Each year the Chesapeake Chapter of the American Printing History Association awards fellowships to undergraduate or graduate students with an interest in printing history, printing, or the book arts. The fellowships are a memorial to Michael P. Denker, an active and beloved past president of the Chesapeake Chapter and an enthusiastic and accomplished letterpress printer who died in 2013. The Denker Fellowship has been established to honor and celebrate Mike’s commitment to getting young people interested in printing and printing history, and his great devotion to the Chesapeake Chapter.
As part of the fellowship program Denker Fellows give a presentation on a topic of their choosing at the Library of Congress. You are invited to join us for this year’s presentations on Wednesday, November 13, at 3:00 p.m. at the Library of Congress in the Rosenwald Room (Room LJ205) on the second floor of the Jefferson Building, 10 First Street, SE, Washington, DC.
Presenting this year will be Mallory Haselberger who writes that, “While literary studies are foregrounded by printing history, the practical instruction of letterpress printing is notably absent in the humanities undergraduate and graduate curriculum. As someone whose research and interests have always been at the intersection of the literary and artistic, my journey of coming to letterpress as a graduate student has changed my perspective on my studies — and altered how I think about the printed word. My development as a printer has changed my perspective about how an art form identified with the past can be reintroduced, and re-imagined, in current academic discourse.” Her talk “Learning to Measure by Ems and Picas: A Letterpress Journey” will cover her own experiences in learning to “measure by ems and picas” during her studies, from her first experiments in printing and re-finishing a 3 X 5″ Kelsey press, to undertaking her first entirely letterpress-printed project. By examining her introductory experiences in letterpress printing, she will discuss the ways in which the actions of setting type, rolling ink, and adjusting spacing can expand multidisciplinary studies in a way not provided by other artistic means.
Also presenting will be Cody Zanowick who’s talk is titled “Printmaking In Its Primal Form.”
We hope you will be able to join us for these interesting, well prepared presentations.
