Letterpress Adventure (Part 2)

Ce n'est pas une Chaise. 
This is not a chair.
This is letterpress...

It was quite overwhelming to have so many options of typefaces and infinite possibilities for content. I didn't want to use an abstract arrangement of letters so I decided to play around with the phrase Ce n'est pas une Chaise as an homage to Magritte's Ceci n'est pas une pipe (1928-29). And a nod to my favorite subject matter.

{above} The Chaise layer was printed first with the paper dampened. I set the type for the Ce n'est pas une layer and overprinted it the next day when the paper was dry. 

The majority of the type at the Center for Book Arts is metal, but there are several drawers full of random old wooden type including some 480pt display type. I was intrigued by the large broken "A" and the worn surfaces of the wood type.

These compositions were not set using a grid or layout, but arranged directly on the press bed and held in position by magnets. The above composition was a happy accident.  I had no idea how the layers would overlap. The first layer was a ghost, or second printing without re-inking, and the overprinted layer was done the next day.

All prints in this series were printed in Pantone process black on Johannot paper (sized 11x14").

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Letterpress Adventure (Part I)

{top} One of the four Vandercook presses in the shop {bottom} type, ink, and the press rollers

I took an experimental letterpress workshop at The Center for Book Arts in New York City this past weekend. We started off with a visit to the Print and Photograph Collection at the main branch of the New York Public Library to look at their collection of DaDa and related publications with works by Kurt Schwitters, El Lissitzky, and H.N. Werkman.

{top} How to properly put away type {bottom} detail of wooden type furniture and type cases

After an introduction to the extensive printshop and a crash course on using the Vandercook proofing presses, we had a discussion and demonstration of some of the techniques used by Schwitters and Werkman to create their avant garde type compositions. Then we had the rest of the workshop to experiment.

{top} Vandercook details {bottom} galleys, metal type, and a colorful array of type cases

I felt like a proverbial kid in a candy store with the choice of hundreds of typefaces (including some beautiful 480pt wooden display type). After making my selections and cutting down a stack of paper, I happily got to work...

Playing with ampersands...

Ampersand variations, 8 x 12" each  {click to enlarge}

Sentence Fragments

Dissecting type, channeling DaDa, and playing in my sketchbook. 

sketchbook pages copyright Kate Castelli 2011

The City

The City
Pages 10-11 (Canis Major)
Block print on graph paper and Sumi ink on vintage book page
8.5 x 6.375" opened


My book, The City, is featured in The Artful Scriptorium, a show of artists' books, opening this weekend at Climate Gallery.

The City evolved from a an old guidebook to London that I found at one of my favorite used bookshops. I bought the book for its maps, but as I was reading the contents I noticed the author took great poetic liberty in their description of London. I was intrigued and began to isolate words and phrases. The resulting pages came together into what Tristian Tzara would call a found poem, an unconscious narrative.

The City
The heart should not go unnoticed by the night.
To leave unseen,
and admiring something more that lies beyond--
Only to be found.

One remembers only--
a glimpse of home,
corresponding closely with distant journeys.

A man acquainted with the footsteps of the metropolis,
so vast to traverse,
will have little heart.

Passing with pleasant endurance
the remain hours of daylight--
Bewildering.

Seeing all that overlooked a view,
devoted for a moment in a morning or an afternoon.
END.


The City
detail of pages 10-11 (Canis Major)


The isolated words reminded me of star maps, and each page of text is accompanied by a particular constellation block print. The whole book became this very formal poetic exercise. Part of me likes the idea of the book better than the end result. It's all very DaDa.

copyright Kate Castelli 2010

Nine

I really have no idea.

Homage to Man Ray (Day 9)
pen and ink
2.5 x 4"
copyright Kate Castelli 2009

Something better beginning

I'm feeling a certain kinship with the Dadaists lately. They understood the absurdity and the beauty in this world.

Pages 22-23 (Begin)
from the Moleskin sketchbook
photograph, ephemera, and gouache with handstitching.
3.5 x 7" opened

copyright Kate Castelli 2009