Title: A Lion (2018) by Rowan Delloway

Artist: Amy Redmond

Size: 11 x 14 inches

Created as part of the 2018 Seattle Children’s Hospital Broadside Project, this print was designed & letterpress printed from handset metal and wood type.

The poem, written by Seattle Children’s Hospital patient Rowan Delloway, inspired an image of a powerful lion resting while simultaneously remaining vigilant — at any moment, it will pounce to guard its lair.

To emphasize that power, I chose to work in black and white with a very specific pop of bold color. The image was sketched in charcoal, and then carved by hand from linoleum.

The metal type is called Latin Wide, and its larger wood type counter part, printed in orange, is from the late 1890s and is currently identified as “Peerless” (produced by William Page).

The broadside was printed in an edition of 110, one sheet at a time, using a Colt’s Armory platen press. It took a total of 3 passes through the press to complete: 1 for the linoleum block…

…1 for the black type…

…and 1 for the orange wood type & orange eye (carved from linoleum).

This collaboration between the School of Visual Concepts and Seattle Arts & Lectures’ Writers in the Schools program at Seattle Children’s Hospital yields some of the most moving and meaningful work to come out of the SVC letterpress studio. Terminally ill and long-term patients write from the heart under the guidance of poets from Seattle Arts & Lectures’ Writers in the Schools program. SVC’s team of letterpress artists turns each of them into stunning broadsides, and work together to build the portfolio cases that house the prints.

Nine volumes of poetry portfolios have been created as of 2018, thanks to invaluable donations from Neenah Paper, Puget Bindery, Ecological Fibers, and Boxcar Press.

Project Update

In late 2020 the letterpress program at the School of Visual projects evolved into Partners in Print (PiP), an independent non-profit arts organization. At the same time, this annual poetry broadside collaboration celebrated its 10th anniversary and was renamed Words of Courage, and is a cornerstone of PiP’s community programming. View the portfolio archive at wordsofcourage.org.

Amada Press is the private letterpress studio of Seattle visual artist and designer Amy Redmond. The main focus of her work is on handset typography using metal and wood type. Amy offers letterpress classes for beginning and advanced students through Partners in Print and teaches typography at the School of Visual Concepts. Her professional design work can be viewed on AmyRedmond.com.