Once considered a dying medium, the art of letterpress printing has gone the way of vinyl records over the last 10 years, where despite advanced digital technologies, a new generation is finding itself drawn to the unpredictability of ink.
At an Oct. 17 lecture at the Mancos Community Center, Matt Neff, director of the University of Pennsylvania Common Press, spoke about the letterpress’ resurgence in the art world and avenues by which the Mancos Common Press can tap into the movement.
Since its founding in 2006, the Penn Common Press facility has been used to not only teach art students about printmaking via traditional letterpress, but as a research hub for local artists and writers engaged in book and chapbook making, poster printing, and general experimentation with type and ink.
“Grad programs with letterpress blew up about 10 years ago. It’s been great to see young people set type, and get excited about getting ink on their hands... There’s magic in them experiencing the physicality of what they just made,” said Neff. “My students are obsessed with this because they don’t touch this stuff. Everything is digital. They don’t even turn in papers anymore.”
Collaborating with local high schools and colleges to educate students on the history of letterpress and on the art of self-publishing is a viable path for the Mancos Common Press, he noted, as is an artist-in-residence program.
The entity is still at the very early stages of securing funding to build programming, but Neff said he sees the space – and it’s crown jewel, the 19th century Cranston Printing Press – as being an open and accessible artspace for the community, and for artists and writers via an artist-in-residence program.
Similar programs typically bring artists and writers down to studios for a set period of time to work on a project, and in exchange, the artists teach workshops and classes.
“It’s one model to think about. There’s space with the storefront for an artist to essentially be on view while they work,” Neff noted. “I’ve been telling people about this in the field, and they’re saying ‘sign me up’.”
Frank Matero, a part-time Weber Canyon-area resident, Penn professor of architecture and Mancos Common Press founder, also noted during the lecture that an oral history component was in the works.
“So if you have stories about the Mancos Times, or the printing business we will want to hear from you,” said Matero. “When we were here last summer, it was amazing having so many people come in to tell us stories.”
Using some of the funds it raised via a Kickstarter campaign this summer, the Mancos Common Press has already started rehabbing the building and is reapplying for grant funding from History Colorado.
