Course Code: 26SAT005I
This in-person workshop takes place on Saturday, March 21st, from 11AM to 5PM ET
Please Note: Registration for this workshop closes on March 7th, at 11:59pm Eastern Time.
About the Workshop:
This thematic workshop will explore the history and role of newspapers involving typography, type setting, and the written word, and how that relates to the development of reproduction techniques and the craft of printing. Connections will be made between the act of writing and producing text, and formats and methods of printing text for print. We will discuss well-known authors such as Mark Twain and Walt Whitman, who were also printers and publishers, and how the practice of setting type and printing newspapers influenced their writing and design methods. We will also explore the conceptual, philosophical, and practical similarities involving the invention and role of machines, typography, photography, and multiples, and nature's ability to reproduce and multiply through plant propagation—relating Mark Twain's idea of the acorn and the sharing of clippings from his Night Cereus plant to Walk Whitman's ideas of nature, transcendentalism, and the human condition. Together, we will look at slide presentations, artist book examples from the Center for Book Arts collection, and learn about the making/setting/reproduction of type for printing. Participants will be asked to write and share printed text with the group using several frameworks for generating content, as well as bring a plant they can share clippings from.
Required Materials:
- Please bring plant clippings to class, if possible, a notebook for taking notes and writing/poetry that you may want to share.
All other materials will be provided by Center for Book Arts at no additional cost.
About the Instructor:
Jennifer Schmidt is a multi-disciplinary artist living in Brooklyn, NY, who works with print media, graphic design, writing, and sound to create site-responsive installations, video, and performances that question the role of visual iconography and repetitive actions within a given environment.
She received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Studio Art and Art History from the University of Delaware; and is Professor of the Practice in Print at SMFA @ Tufts University in Boston, MA.
Recent exhibitions and performances include: Miriam Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; 32. Biennial of Graphic Arts, International Centre for Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia; Institute for Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; International Print Center New York, NY; BRIC, Brooklyn, NY; Open Engagement, Queens Museum, NY; EFA Project Space, New York, NY; SPACES, Cleveland, OH; and Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA. Recent artist residencies include: TYPA, Estonia; AGA Lab, Amsterdam; The Morgan Conservatory, OH; Frans Masereel Centre, Belgium; Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, MD; Kala Art Institute, CA; Skaftfell Center for Visual Art, Iceland; Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Residency on Governor’s Island, NY; Nida Art Colony, Lithuania; The Banff Centre, Canada; and The Delaware Contemporary, Wilmington, DE. Jennifer Schmidt is a two-time fellow in Printmaking /Drawing/Book Arts from the New York Foundation for the Arts, and is a grant recipient from the National Endowment for the Arts.
All images courtesy of the instructor.