Title: Self-Portrait Poem (2016) by Zack Edge

Artist: Amy Redmond

Size: 14 x 11 inches

Created as part of the 2016 Seattle Children’s Hospital Broadside Project, this print was designed & letterpress printed from handset metal and wood type. The poem, by patient Zack Edge, inspired the imagery and expressive typography; the cloud was created using pressure printing techniques with the underside of wood type. Printed using a Colt’s Armory platen press.

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 poems from the heart, that SVC’s team of letterpress artists turn into stunning broadsides. Seven volumes of poems have been created as of 2016, 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.