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Announcing the Fall 2021 Artists-in-Residence

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The Printing Museum is pleased to announce the Fall 2021 class of the Museum’s Artist-in-Residence Program. The artists will join the vibrant, creative community at the museum and use our studio spaces and teaching resources to create unique bodies of work.

Launched last fall, the Artists-in-Residence provides access to TPM studios, one-on-one instruction in book arts, mentorship, and a materials stipend. Each artist will create a unique body of work from the residency and donate an edition to the museum.

Welcome!

Macau Temple

Melissa Aytenfisu

Melissa Aytenfisu specializes in oil painting, printmaking, digital print media and mixed media collage. A native of Edmonton, Alberta, Aytenfisu earned a Bachelor’s degree in Education at the University of Alberta and a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree at Concordia University. Aytenfisu’s experience growing up in a multi-racial family of nine and travelling through Africa, Asia and North America have directed her artistic practice towards themes of identity, mobility and social justice.

Gaby Hurtado-Ramos

Gaby Hurtado-Ramos is a multi-disciplinary artist making prints and illustrations dedicated to immigrant justice and queer futures. Her drawings express queer resilience through instances of joy and pleasure in the midst of a world on fire. Inspired by radical printmakers, Gaby believes art should be socially engaged and accessible. Following this tradition, she crafts illustrations and prints that support immigrant communities and organizing in the US/Mexico borderlands. She has collaborated with groups in Tucson including the Coalición de Derechos Humanos, Mariposas Sin Fronteras, Borderlands Theater, and the Jewish History Museum.

E. Oscar Maynard

E. “Oscar” Maynard has a self-designed B.A. in Visual Art, Psychology, and Gender Studies from Antioch College and an MFA from San Francisco Art Institute in Printmaking. Their work has been shown at Somarts, Mission Cultural Center, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and in National Queer Arts Festival shows. In 2016, they curated You Are Enough, a visual arts show looking at mental health and survival through a queer lens. Past residencies and fellowships include: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Blue Mountain Center, the Equal Justice residency at Santa Fe Art Institute, Kala Art Institute, and A Studio in the Woods. They fell in love with letterpress in 2017 and have never looked back. 

Ignacio E. Sanchez

Ignacio Eloy Sanchez, better known as “Nacho,” is a Mexican-American artist whose work is recognized for its colors, patterns, repetition, and his travels to Mexico and South America. Nacho experiments with scale in artwork ranging from paintings to murals where he utilizes various mediums such as ink, pastels, acrylics, oil bars, and aerosol paint.

Nacho recently received his Bachelor’s of Arts from the University of Houston. Recent exhibitions include Dolores Huerta: Revolution in the Field/Revolucion en los Campos at the Holocaust Museum Houston and a mural at the Station Museum.

Nacho currently resides in Houston’s historic Third Ward where he works with local businesses and nonprofits to bring color and life to the neighborhood.

Lindsay Gary selected as 2021 Writer-in-Residence

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Lindsay Gary
2021 Writer-in-Residence

The Printing Museum is proud to have selected Lindsay Gary as it’s inaugural Writer-in-Residence for 2021. Museum staff will guide and support the publishing of Gary’s book proposal, tentatively titled “A Guide to Black Houston.”

The printed and virtual guidebook will feature historical and cultural sites central to the experiences of African American Houstonians and to Houston at-large. These include the first schools, cultural institutions, and churches for African Americans. Currently, there are very few projects that share a comprehensive story of the contributions of African Americans to the life of the city.

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The Bookseller of Florence:

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The Story of the Manuscripts That Illuminated the Renaissance

Ross King | 496 pgs | Atlantic Monthly Press

A thrilling chronicle set against the dramatic artistic and scientific advances and turmoil of the Renaissance in Florence, The Bookseller of Florence, by bestselling author Ross King, tells the forgotten story of “the king of the world’s booksellers,”  Vespasiano da Bisticci. 

Vespasiano produced and sold many hundreds of volumes from his bookshop over four decades at a time when all books were made by hand. Works of art in their own right, his books were copied by the finest scribes and miniaturists. He counted the elite as his patrons: popes, kings, and princes across Europe. Vespasiano reached the height of his influence as the era’s most prolific purveyor of knowledge when a new invention appeared in the 1450s: the printed book. Within 30 years, his world was upended by this technological disruption that brought cheap books to the masses.

BOOK DISCUSSION

The Bookseller of Florence


Join docent Matt Adams for a discussion of Ross King’s newest work which zeros in on the era when written communication shifted from handwritten manuscripts to printed pages.

REGISTER

MUSEUM STORE

The Bookseller of Florence is an ode to books and bookmaking that charts the shift from script to print through the life of an extraordinary, unknown titan of the Renaissance.

PURCHASE

Behold, one of the world’s smallest books

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Published in Padua by the Salmin Brothers in 1896, the Galileo was until recently considered the smallest book printed from movable type, and it remains one of the most renowned miniature books in existence. The text is the Novantiqua, the famous 1615 letter sent by Galileo to his friend and patron Madama di Lorenza, in which he argues for the harmony of religion and science.  

Miniature book expert Ruth Adomeit once remarked that this edition was the “greatest marvel of bookmaking in the history of miniature books.” (Four Thousand Years of Tiny Treasures, Grolier Club, 2006, A. Bromer and J. Edison.) According to Bromer and Edison, the 1896 edition created quite a sensation when released. 

Measuring only .75 x .51 inches, the book uses the legendary ‘Fly’s eye type’ (Occhio di mosca) previously used by the publishers for their 1878 edition of Dante’s Divina Commedia. The type, cut by Antonio Farina in 1834 but never used by him, was cast in 1850 by order of Giacomme Gnocchi of Milan. The typeface is so small, at 2 pt, that it reportedly damaged the eyesight of the typesetter due to the difficulty of working so small.  

Galileo a Madama Cristina di Lorena (1615) will be on loan to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston for the exhibition,  Bookbinding Uncovered: Materials, Techniques, and Artistic Expression, and will be on display in the Hirsch Library Reading Room from July 14 – October 21, 2021.  

Hope Is Action

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CONTEMPORARY LETTERPRESS PRINT EXCHANGE

The Printing Museum in collaboration with Thomas Printers and Partners in Print invited contemporary artists from around the world to participate in a print exchange with the theme Hope is Action. Over 50 artists submitted printed works inspired by this theme — diverse in style, content, and printing technique. What’s assembled is a survey of the breadth and depth of contemporary letterpress printing taking place around the world.

How did the idea for the Hope is Action print exhange come about?

Jessica Snow: I attended the virtual Ladies of Letterpress 2020 conference last fall. The conference has been growing since its inception in 2011 and is a welcoming gathering of a diverse group of people from all gender expressions and printing backgrounds: enthusiast to professional printer. During the last day, guest speaker Jenny Wilkson, founder of Partners in Print, shared how they were emerging out of the devastating closure of the letterpress program at the School of Visual Concepts in Seattle, brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst feelings of uncertainty and loss, but knowing she wanted to find a path forward, Wilkson was gently reminded by a neighbor, “Hope is not an emotion, it’s an action.”

The zoom chat immediately lit up in conversation as participants were inspired by this simple, but profound idea. A few people wrote, “you [Wilkson] need to print that!” That’s when I got the idea and shared that this quote could be an inspiring idea for a print exchange. That idea also garnered enthusiasm. 

What is a print exchange?

JS: Print exchanges harness the collective energy

and creation of individual prints on a theme or specific parameter. This act of creating and sharing on the theme of hope felt like it would be a powerful embodiment of the quote’s meaning. For those unfamiliar with print exchanges, printers create a specific number of prints roughly equal to the number of participants. Those prints are sent to one location where they are collated and then sent back to each participant printer who receives a copy of all the other prints.  

Was it hard to organize?

JS: It was easy to get started. At the close of the conference I reached out to Wilkson and to Ladies of Letterpress co-founder Kseniya Thomas who both offered support, and the Hope Is Action print exchange organization got underway. By the end of December 2020, more than 50 participants had signed up and by early January 2021 the first prints began arriving at The Printing Museum for collation. We had our challenges; there were a lot of details to keep track of, including collating, packing, and shipping the prints to all the participants. 

Was there always a plan to exhibit the prints?

JS: As the prints started arriving at TPM, it became clear that this body of work needed to be seen by an even broader audience as the theme resonated with viewers and participants. The exhibit is also an excellent example of the breadth and variety of letterpress printing that is being currently done by printers around the globe. It speaks to the ongoing vibrancy of the medium as both an art and a tool for engendering positive change.

The exhibit is on view through December 11, 2021. View the virtual exhibit.

Announcing the Spring 2021 Artists-in-Residence

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The Printing Museum is pleased to announce the Spring 2021 class of the Museum’s Artist-in-Residence Program. The artists will join the vibrant, creative community at the museum and use our studio spaces and teaching resources to create unique bodies of work.

Launched last fall, the Artists-in-Residence provides access to TPM studios, one-on-one instruction in book arts, mentorship, and a materials stipend. Each artist will create a unique body of work from the residency and donate an edition to the museum.

Welcome!

Diego Cañales – Zine artist

A BFA recipient of Texas A&M International University (Laredo), Diego Canales produces a number of works in a variety of media including illustration, painting, and ceramics, incorporating international concepts of history and culture into his work.

Intrigued by outer space, Canales plans to create a zine and a series of prints based on a NASA teachers’ guide to black holes and the mathematical equations used to understand their physical behaviors.

Melinda Laszczynski – Interdisciplinary artist

Melinda Laszczynski is an interdisciplinary artist working from a painting and collage background. She often uses found materials and objects, like lenticular prints, and is partial to the shiny, bright, and absurd. Her studio practice is playful, tactile, and reflective of contemporary experiences. Laszczynski plans to explore making and casting large-scale paper sculptures using a variety of book arts techniques.

Jennifer G. Thompson – Artist/designer

With roots in Texas and Mississippi, multidisciplinary artist and educator Jennifer G Thompson builds narratives in her work by using found objects, words, and images to explore cultural common ground. Thompson plans to create a series of broadsides and an artist book promoting Texas female artists.

Announcing the Fall 2020 Artists-in-Residence

Posted on by Printing Museum

The Printing Museum is pleased to announce the inaugural class of the Museum’s Artist-in-Residence Program. The artists will join the vibrant, creative community at the museum and use our studio spaces and teaching resources to create unique bodies of work.

Welcome!

Kill Joy – Printmaker

Born in the desert of west Texas, Kill Joy’s family is originally from and partly based in the Philippines, partly in Texas. Her work sits at the intersection where jungle meets desert, grounded in honoring the earth and seeking environmental and social justice. Her work is an interpretation of world mythology and a study of ancient symbols. She mixes this research with calls to global, mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual awareness. Her practice, Joyland, includes printmaking, mural making, bookmaking, puppet making in Houston, TX.

Shavon Morris – Designer/Stationer

Shavon attended Columbia College Chicago for art and design, where she was introduced to culture, history, craftsmanship, and social polarization. In her stationary practice, Shavon has been specializing in amazingly luxurious wedding invitations but has since wanted to transition into more simplistic pieces. Through the tactile experience of print and its limitless textures, Shavon desires to showcase cultural adages that offer healing to African Americans in familiar societal settings.

Caroline Roberts – Photographer

Caroline’s work explores our relationship with the natural world, particularly the world of plants. Working with photograms, her photographic installations play on well-established knowledge systems, such as the herbarium, the museum display, and the field guide. Often found hiking in state and national parks, her interest in landscape and the natural world is heightened by managing fifteen acres of wild, riparian forest in rural Texas.

Jimmy Van Luu – Designer/Educator

Jimmy is a designer and design educator based out of Austin, Texas where he is Associate Professor of Graphic Design at St. Edward’s University. His multi-disciplinary practice spans publication design to large-scale public art, and most recently, includes the launch of Riso Riso, a risograph publishing space in East Austin. He currently serves on the board of directors of DesignInquiry, a non-profit educational organization that explores pressing issues in design and culture through intensive, team-based gatherings.