Searle Award for Creativity 2012
My work was shortlisted for this annual award set up by the late Ronald Searle for students at Cambridge School of Art. It recognises excellence in any artistic discipline. This year's theme was 'Migration'
My work was shortlisted for this annual award set up by the late Ronald Searle for students at Cambridge School of Art. It recognises excellence in any artistic discipline. This year's theme was 'Migration'
My work explores the concept of the migration of ideas and technologies associated with the material visualisation of our language. Johannes Gutenberg (1398-1468) is credited with inventing moveable type and introducing Europe to the printed word through the Gutenberg Bible. His technological innovation migrated across the western world feeding an appetite for, and explosion in the ability to share and record knowledge. John Baskerville (1706-1775) was a printer and typographer who printed works for Cambridge University. Benjamin Franklin was a contemporary and great admirer of Baskerville’s typefaces and took the designs to the newly created United States of America. One of the few remaining Gutenberg bibles is in the University Library in Cambridge, another is in the Henry E. Huntington Library in Pasedena, California. We have here in our own letterpress print studio several typecases of Baskerville’s own font. These underlying thoughts and interests link the prints in this triptych to the recollection of the Gutenberg Bible and the extraordinarily significant migration of the technologies of its birth.
I Screenprint of a typical Californian sign
II Screenprint of a map of Cambridge
III Hot metal letterpress print, in Baskerville Italic font, of a quote by Herman Broch concerning the nature of ideas and actions.
Migration I
A single colour screenprint
Migration II
A single colour screenprint
Migration III
The most technically challenging piece of letterpress I have made so far
First I set the type in one very long line 
After measuring the baseline I used pi to work out the radius of circle required
I used string and a pencil to draw the circle to guide my layout
First attempts at locking up using furniture were dreadful (left images)
After having a circular mdf block cut I had more success (right images)
Locking into the forme was hard work as quads and furniture do not come with curves
Inking up on the Farley Proofing Press
Herman Broch's quote - looking good
'Although every man believes that his decisions & resolutions involve the most multifarious factors,
in reality they are mere oscillation between flight & longing'
The private view, my work is on the far wall
It received some close attention
I used portions of some test prints to make letterpressed business cards
Although I didn't win one of the main awards all those shortlisted received a certificate
