Typesetting

Typesetting by hand is a slow process, often peppered with an ever-unfolding troublesome cast of characters. It requires full attention every step of the way, and it was for this reason that I began pursuing letterpress in 1998: to see each letter, understand how it relates to its neighbors, and to focus on the finest of details until it looks just right.

Presses

Colt’s Armory Platen Press

The main trusty printing steed at Amada Press is a 13×19″ Colt’s Armory; it’s a reliable motorized press that prints with a 90° parallel impression and has been laying down ink nice and smooth for over 120 years.

Prior to its current Seattle home, it lived in the Skagit Valley, printing fine press books & poetry broadsides for Amy’s beloved mentors at Stern & Faye, Printers — and has a long lineage of talented press operators on its dance card. Today it prints everything from social justice posters to editioned prints, including short prose & poetry.

Vandercook 4

This silver fox of a press turned 65 years old in 2022. It’s a Pacific Northwest native, originally purchased new by Queen City Typesetting in Seattle. It also came to me by way of Stern & Faye Printers, although Jules Faye and I are unclear of where it lived prior to landing in Chris Stern’s caring hands.

Classes & Workshops

Want to learn letterpress printing?

Then you’re gonna be in good company. Amy has been teaching design, typography and letterpress printing classes in Seattle for Partners in Print and the School of Visual Concepts since 2003.

In 2020 she helped evolve the SVC letterpress program into Partners in Print: a non-profit, community-focused arts organization that uses letterpress printing as a way to bring people together, amplify new voices, share knowledge, and spark creativity.

To stay up to date on PiP’s in-person and online letterpress classes, events, and community programming, join PiP’s mailing list.

News & Events

04.01.24 :: article

revisit / review / remix / revise

Uppercase Magazine (#61)

Congratulations: A Book (2019) is featured in this collection of projects, artwork and crafts centered on the theme, “revisit / review / remix / revise.” It focuses on artists who’ve revisited older creative work and looked at them with fresh perspective, repurposing an idea into something new.

…

03.11.24–04.26.24 :: exhibition

Persist! Movement & Protest Art

North Seattle College Art Gallery

Persist! pulls together posters, art, zines, and ephemera from a wide variety of movements, while focusing on pieces that educate, inspire, and fuel resistance in the face of a white supremacist, capitalist, patriarchal world.

Join us for the opening celebration Wednesday, March 13, 2024, 4–6 pm. A Provisional Press is on loan from Partners in Print, and visitors will be able to make and take prints, as well as buttons, composed with messages of hope, protest, and persistence. Visitors will also be able to make/take/add prints to the gallery, and enjoy a space to read zines and books from the newly renovated NSC library.

…

2021–2023 :: so many highlights

Building Community

It’s an understatement to say that the pandemic brought a lot change to my world as a creative and a woman. A highlight, by far, is the creation of Partners in Print.

…

2020 highlight :: interview

United in Isolation: Online Letterpress Festival

Amada Press was one of four letterpress studios featured in this live-stream broadcast of United in Isolation: An Online Letterpress festival, created in response to the isolation caused by the global Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. Countries represented in Season 1, Episode 6 include Scotland, Pakistan, Uruguay and the United States.  {Watch Video}

…

2019 highlight :: exhibition

Contemporary Northwest Print Invitational

Seattle Print Arts and Davidson Galleries partnered for a juried exhibition featuring contemporary Pacific Northwest Print Artists, which opened in conjunction with Pioneer Square’s First Thursday Artwalk. Jurors selected EI Series [No. 6] , from my iterative editioned series exploring type as image under the constraints of time.

…

2018 highlight :: book release

UPPERCASE Encyclopedia of Inspiration, Volume P: Print / Maker

I’m honored that Amada Press is featured alongside some of my favorite letterpress contemporaries in Print / Maker. The book profiles designers, artists and craftspeople who use printmaking and print technology to make things for themselves and others. It includes in-depth interviews with printers, stationers, publishers, zine-makers, homeware and clothing designers through studio pictures, portfolios and sound advice from print/makers from around the world. Published October 2018 by Uppercase Magazine. {Order the book.} 

PAST EVENTS

Exhibitions, Publications & Speaking Engagements

An incomplete archive of gallery shows, articles, & talks related to my letterpress artwork.  {View archive}