I've mentioned the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, many times in the past. If you ever get a chance to go there (as a destination or on the way somewhere else), make it happen!
This year's trip to their annual Wayzgoose was #14 for me, the last two on Zoom. It was good to see people in person again and be in the museum's space. Lake Michigan was very active, with 30–40 mph winds coursing over crashing waves all day on Saturday.
In the gallery area of the former industrial building, Jen Farrell of Starshaped Press had mounted a show called "You Are Here." I've written before about her printed compositions of buildings, which are generally something you can hold in you hands, and are achieved with metal type and ornaments. She has been Hamilton's resident artist for the past three years.
The current show is an oversized version of that, printed with wood type:
The large printed sheets were cut up into squares and assembled into buildings and landscaping. Note the overlapping colors, which are printed letterforms. It's easiest to see the letter shapes in the greens of the grass arcs if you click to enlarge.
During the earlier years of the pandemic, Farrell had sent out a set of fill-in-the-blank questions to the network of letterpress printers. She then typeset their answers to create the windows of the buildings, each of which is unique:
I love the whole thing, but particularly that Farrell included a tent encampment:
Of the many thoughtful and funny statements that were sent in, these two were the ones that made me want to keep them forever:
Thanks to Jen Farrell for letting me see her large printed buildings, as well as the small ones.
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