installation of letterpress prints at The University of Central Florida for the exhibition TYPE OUT LOUD co-curated by Dori Griffin and Ashley Taylor, Jan-Feb 2024.

On display at TYPE OUT LOUD, UCF, 2024

See this print in the 2023 New Impressions exhibition at Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum.

This first print in the series began as I was putting away loads of wood type after a class demo. Jumbled letters on a galley almost spelled “Empress,” a word which immediately intrigued me. As I gathered more type, other words emerged until I had the phrase FREEDOM EMPRESS OVER BARREN GOLDEN COURTS. My found object/collage approach to writing has its origins in working with erasure poetry for many years. The printing process involved running pressure plates under each sheet to purposely disrupt the impression, and layering shifted transparent color runs across Thai Kozo paper. Back in my home studio, I cut some of the prints apart and layered them vertically to further disrupt and rebuild the text.

Letterpress and collage on Thai kozo paper, 20 3/8 “ X 13”

As a Florida artist, I’m appalled by bills put forth by the Florida legislature to censor discussions of race, gender identity and sexuality in schools, as well as ban drag shows, while simultaneously promoting a dangerous law, ironically named “The Public Safety Bill” that would allow someone to carry a gun without a license. These letterpress prints are meant to express strong opinions, create public awareness and raise money for organizations fighting this legislative agenda. As an artist and educator, I’m using the only power I have—my creative voice—to amplify the voices of others.

The second print in the series took the language of the first and built upon it, again by reusing type that was already set. The phrase PURGE EMPIRES UNDER LIMINAL VIOLENT TWILIGHT emerged and I began printing on our Vandercook Universal I. The process involved running pressure plates under each sheet to purposely disrupt the impression, and layering shifted transparent color runs across Thai kozo paper. Back in my home studio, I cut some of the prints apart and layered them horizontally to further disrupt and rebuild the text.

Letterpress and collage on Thai kozo, 20 3/4” X 13”

The third print in the series takes impressions from the first two and layers them together. The type was printed on the Vandercook Universal I and the process involved running pressure plates under each sheet to purposely disrupt the impression, and layering shifted transparent color runs across Thai Kozo paper. Back in my home studio, I cut some of the prints apart and layered them together. I found it interesting to see how words like EMPRESS and EMPIRES had established visual and etymological resonance, but others like LIMINAL and BARREN were at first, dissonant, but quickly formed a new mental image. The tension between the two different texts forced into a single image forces the viewer to forge connections between the two original phrases.

Letterpress and collage on Thai kozo, 20 1/4” X 13”

Created for the MAPC portfolio Found, Reclaimed and Reformed at Kent State, OH. Letterpress and relief printing on book pages and paper bag with repurposed plates and ink.

This series of letterpress prints explores cultural and commercial representations of 20th century midwestern agriculture and its intersections with American concepts of family, religion, tradition and our connection with animals. As the Artist-In-Residence at Constellation Studios in Lincoln, NE, one of my goals was to seek out an opportunity to make imagery that I would not have been able to create in my own studio. In the first day, I began digging through the studios' movable type and image collection, and I knew I'd found the perfect opportunity. Over two weeks, I pulled impressions of these "found-object collages," educating myself in the process about the cultural idiosyncrasies of the American midwest from the past as I got to know midwesterners from the present. The process gave me time to consider how material culture will always fall short of representing the real complexity of past lives, yet it can offer poetic insights, just as a time capsule does, into a population's values and aspirations. These images produce a strong sense of place and time; of Americana and the myth of the American dream. Abundant references to the quintessentially Nebraskan corn farm make this reference even more local. The pale yellow-green print Corn House includes images of the Henry Fields Seed & Nursery Company which was located in Lincoln, maps from upstate New York and a traditional looking home with a house-sized corn cob next to it. As much as it speaks about valuing "home," it also references leaving home to seek one's fortune. I made this print after meeting a native farm-raised Nebraskan, who had just returned home to Lincoln after decades of living on the West Coast. Her view of Nebraska had changed dramatically since leaving, just as her home town has transformed into a place with which she must completely reacquaint herself.

This series of letterpress prints was created on Arches Text Wove paper in editions of 10-15 each.