Drawn Here: Contemporary Design in Conversation
"Although the heyday of wood type was more than a century ago (think “Wanted” posters and circus broadsides), its revival and preservation carries on today. A new film, Typeface, chronicles this effort by documenting the Hamilton Wood Type Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, which houses one of the premier wood-type collections in the world and runs letterpress workshops for designers and artists from across the country. Join us for Drawn Here: Contemporary Design in Conversation, featuring a special sneak preview of the documentary film and a post-screening discussion with director Justine Nagan; Bill Moran, St. Paul–based designer and letterpress guru who cowrote a book documenting Hamilton; and Greg Corrigan, designer and technical director of the Hamilton Museum. Presented by the Walker Art Center, AIGA Minnesota, and the Minnesota Center for Book Arts."
I went to view the special 9pm screening at the Walker Art Center last night with a few friends and I must say the film was exceptional. I included a brief description above that talks a little bit about the base of the film and the director, who took some questions and also formally introduced the movie to our audience before the screening.
The Graphic Designers of today's computer age do not appreciate the old techniques of letter-press and type setting, and I myself am ashamed to say that I would fit pretty well into that category. It's not a person's fault though, since computers have become the standard in almost all of today's graphic design firms.
The film brought to light the importance of not forgetting wooden type and type setting used for printing. After seeing the film I have become a strong believer in perhaps reviving, or at least passing on the skills that Hamilton Wood Type, in the past, has given the world.
The fact that all these amazing presses, not to mention boxes upon boxes of cut wooden types are sitting in a warehouse-like Museum, in an extremely simple and quiet town blows my mind. I really hope none of this history is lost.
Since the museum is in Two-Rivers, Wisconsin, a town just 2 hours from my house in Appleton, I am definetely going to take a trip there this summer or Winterm and maybe do some of the printing I saw in the movie. (Click the picture below to check out the Hamilton Museum's website)
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