The Letterpress Guild of New England (LGNE) celebrates its 30th year, its Pearl Anniversary, with a juried exhibit of nearly 100 letterpress printed broadsides (posters) from the U.S. and Britain, August 30 – September 30, at the Arsenal Center for the Arts. The exhibit represents hand-set work by professionals as well as enthusiastic hobbyists: printer promotions, concert posters, poetry, general advertising and typographic designs.
The reception on Saturday, September 8, from 1 – 4:00PM, will feature a 2:00PM talk by master printer John Kristensen of Firefly Press, who has been profiled on WGBH-TV. And in a nod to the Guild’s Pearl Anniversary, a member from the Museum of Printing in North Andover will demonstrate the printing of keepsakes on a Pearl platen press, manufactured by Boston’s Golding & Co. in the late 19th century.
The Arsenal Center galleries – free to the public - are open Tuesday through Sunday, 12PM – 6PM. Call 617-923-0100 for further information or visit www.arsenalarts.org.
Letterpress is a “relief” printing process – the printing surface is raised in relief from the non-printing area. Traditionally, letterpress has utilized type-metal letters to create marks on paper by pressing the inked relief surfaces of the letters into paper, a single sheet at a time. In this age of digital printing, letterpress has undergone a revival for those opting for a more tactile and personalized printing process.
