The work of nearly 40
women printers from around the nation will be showcased beginning Thursday, Aug. 28 through Sunday, Dec. 7 at
Union College's Mandeville Gallery in
the Nott Memorial.
Girl Printers: Talented Women Strut Their Stuff is an invitational show highlighting a sampling of
women printers' ephemeral, printing, and book arts. Gallery hours are Monday to Thursday 9
a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday noon to 5
p.m.; and Sunday noon to 10
p.m. Summer hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
An
artists' reception and talk by the
curator, Carol J. Blinn, will be on Thursday,
Sept. 18, 4:30 to 6
p.m.in the Nott Memorial
Women have been working
with moveable type practically since its invention – a fact that may disabuse
the likely stereotyping of printing or typesetting as male-dominated fields.
The exhibit centers on interviews with women printers that were conducted by
Blinn. For nearly 20 years, she has been proprietor of the Warwick Press in Easthampton, Mass.
Blinn invites women printers
and exhibit visitors alike to “celebrate what we do best … make things by hand
and machine, needle and thread, computer and lead.”
The women discuss their
love for their art; their favorite tools; their individual methodology; the
mentors who have guided them; and their down-and-dirty,
ink-under-the-fingernails, ultimately triumphant mastery of often-recalcitrant
shop machinery.