About

This event has been postponed. A new date will be scheduled.

A broadside is a single sheet of paper, printed on one side only, and intended for display. Historically, they were made as announcements, proclamations, and advertisements. With the resurgence of interest in letterpress printing, broadsides have emerged as a satisfying approach to incorporating the written word with fine art techniques.

About ninety percent of the time Ellie Mathews spends in her Port Townsend letterpress shop is dedicated to designing and printing poetry broadsides. She has a history in traditional graphic design and brings a keen interest in type and letterform to her process. Ellie and her husband, Carl Youngmann, teach BARN workshops titled Letterpress Fundamentals, Pixels to Print (converting digital images to high contrast for platemaking), and DIY Photopolymer for Letterpress and Printmaking.

In an effort to demystify a complex subject, in this evening lecture, Ellie will show examples while stepping through some of the considerations involved in making design choices for printing poetry broadsides—including nuts and bolts references to legibility, use of color, organization of graphic elements, page dimensions, order of operations, and the practicalities of short run printing.

Details:

This is a free lecture open to the public. Bring a friend!

Presenters:

Ellie Mathews began using photo-polymer plates forty years ago to make Braille signage. More recently, Carl Youngmann has figured out the intricacies of printing ink-jet negatives, exposure times, and washout temperatures to make his own plates at home, sometimes by using nothing more complicated than the sun as his light source. Together, they will guide you through the basics and share their enthusiasm for DIY methods.

If you have any questions, please contact Peggy Graving (peg10173@gmail.com).