18 June 2024
By Mary Bermimgham
mary@TheCork.ie
Cork Printmakers are delighted to present Movable Type, an exhibition of new artworks in letterpress at Cork Public Museum which opens on 20 June at 5pm.
The exhibition features artworks in letterpress by 24 artists from Cork Printmakers and MTU Crawford College of Art and Design.
The exhibition is a celebration of letterpress printmaking as a historic printing process and its potential to be incorporated into contemporary artistic practices.
The exhibited artworks utilise a collection of letterpress originally from Colman’s Printers, which was donated by Cork Public Museum to Cork Printmakers & MTU Crawford in 2021, where it has been refurbished and rehoused for use by contemporary print artists and as a tool for active learning for researchers, communities and artists at all stages of their careers.
The artists have innovatively engaged with the type, both using the type itself or making work inspired by it; with many exploring the themes of archives, language, the environment, personal artefacts and print history. Others explored heritage and history of the letterpress type and its journey through prominent cultural, commercial and educational spaces in Cork.
Letterpress printing is a relief printing technique where the wooden or lead type is inked up and a direct impression of the raised surface is made onto a sheet of paper. Popularised by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid 15th century and used in commercial printing until mid 20th Century the process has seen a revival and use among visual artists and designers.
Exhibiting artists: Artists Angela Gardner, Anita Geaney, Brian Barry, Catherine Hehir, Colette Lewis, Collette Nolan, Deirdre Mc Kenna, Elize de Beer, Fiona Kelly, Frances Leach, Helle Helsner, Helen Devitt, Jo Kelley, Liudmila Kalinka, Marilyn Lennon, Nic Flanagan, Nikki Tait, Paul la Rocque, Peter Nash, Róisín O’Sullivan, Roisin Moloney, Sarah O’ Driscoll, Shane O’ Driscoll, Tom Doig