AUSTIN BOOK ARTS CENTER & THE PRESS ROOM PRESENT:
CHRIS FRITTON, AKA THE ITINERANT PRINTER

FOR ONE DAY ONLY ON APRIL 20TH, 2023!

Fritton has spent the last eight years traveling North America visiting different letterpress print shops; to date he’s covered over 100,000 miles, visited over 200 shops, and made over 35,000 prints along the way.

Join him as he recounts stories from the road, explores unconventional and experimental techniques, muses about the analog & the digital, and talks about his own stylistic journey toward the weird.

Come spend time with this internationally-renowned artist, view hundreds of works during the one-night-only exhibition and pop-up shop.

APRIL 20TH, 5:30-7:30PM: POP-UP EXHIBITION/SHOP

Come see colorful collaborative prints from all over North America, meet & greet with the artist, check out The Press Room and its one-of-a-kind collection of original cinema advertising cuts, scoop up some posters, and enjoy drinks & refreshments from Alamo Drafthouse!

The Press Room – 3908 Ave B Austin TX 78751;
entrance on SW corner of the building into the cafeteria

For more info, visit: @itinerantprinter on Instagram!

OPEN HOUSE

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!

Sunday, June 19th, 6-9pm
Drop-in anytime. No registration required.
Please bring your mask.

Join us for an informal gathering of the copier-curious. Due to the overwhelming response to now sold-out workshops, ABAC decided have a party! Come on by to see demonstrations and make your own print. All are welcome! Refreshments will be served.

*************************

Before social media, even before xerox-copied zines and flyers, marginalized communities used simple copying techniques– hectography (gelatin printing) mimeography (stencil printing) and spirit duplication (alcohol transfers, also known as “ditto”)– to make their voices heard. From political activists struggling for independence in India to the early gay rights activists in New York City, and from the dissident writers of Samizdat (self publishing) in the Soviet Union to the striking migrant farm workers of Southern California, these analog copiers were used to spread the word through words and pictures in the 20^th century.

This summer, Rich Dana is setting out across the US on a series of in-person workshops to demonstrate these low-cost techniques and how contemporary artists and writers can use them to publish editions of zines, chapbooks, prints, and flyers.

Rich Dana teaches at the Center for the Book & School of Library and Information Science at the University of Iowa. A zine-maker, Rich is a lover of arcane technologies, visionary art, and analog anarchy. Rich also runs Obsolete Press, creating limited edition books and zines with artists and writers from around the world, editing and publishing OBSOLETE! Magazine, and teaching workshops on historical printing techniques and zine-making. His latest book is Cheap Copies!: The OBSOLETE! Press Guide to DIY Hectography, Mimeography & Spirit Duplication.

Click here to order your copy!

///////////////////////////////////////////////////

ABAC is participating in Amplify Austin, a city-wide 24 hrs of giving beginning at 6pm on Wednesday, March 2nd and extending until Thursday, March 3rd at 6pm.

Click here to support the Austin Book Arts Center.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////

After discovering the essential role of remote resources during a pandemic, especially for children, parents, and teachers, the Austin Book Arts Center began offering online workshops, bookmaking kits, and accompanying videos in 2020.

Due to the generosity of donors to the Amplify Austin 2021 campaign and foundation support from the Tocker Foundation, ABAC was able to deliver over 120 bookmaking kits to all Austin K-8th grade art teachers, along with 10 accompanying, professionally-produced videos on our website. All available for FREE to families and educators!

During Amplify Austin 2022, ABAC hopes to build upon the success of last year’s campaign by raising $9000, once again bringing the book arts, both literally and virtually, into AISD High School classrooms.

How can you help?

With your Amplify Austin donation:

1. ABAC will professionally produce English/Spanish videos geared to high school students and educators. Bilingual videos will be designed in collaboration with current and former high school educators and curriculum specialists. After last year’s success of K-8th grade kits and videos, high school arts teachers asked for their own!

Your donations will provide access to these instructional videos to Austin area educators and to teachers around the world for FREE!

2. As a companion to the videos, ABAC will provide a free Bookmaking Kit to each of AISD’s 40+ high school art teachers.

Your Amplify Austin donation will make these kits available at no cost to Austin teachers!

The first $2000 raised will get kits into the hands of 40 local teachers. The additional money raised will cover the costs of graphic design, kit materials, Spanish translation, mailing expenses, and video production.

ABAC is partnering with AISD to ensure that the kits and videos will be accessible to all AISD teachers.

******************************

Please help us provide families and AISD teachers greater access to these valuable resources!

Click here to support the Austin Book Arts Center.

FREE PROGRAM ON ZOOM

Wednesday, Feb. 23 from 7 – 8:30, USA Central time

Join on Zoom at http://us06web.zoom.us/j/87059267062

Please join The Austin Book Arts Center and BookWoman in welcoming author and UT Austin professor, Kelcey Gray for an exciting evening of instruction & experimentation in celebration of her new book Let’s Make Letters! Experiment, Practice, and Explore.

No experience is necessary! Everyone is welcome!

For this one and a half hour Zoom program, Kelcey will lead 3 creative exercises designed to experiment with, practice, and explore letter forms. Kelcey will recount her personal history, touching on projects that led to her recently published book. The audience is invited to ask Kelcey questions while they work.

• 10 sheets of copy paper
• At least one sheet of tracing paper
• Any drawing tool of your choice. Pencil, pens, markers, all will work!

Kelcey Gray, is an Austin, Texas-based graphic designer. She currently teaches design and typography at the University of Texas at Austin and can be found on Instagram @kelcey_gray.

Let’s Make Letters was published in Autumn 2021 by Princeton Architectural Press. This step by step guide aims to improve your lettering ability by exploring typography and calligraphy. Designers, artists, scribblers, teachers, and students will build skills, confidence, and curiosity as they take up new and familiar tools to draw, depict, and distort letters in original and inventive ways.

Click here to order your copy from BookWoman!

Book Woman
5501 N. Lamar #A-105
Austin, TX 78751
512-472-2785
www.ebookwoman.com
bookwomanaustin@gmail.com