I was very interested to learn as much as I could about letterpress printing as possible during my sabbatical time. And along with letterpress printing, came a deep dive into not just the history of printing but typographic history, manufacturing, publishing, the dissemination of information, and so many other topics. Continue Reading Post
As part of his sabbatical project, “Rebus Quotes and Other Typographic Explorations,” BDA Principal and Professor of Graphic Design Communication, Frank Baseman, was fortunate to serve as an Artist in Residence at Raven Press in the Department of Art and Design at the University of Delaware, Newark, DE. Continue Reading Post
After a rather exhaustive search, “Vanessa the Pressa,” a 1960–1970 era Vandercook SP-15 letterpress arrived by crate and truck and entered my life just in time for the holidays. And she made a long trip too, coming all the way from Toronto, Canada. It’s too long a story—but a good one—but, suffice it so say that the searching was worth it. Continue Reading Post
People sometimes ask me what is a rebus? Why this fascination with rebuses? Well, nowadays we can say, think of “America Runs on Dunkin” or “I Heart New York” (designed by the famous American Graphic Designer, Milton Glaser), as the form of the rebus has been used in visual communication for many years now. Continue Reading Post
After my foray to Hamilton, I started to work in real earnest on my sabbatical topic. As I began to research/write/plan/design, the project began to take some shape and form, and even started to have somewhat of a title, which came to stick: “Rebus Quotes and Other Typographic Explorations.” Continue Reading Post
And so it began. With a rather massive roadtrip (almost 1,000 miles each way!) to the mecca of all meccas of letterpress printing and wood type, a visit to the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. My fascination—or some would say, my obsession (I rather choose to use the word, “dream”)—with letterpress printing begins. But really when did it begin? Continue Reading Post