News

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.

As we discovered last year, when the rain stops, Seattle celebrates by getting inky! Read on for how we’re bringing Press Power to our city in the dog days of summer.

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. 

While Partners in Print has only been around a few years, printers and bookbinders have created Words of Courage for thirteen! We can’t think of a more meaningful way to put our time, energy, and presses to use.

In this issue, PiP brings presses out to book lovers who have something to say. Our event calendar is bursting with ways to stay inky and involved. Itching to create? We’ve got summer Long-Distance Letterpress classes for you, too!

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.

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).

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.”

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.

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.