December 19, 2014.” Quite nicely and totally unexpected, we are listed first and were the opening segment. Seriously, how nice is all of that.
At the top you can see an image of Jill from the segment. They interviewed the 3 of us, filming every corner of our studio, equipment, type, and lots of our work.. I think we came off pretty well, even mentioning goosebumps twice. Take a look and let us know what you think.
Link to WHYY-TV Best of Delaware 2014.
Our segment starts at 00:44 and runs through 4:23.
Visit by Jim Moran of the Hamilton Type Museum to Lead Graffiti
In the photo: Ray Nichols (left) with Jim Moran looking over the 2014 Tour de Lead Graffiti Stage 19 poster.
Jim Moran, director of the Hamilton Type Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, spent a nice couple of hours with Lead Graffiti Monday, October 13, 2014. Jim had spoken to AIGA / Philadelphia over the weekend and was coming to Newark, Delaware, to speak to a Visual Communications class of Ashley Pigford’s. Ashley, who shares a studio space next to Lead Graffiti, asked if we would like to get some time with Jim before his UD talk and we jumped at the opportunity.
We drove the hour up to Philadelphia to pick Jim and his wife, Nance and drove them the hour back to Newark. The drive back offered an opportunity to talk about Lead Graffiti and to give him some background information that would help us jump into the important projects we wanted to show once we arrived.
Overall, quite a nice day. And for anyone interested in letterpress a pilgrimage to Two Rivers, Wisconsin, is a rite of passage.
Jill and Ray had visited the Hamilton Type Museum back in 2006 when it was at its old location. Recently relocating to 1816 10th Street, Two Rivers, Wisconsin, they have a new view overlooking Lake Michigan.
Jim invited us to be the inaugural exhibition in the museum's new space with about 50 of our Tour de Lead Graffiti broadsides..
VCUK’14 British Library exhibition selfies
Our good friend and former teaching colleague, Bill Deering, was in London with a Visual Communications study abroad group when our exhibition opened at The British Library. We asked Bill to ask the students to shoot a ’selfie’ of them with the exhibition and we would offer our favorite the chance to work with us on 1 of our Tour de Lead Graffiti posters.
We had David Jones, Bill Roberts, Jill, Tray, and I to help us choose the best ones. In the end we thought we would offer it to 4 that our group liked the best. These were our top 4 in no particular order.
We liked that Chris Miello picked a heavy print to balance on his head.
Erica Holland’s “OMG! They crashed?”
Krista Adams took the opportunity to take a break with one of our "rest day" broadsides.
Olivia Prinzi did a nice, slow motion video (really nice hair) of her running through the exhibition. We especially liked the idea that she was RUNNING through the exhibition. We’ll see what The British Library thinks after I send the the link to this entry.
The four students were offered Stage 14 on Saturday, July 19 for the broadside.
London bombing's 7th anniversary / July 7, 2007
With the Tour de France headed at high speed toward London it hard not to think about the events 7 years ago. A group of terrorists bombed the London Tube system along with a bus.
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