Following a call out in December we were delighted to commission printmaker David Armes to produce our SSW 10th anniversary commission. The final print is a limited edition three-fold letterpress-printed artwork.
Background
Letterpress is the printing process by which books and posters were printed for the best part of 500 years. Since its decline as an industry, it has become more widely used by artists, craftspeople and artisans to make work in which slowness and working by hand-and-eye are perhaps the most
important functions. It is listed as an endangered craft by the Heritage Craft Association.
How was the work made?
The artwork to celebrate the SSW 10th anniversary was printed from hand-set metal and wood
type using three different printing presses:
- Eickhoff 1BS proof press (1957)
- Vandercook SP15 proof press (1960s)
- Adana 8×5 tabletop press (1970s)
The artwork went through seven separate printing passes using a combination of these three presses. Each time, the sheet is fed by hand through the press. The large “PROGRAMME PROCESS PLACE” text even involved two layers of ink being applied to the type, before it was partially wiped by hand to create the wave/ripple effect. There was then one final element added purely by hand – the green leaf element was created by gently running an ink roller across the paper with a fern leaf (taken from the canal) underneath, so a ‘ghost image’ of the leaf appears.
The texts included are all extracted from Super Slow Way projects and the conversations around them. From the Exbury Egg to the Pocket Park, from Shapes of Water, Sounds of Hope to 21st Century Protest Songs. They are all united by the desire to “Hold Slowness Dear”.
David is a visual artist working with print, language and geography, primarily using letterpress printing to make typographic artworks ranging from artist’s books to art prints to large scroll installations. His work is frequently site-specific and considers how experience of place can be represented. Through using what was once an industrial print process, he is interested in where the multiple meets the unique, where the ephemeral meets the archival.
You can find out more about David’s work over on his website.
