Amos Kennedy in SLC, part 1

Amos Kennedy will be in Salt Lake City September 8–10 for a free, public screening of Proceed and Be Bold! (Thursday, September 8, 7pm) and a two-day workshop at the Book Arts Program. The film screening is co-sponsored by the Book Arts Program and AIGA Salt Lake City.

To promote the film screening and workshop, I’ve been collaborating with Spencer Charles to print a poster. While brainstorming ideas, I wondered aloud about the best way to draw people’s attention and inspire them to come to the events. I thought of the old standby, “Free Beer,” and immediately suggested we (AIGA SLC and the Book Arts Program) were offering the next best thing: Free Amos Kennedy.

Spencer and I printed the first two runs in tandem. I ran the red “FREE” on the Book Arts Program’s Vandercook SP20. As I pulled each print from the press, I handed them to Spencer who ran “Amos Kennedy” (in magnificent 20 line Grecian) on the Program’s Vandercook Universal 1.

We needed two asterisks for our concept so I used a Hammond Glider to trim a 10 pica square and a 6 pica square from a 3 x 5 inch Speedball lino block. Next, I laser printed the asterisks with a square outline that corresponded to the size of the pre trimmed lino blocks. Using a #2 pencil, I traced the perimeter of each laser printed asterisk, being sure to use plenty of graphite. After tracing the shapes, I taped one edge of the print to the lino block  so the pencil traced image was face down. Then I rubbed the back of the paper with a bone folder to transfer the pencil graphite outline to the lino block leaving a perfect template for me to cut.

Once I finished cutting each block, I inked them up and pulled proofs. I’ll be printing the asterisks in red (the final run!) tonight and posting more pictures this week.