2023
Press Power: Path with Art × PiP
In mid-July we took our presses and wood type to Path with Art, whose programming fosters the restoration of individuals, groups, and society from the effects of trauma through arts engagement and community-building. In only a few hours, participants created a multitude of prints affirming the transformative power of art in their lives.
Press Power: Estelita’s Library × PiP
Books are a powerful tool to ignite conversations, challenge perspectives, and inspires change — which is why Estelita’s Library invited everyone to their annual Juneteenth Day of Freedom Story Swap and celebration in Seattle’s Central District on June 17, 2023. Visitors contributed to a social justice book exchange, enjoyed food and music, toured a new ADA electric van co-op, and letterpress printed messages of books, paz and amor with Partners in Print.
Call for action: Support free speech
Book bans are drastically on the rise in many communities — even as a majority of Americans don’t support them. If the idea of books being removed from libraries and classrooms riles you up, learn ways to take grassroots action by joining the Free the Books campaign, organized by Jennifer Farrell — host of our free, virtual Shop Talk about print activism on October 7, 2023.
Now available: 2023 College Book Art Association Symposium
Lessons from Lockdown: Rethinking Book Art Education explored how the pandemic forced radical rethinking and innovation in the way book art is taught, learned, and experienced. Keynote speakers Jenny Wilkson (PiP) and Erin Beckloff (LEAD), along with other presenters, share insights and resources for online adaptations to book art education in these videos from the event.
Open call: Print Futures, winter 2024
Print Futures will soon be soliciting presentations for winter 2024, from emerging letterpress printers with an interesting project or experience in book arts, design, printmaking, or other related area. Speakers 18 years or older, especially those from traditionally underserved communities, are welcome to apply.
Press Power: Seattle Art Book Fair × PiP
Partners in Print took presses, wood type, paper, and ink to Seattle Art Book Fair at Washington Hall on May 6 for a free, family-friendly poster printing event. Using wood type, participants composed messages starting with the phrase “Books are…” and then letterpress printed them on posters, which were displayed for all to see.
Kristen T. Ramirez Fellowship for Latine Printmakers
The new Kristen T. Ramirez Fellowship for Latine Printmakers in the Pacific Northwest was created by Seattle Print Arts in honor of former PiP advisor and partner artist Kristen T. Ramirez, who passed in 2021. Kristen’s inspiration and impact as an artist, teacher, arts administrator, and community activist is immeasurable. This award provides a stipend of $2,500 stipend to produce new work or support a printmaking project in progress. Applications have closed, but will re-open spring 2024.
New Impressions 2023
Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum welcomes the return of New Impressions, an international, juried exhibition showcasing exploration and creativity with letterpress printing techniques by a diverse range of artists.
PiP’s spring 2023 fundraising campaign
Thank you, donors, for participating in our spring fundraising drive, which provides vital support for civic-minded arts programs for all ages and abilities. If you missed GiveBIG, it’s not too late to support the community arts programming that matters to you.
Print Futures: Spring 2023 recap
The April 23, 2023 edition of Print Futures featured three short presentations, a Q&A, and breakout sessions. Kudos to featured emerging letterpress printers Dave Cwiok (Chicago, IL); Erica Honson (Philadelphia, PA); and Lee Turner (Greenville, NC); and moderator Joshue Molina (Los Ángeles, California).
April is National Poetry Month
The letterpress printed pocket poems created for PiP’s Poetry for Everyone program feature the work of emerging, immigrant, and indigenous poets. Find these free cards during the month of April at independent bookstores and National Poetry Month events in Washington State — a tangible reminder of what program founder Claudia Castro Luna calls, “the power and beauty of language.”
Words of Courage tours Seattle
Letterpress printed poetry broadsides written by young patients from Seattle Children’s Hospital are on a year-long, city-wide tour of various public libraries and galleries. After stops at various branches of Seattle Public Library, these prints from PiP’s longest-running program can be seen at Jack Straw Cultural Center through the end of April. Call 206-634-0919 or email jsp@jackstraw.org to schedule a visit.
Print Kit pilot program: Burke Museum × PiP
PiP’s Print Kit pilot program continues to develop and is quite the hit! Seattle artists Erin Shigaki and Fin’es Scott recently used a Print Kit to engage guests at Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. Using wood type and hand-carved images inspired by the Burke’s collections, visitors letterpress printed posters that bring to life the museum’s mission: to care for and share natural and cultural collections so all people can learn, be inspired, generate knowledge, feel joy, and heal.
Press Power: SPU AIGA × PiP
PiP teamed up with the Seattle Pacific University student chapter of AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) to host a Press Power letterpress poster-making event for the student body. At a time when SPU’s cruel and exclusionary hiring policies are alienating the school’s LGBTQ+ students, faculty, and staff, these students choose to spread love and acceptance. It seems like a small act of resistance, but it takes real courage to visibly share your truths for all to see.
LOVELETTERS 2023
The print exchange that launched Celebrating All Types at the 2021 Hamilton Wayzgoose is flying south to New Zealand! LOVELETTERS is a biennial traveling exhibition of typographic letterpress prints, currently stationed at Nathan Homestead for the Auckland Pride Festival. After a year of touring, the collection will join the Te Kowhai Print Trust archives in Whangarei for educational use.
Seattle Restored × PiP × Erin Shigaki
In 2022, Seattle Restored funded Partners in Print’s activation of an empty storefront at 1500 Fifth Avenue with a powerful display of community letterpress artwork. In February 2023 PiP partner artist Erin Shigaki, whose work calls attention to systemic injustices, reimagined the space in honor of Japanese American Day of Remembrance — asking, What kind of ancestors do we want to be?
APHA Conference: The Printed Weird
The American Printing History Association (APHA) will host The Printed Weird: Book History from the Margins — an in-person Conference at the University of Texas at Austin in October 2023. Presentations raising questions about established printing and book historical practices, knowledge, and objects — particularly those presenting out-of-the-mainstream, the apparently exceptional, or contradictory viewpoints — are the heart of this event.
ACPA Vote Posters continue to inspire
In 2020, PiP partnered with the Amalgamated Coloured Printers Association (ACPA) for a nationwide Voter Mobilization Initiative — galvanizing letterpress artists to get out the vote with the power of their printing presses. In February 2023 the posters were displayed at Baltimore’s Reginald F. Lewis Museum for the Elijah E. Cummings Democracy & Freedom Festival, a free event uniting political scholars and the surrounding community to foster democratic resilience and opportunity. The exhibition was hosted by the SNF Agora Institute in collaboration with Globe Collection and Press at MICA.
Print Futures: Winter 2023 recap
The February 5, 2023 edition of Print Futures featured presentations from emerging letterpress printers Mariia Reshetova (Prague, Czech Republic), Paul Oh (Aiken, SC), and Gregory Cowling (Berlin, Germany).
Letterpress printing as community building
Detroit-based printmaker, book artist and PiP Advisor Amos Kennedy returned to Bainbridge Island Museum of Art over Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend for more community printing and provocation. The free public events coincided with BIMA’s exhibition of Kennedy’s Rosa Parks Series.
Upcoming publication: Printing History 33
The American Printing History Association (APHA) will soon be publishing the next issue of its peer-reviewed journal Printing History, relating to the topic “Making Artistic Noise: Printing and Social Activism from the 1960s to the Present.” Research and comments from the wider community will be included in this July 2023 issue.
2022
The debut of PiP Print Kits
Our new Print Kit program is a letterpress print shop in a box for orgs, educators, and libraries. This innovative program is the result of the collective struggles and evolving priorities born from the pandemic. It took losing our teaching space to see this need — and we’re working hard to keep up with the demand!
Celebrating All Types: AIGA × PiP
In October 2022 we took our presses and wood type to the national AIGA Design Conference in Seattle for some tangible re-connection. Attendees, inspired by the Celebrating All Types poster gallery, added their voices to the installation by letterpress printing new messages advocating for inclusivity.
PiP at Hamilton Wayzgoose 2022
For the first time since 2019, the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum‘s annual Wayzgoose gathered in person in Two Rivers, WI. Partners in Print was pleased to be a sponsor of this amazing letterpress tradition. Thank you to all who stopped by our table to say hello!
Public art installation: Seattle Restored × PiP
Seattle Restored uses American Rescue Plan funds to pair downtown storefronts with artists and other small businesses to create vibrant public spaces for our community to grow and heal. PiP’s window display of letterpress posters reflected the torrent of powerful feelings that have marked our collective journey since 2020.
The stories we tell: Tether × PiP
In September 2022 Partners in Print moved a Vandercook printing press from Tether, a creative agency in Seattle, to a new PiP foster home. Tether’s motto — “we are the stories we tell” — perfectly captures how the press, in its next chapter of life, will help more people tell their stories through print.
Print Futures: Fall 2022 Recap
Print Futures celebrated its one-year anniversary in October 2022 with presentations on the theme of Evolution — of craft and vocation — from emerging printers Tess LeNoir, Matthew Jorgensen, and Ruth Yeates.
Press Power: South Lake Union Block Party 2022
South Lake Union Block Party celebrated its 16th year showcasing this lakeside community in downtown Seattle. Attendees enjoyed live music, food and activities from local artists — including outdoor letterpress poster printing with Partners in Print!
Press Power: BAM Kids Fair 2022
PiP took letterpress poster making to the masses for the Bellevue Arts Museum Arts Fair — a free art, craft, and design extravaganza for all ages. Inspired by Bellevue Art Museum’s French poster exhibition, L’Affichomania, participants used wood type to respond to the prompt, “What do you want to say to your community?” Their hand-printed posters created a vibrant wall of inspiring messages.
Press Power: DogEar 2022 at BIMA
We took our presses to Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (BIMA) on June 4, 2022 and set up an outdoor Press Power print studio for DogEar Festival, a celebration of artists books. When asked what messages they had to share with the community, visitors rolled up their sleeves and got to work. Each letterpress printed one poster to add to the public art installation, and one to take home.
Speak Up, Speak Out: Activism in Printmaking
On June 3, 2022 artists Kadin Henningsen, Kitty Koppelman and PiP instructor Ben Blount shared how they each use letterpress printing as a vehicle to envision a more just world. This online panel, presented by Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, was moderated by Catherine Alice Michaelis as part of DogEar Festival 2022.
Words & Actions: Bureau of Fearless Ideas × PiP
In May 2022 PiP took presses to the Museum of History and Industry in downtown Seattle and created a mini print shop for People Eating & Giving, a fundraising gala for Bureau of Fearless Ideas. Guests took turns inking the wood type and letterpress printing “Write Out Loud” and “Words & Actions” over colorful backgrounds. It was an inspired evening, full of creativity!
Thank you for Giving BIG!
We’re humbled by how many of you showed up for our spring 2022 fundraising drive to support the letterpress community. If you missed the 48-hour whirlwind of GiveBIG, but were still hoping to make a gift to PiP, it’s not too late to invest in the power of print!
Spring 2022 Print Futures recap
Print Futures had yet another stellar lineup of emerging letterpress artists at its free presentation series on April 24, 2022. Julia Syrzistie (Warsaw, Poland), Melissa Aytenfisu (Houston, TX), and Erin Moore (Baltimore, MD) shared their unique paths to gaining letterpress experience.
Poetry for Everyone: The Stories of Arrival × PiP
With the injustice of war on our minds, PiP reached out to The Stories of Arrival: Refugee and Immigrant Youth Voices Poetry Project to collaborate on 2022’s Poetry for Everyone offering. The program takes place at Foster High School in Tukwila, WA, one of the most culturally diverse high schools in the country. Participants use the power of creative writing to reflect on the immigrant experience and envision a more peaceful and humane world.
Press Power: Literature Month at UCDS
To celebrate University Child Development School‘s Literature Month, PiP spent a day in March 2022 letterpress printing posters with Grades 3, 4 and 5 in Seattle. Each group collaborated in choosing 3 words to represent their class, then printed them in multiple colors using wood type — learning a little about typography and printing history along the way.
Winter 2022 Print Futures recap
February’s Print Futures event left us buzzing with inspiration! Three innovative emerging printers (Sara Luz Jensen, Matt Holmes, and Cinthia Marisol Lozano) shared their distinct approaches to contemporary letterpress.
2021
PiP’s 2021 end of year fundraising campaign
Partners in Print is living proof that grassroots generosity and community action are powerful forces for good. As you reflect on the meaningful experiences you’ve had through our classes, free events, and community collaborations, we hope you’ll consider PiP in your year-end giving plans.
Celebrating All Types: Hamilton × PiP
Celebrating All Types is a print movement that aims to inspire reflection and civic action among letterpress artists and the community at large. To kick off this initiative, over 35 letterpress artists attending the 2021 Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum Wayzgoose put their wood type to good use creating posters celebrating diversity and inclusion.
Press Power: Bureau of Fearless Ideas
In November 2021, PiP led a letterpress printing workshop for kids at Sanctuary Art Center hosted by the Bureau of Fearless Ideas in Seattle. Our poster design prompt: What do you want to say to your community (in 5 words or less)? Their candid, hand-printed responses to the prompt — set in wood type — provide insight into being a kid during stressful times: Kindness is the Best Solution; The World Loves You; Be Brave; Just Breathe; Be Nice to Art; Fulfill Your Dreams; Be Confident and Be Yourself; Black Queen; This is a Beautiful City; and (as a PSA): Cocoa & Oreos are Good!
Letterpress for the greater good: Sticker Giant × PiP
In-kind support plays an important role in amplifying Partners in Print’s impact and furthering our mission. We’re deeply grateful for Sticker Giant, suppliers of the festive stickers we use for events, community projects, and packaging. Learn more about our partnership in Andrew Matranga’s article.
Press Power: We Are All Connected
For our first in-person Press Power event, PiP joined the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (BIMA) and local LGBTQ organizations in elevating and commemorating transgender lives at the opening of Molly Vaughan: Project 42. Visitors created messages of radical love and acceptance, then added them to a rainbow wall of color emphasizing that We Are All Connected.
Immigrant power, collective change
On September 11th PiP put the finishing touches on a special print celebrating OneAmerica’s 20th Anniversary. Founded immediately after 9/11/2001 to address discrimination against immigrant communities, OneAmerica builds movements led by people of color and their allies to create a more just, democratic, and compassionate society.
Building Print Futures: LEAD × PiP
Print Futures supports new voices in letterpress by building bridges between emerging printers working in educational institutions, community centers, and professional shops. This free, quarterly series is co-produced by Letterpress Educators of Art & Design (LEAD) and Partners in Print (PiP), and launched fall 2021 with a 2-hour virtual event.
Commissioned poetry broadside: Rena Priest
PiP was commissioned to letterpress print an edition of broadsides of Beach Fire, written by Washington state Poet Laureate Rena Priest. The prints, produced in Seattle, will be distributed at Poet Laureate events.
Everyone welcome: LoLP × PiP
In September 2021 PiP partnered with the Ladies of Letterpress Conference (LoLP) for 3 events. We co-produced two online workshops (Demystifying the Windmill with Jami Heinricher and Destressing Reduction Prints with Mike Hepher), and PiP’s own Annabelle Larner spoke about using letterpress to effect social change on the Printmaking as Advocacy panel.
PiP studio tour: Seattle Art Book Fair (May 2021)
Partners in Print joined SABF for Makeready 2021, a free virtual event exploring the process of making an art book. Online programming occurred over 3 weekends and included conversations, studio visits, workshops, and more. On May 29, Sukhie Patel and Jenny Wilkson gave a presentation about PiP’s programming, projects, and history in Seattle as a letterpress printing program.
Nothing Impresses Like Letterpress
In the Spring 2021 issue of Alta magazine, Seattle typographer John D. Berry celebrates the persistence of the Pacific Northwest letterpress print community amidst a pandemic defined by digital connections.
PiP’s spring 2021 fundraising campaign
Partners in Print thanks all who contributed to GiveBIG, Washington state’s annual nonprofit fundraising campaign. With your support our Seattle-based arts organization surpassed our financial goal, keeping our presses rolling and programs growing in our inaugural year as a women-run non-profit.
Poetry for Everyone: Pocket Poems
To celebrate National Poetry Month, PiP partnered with WA State Poet Laureate Rena Priest in 2021 to create and distribute Poetry for Everyone pocket poems. Rena selected the work of Lummi Nation youth poet Sadie Olsen, which was letterpress printed in English and Xwlemi Chosen and shared for Poem in Your Pocket Day at the end of April.
Hamilton Hang: Jenny Wilkson of Partners in Print
A pandemic can’t stop the presses — or the letterpress community! In this presentation hosted by Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, Jenny Wilkson (Seattle) discusses the evolution of PiP and how the letterpress community can collaborate in a time of social distancing.
Engage, Inform, Print, Repeat: How Printers Work and Play in Democracy
Representatives from Partners in Print, the Press at MICA, and the Amalgamated Coloured Printers Association led a discussion with civic leaders on the power of the printed word, better communication through art, and mobilizing communities. It was presented by the National Conference on Citizenship (NCOC).
2020
Hope is Action! Print Exchange
“Hope is not an emotion, it’s an action.” That powerful reminder sparked the Hope is Action! print exchange, hosted by The Printing Museum. Letterpress printers across the U.S. created meaningful works to share with their communities, inspire positive change, and put hope into action.
Words of Courage with Sierra Nelson, Ann Teplick, & Jenny Wilkson
WITS writers and PiP printers share the joy and heartbreak of helping young poets and patients of Seattle Children’s Hospital craft their own stories. This decade-long collaboration between the Writers in the Schools program, Seattle Children’s Hospital, and Partners in Print illustrates how letterpress printing makes a meaningful impact in our community.
Creators: Plan What You Can, But Prepare for Twists and Turns
“We had no idea what we were getting into.” Follow the twists and turns of the Kickstarter campaign to print and publish the epic poem One River: A Thousand Voices by Washington State Poet Laureate Claudia Castro Luna. PiP’s Jenny Wilkson and Castro Luna offer valuable insights on navigating the uncharted waters of a crowdfunded letterpress project.
Voter Mobilization Initiative: ACPA × PiP
PiP partnered with the Amalgamated Coloured Printers Association (ACPA) in 2020 for a nationwide voter mobilization initiative, in which printer affiliates provided communities with letterpress printed posters encouraging voter engagement.
Words of Courage Highlight with Ecological Fibers
Eye-catching portfolios house the letterpress broadsides of young poets receiving treatment at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Bookmakers and letterpress artists from PiP share the process of lovingly handcrafting fine book cloth donated by Ecological Fibers into an elegant presentation for this purpose-driven project.
Partners in Print at the Seattle Design Festival 2020
Seattle Design Festival celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2020 with the theme “About Time.” In partnership with Design in Public, artists from PiP amplified community-sourced messages of hope, social justice and resilience. Watch the power of words cut through the digital noise as Seattle artists roll paper and ink through vintage Vandercook printing presses.
The Story of PiP
Partners in Print, powered by Shunpike, became a women-run non-profit arts organization in late 2020. But our legacy began in Seattle more than two decades ago at the School of Visual Concepts (SVC), and grew into a thriving a letterpress program and beloved community of printers. The secret to this success? Community engagement, a respect for craft, and a focus on collaboration.
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