Foothill Features: Hands-On Heritage

[00:00:17]I love the idea of your local community print shop or letterpress shop. You know, traditionally every small town would have their own letterpress shop.

[00:00:28]And obviously things have changed. You know, we're not printing newspapers anymore.

[00:00:33]Um but you know, I'm still making posters. People are wanting to appreciate handmade things again, whether it's like folks knitting or throwing pots or listening to vinyl records. Um and especially now with like AI illustrations happening, it's just kind of this happy accident in which I find a lot of people turning towards me because there's kind of this return to the handmade and crafts that that people are appreciating.

[00:01:14]We're primarily known as um a woodcut poster shop. Um one of only a few places in the country that are still making commissioned posters from hand-carved [music] woodblock prints and set type letterpress printing.

[00:01:33]I have two printing presses I work on.

[00:01:35]One was built in the 1960s and one was built in 1903. Um I do all my printing on that.

[00:01:42]But most of the style and technology I'm working [music] with is how things were made in the late 1800s, early 1900s all all across America.

[00:02:01]>> So, letterpress printing um traditionally refers to printing from movable type and relief printing. And relief printing is anything printed off of a raised surface. You're inking up the surface and you're printing that surface.

[00:02:20]Movable type dates back to Johann Gutenberg in the 15th century Germany and [music] printing was basically done that way up until like the late 1800s.

[00:02:34]But alongside the type, if you wanted imagery, you would do some sort of engraving in wood. So, what I'm doing today is I'm still using that old type from the early 1900s um late 1800s that I've collected over the years to [music] print text with alongside my hand-carved woodblock images.

[00:02:59]It's a pretty time-consuming process.

[00:03:01]You know, once I figure out my game plan for which colors I'm going to use and what order I'm going to print them in, I will start transferring my drawings onto [music] pieces of cherry veneer plywood.

[00:03:13]I'll hand-carve one color at a time and then I print the first color. You know, if it's 100 posters, I'll print 100 of that color.

[00:03:22]Move on to the next color, have to carve the block. Print that, you know, until they're done and then they could be trimmed [music] and then all my posters are hand-signed and hand-numbered. They're limited edition.

[00:03:34][music] Once they sell out, I don't print more of them.

[00:03:41]There's a saying that's power to the press and you know, that saying relates back to the newspaper days in which whoever had the printing press got to make the newspaper and spread the news.

[00:03:54]But, there's still some truth to that.

[00:03:55]You can still use print making, and specifically letterpress, to spread information, share information, share art. You could put out messages for events, or protests, or sending positive kind of energy out into the community.

[00:04:13]Um you're making more than one. The idea of the print is to make something and just spread it.

[00:04:23]>> Print making, the oven of print making is really making artwork accessible because you're making multiples. You can um put them at a price point in which people can afford it, but still looks really nice. And so, I think that's something that both Bobby and I and the business really enjoy is being able to do things for people that they can actually afford and enjoy.

[00:04:47]I think one of the big misconceptions about artists and art [music] is the inaccessibility or the pretension that might be around it.

[00:04:57]Labeling things as high art or low art, you know, folk art, [music] fine art, kind of those that language is can be really alienating. The aspect of [music] print making and the things that we're doing here and the accessibility of our work kind [music] of breaks those barriers, I think. Also, the beauty of letterpress and woodcut is [music] mistakes happen all the time. Those imperfections are actually what makes it beautiful. So, that precision like kind of pulls away any sense of pretension.

[00:05:35]The lead [music] type or the wood type that we have is uh something that I've always been drawn to. Um it already kind of has this Appalachian rural kind of folksy theme to it because of the way it's kind of hand honed and hand done and then there's little wear and tear on our type and our designs. And so it would became to a point that we realized how much of like our surroundings, our community kind of had that. It was like worn in in a nice way. [music] And um you know, the type and the the illustrations really fit [music] into the aesthetic of just where the town was. That was kind of really beautiful how that all fit in. And it got to a point that like even our town people felt like we were kind of branding our town. They'd see our work and it just felt like it fit so well here.

[00:06:25]>> Living in Appalachia has definitely had a huge influence on my art. I'm not originally from here, so I'm also wary of of calling myself an Appalachian artist, but I I've been here for 16 years now. My kids were [music] were born here. I love art from the region. I like I like folk art. I like art that has little imperfections and [music] shows the hand of the maker.

[00:06:53]Um wood block printing [music] in general, I you know, its roots are in kind of like the Appalachian [music] folk art world, the traditional poster making world. I play the banjo, like to spend time outdoors [music] canoeing and hiking and walking with my dog. And so all of these things kind of come into my work [music] and kind of present themselves in in the posters. You know, over the years I've kind of developed a style that is hopefully my own.

[00:07:28]>> Well, I've been working with Billy Strings for about 6 years now. That's been cool cuz I I started working with him when he was just kind of up-and-coming. I do a lot of kind of local stuff. I've been working with Stewart's Opera House and the Nelsonville Music Festival for 15 years now. They were one of my first clients.

[00:07:46]I've done all the labels for Little Fish Brewing Company in Athens, and they were they've been really fun to work with.

[00:07:53]Just like a lot of like local trail runs and our um local festivals. It's really fun getting to work with local organizations. Obviously, it's great getting to work with folks like Billy Strings or Willie Nelson or Jack Daniels, but when you're doing projects in the community, it's kind of cool to see your posters up around town and attend the events where your art plays a a role in the grassroots nature of putting on a local small festival. It's just kind of fun being part of that.

[00:08:25]>> The town and the community just really embraced us over the years. It feels like especially when there's old-time music playing back here, you know, in a band during First Friday or whatever, and there's a dog in the doorway, like it feels [music] like you're welcome and this isn't a high art gallery in which don't touch anything, don't talk loudly kind of thing. [music] So, that aspect is pretty wonderful when you see new people come in and just want to check out all the stuff and are >> [music] >> interested not only the artwork, but just how we make it. And it feels like we created a space for other artists to kind of shine, too. And so, now it's kind of [music] a central place the shop is a central place for people to gather.

[00:09:06]>> [music] >> So, I'm definitely like a firm believer of like you know, the arts can have a positive impact on a community. You know, I just happen to be drawn to carving wood blocks and printing.

[00:09:20][music] You know, the tradition of crafts is that you would study under a craftsman to learn the trade. And so, [music] I have apprentices and interns that come through and learn how to use these machines, learn how to [music] block prints. I think it is an important thing for us as humans to continue to work [music] with our hands and create things and put it out there in the world. Um and [music] I'm just trying to do my part.

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