Learn to hand-set type in the manner of Gutenberg, learning skills that date back to the late Middle Ages! Build a favourite quotation one metal character at a time and print multiple copies of it from a vintage printing press. Bring a selection of your own quotations, or draw from the instructors own vast repertoire.
No previous experience required. All supplies will be provided, as well as lunch and refreshments. If you have dietary requirements, please indicate in the registration form and we will try to accommodate them. There will be a limit of 12 participants. Participants are encouraged to bring different kinds of papers to explore the impact of letterpress on various colours and textures.
The workshop will begin at 10am and will end at 3pm, and will take place on the main floor of the Anna Templeton Centre.
Presented by the Tara Bryan Legacy Fund in partnership with the Community Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador and VANL-CARFAC.
About Larry Thompson
Larry Thompson doesn’t remember much of the 1960s, but that's only because he was born in the decade, and in Ottawa. However, he grew up in a house chock full of books with parents who did not recoil at the notion of creativity. He was sixteen years old when he pulled his first printing proof during a high school graphic arts course and thought "Cool!" Ultimately he found his way back to printmaking, graphic design and letterpress printing when in 2003 he bought a 2400 lb printing press and a quantity of lead type, establishing Greyweathers Press to create beautiful hand made illustrated books, featuring elegantly designed typefaces skillfully arranged on well-proportioned page, graphic linocuts, wood cuts, wood engravings and handmade bindings. For 15 years he laboured as a full-time as a printmaker and engraver from the Merrickville studio he shares with artist Holly Dean. More recently, he teaches printmaking at Saint Lawrence College (Brockville, ON), book arts and writing courses at Carleton University, and serves as the Master Printer at the MacOdrum Library Book Arts Lab at Carleton. He finds inspiration and graphic black-and-white possibilities in literature across the spectrum: classical epics, medieval legend, the Romantic poets, 20th century noir, fantasy literature and comic books, just to name a few.
