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update: I received a few shots from Friday's art fest. They are sending me more, but these should give you an idea. The last one is not very flattering, but oh well!
Demo-ing the press.
I brought out some of the materials used along with samples. The kids liked touching the raised polymer plates.
More press action.
Okay, so one thing you may not know is that I started out as a photography/design instructor. For 8 years I taught at the high school level and then as an adjunct in a nearby college. Sometimes I really miss teaching. Well today I was invited to participate in an area high school's annual art fest as a visiting artist. Having a background (and MFA) in photography, much of my teaching and formal exhibiting has been as a fine art photographer. But today I was excited to be able to share my printmaking interest with the students. Basically I had a big table in the lobby area of the school with all my supplies set up. I brought my little 5x8 Kelsey tabletop press along with some polymer plates, a tray of metal type, a computer slide show and lots of examples. Most students had never heard of letterpress so it was pretty interesting for them. They wanted to know how the press worked, if it had a battery, why I didn't 'just print it out from a computer'. Oh teenagers. They did get excited when we set some type (that read "HOWDY"), inked up the press with some pretty purple, and let the kids take turns making a print. Also in the slide show I had some photos of my big monster press so the kids could get a sense of how big the presses are. Overall the kids were pretty excited and were introduced to something that 99% of them had never heard of before.
Well one of the teachers is supposed to send me some photos this weekend from today's festivities. As soon as that happens, I will post them.
