 "Photo: Riannon Rowley")
From an initial glance, the letterpress posters on display in the Texas Tech School of Art’s exhibition may appear simply to be promoting a certain message or event.
A deeper look will reveal the skill and time put into each poster, ultimately uncovering what may seem to be advertisement as works of art.
Contents Under Pressure: Art of the Contemporary Letterpress Poster is a new exhibit being featured in the School of Art’s Landmark Gallery. The exhibit’s curator, Dirk Fowler, said the School of Art will be hosting an opening reception for the exhibit Friday as part of Lubbock’s First Friday Art Trail.
“I’m excited about this show,” Fowler said. “I think it gives an opportunity for our students to see something out of the ordinary, not the typical advertising posters they would see on a regular basis.”
Fowler, an associate professor of communication design at Tech, said Contents Under Pressure will feature poster designs from nine letterpress artists from across the country.
He said letterpress combines art and communications.
“This is a way to blur some of the boundaries placed on art, graphic design and print design,” he said.
The professor said the students in his classes are interested in the exhibit. One of his students, Lynsey Jones, showed particular interest in one the featured artists who will be at the reception— Amos Paul Kennedy.
Jones, a senior communication design major from Missouri City, said Kennedy, from Atlanta, avoids the artist stereotype because of the certain stigmas connected with the label. As an artist, she acknowledges the negative reputation of an artist.
“I think it’s a stereotype, but I don’t think it’s true,” she said.
Cali Caldwell, a senior communication design major from Shamrock, said she has seen some of Kennedy’s work and is excited about his visit and feature. Caldwell said she has learned about Kennedy’s personality from a film documentary about the artist. From that, she said she thinks Kennedy avoids being casted as an artist because of his unique personality.
“He doesn’t like to be called an artist,” Caldwell said. “He’s a printer. He doesn’t want the stereotype as an artist.”
Caldwell said an attraction of letterpress is it enables communication designs artists to express themselves more and not be constrained by a computer. She has had four classes taught by Fowler, who she said has stressed to his students not to rely on their computers too much. She said she considers herself lucky to have had Fowler has her professor and views him as inspirational to her. She said he encourages his students think outside the box.
“It was very inspiring,” Caldwell said. “It made me want to do prints and throw away my computer.”
Fowler, a letterpress artist himself, said the art form is special because it is printed by hand and obviously not mass-produced. It is technically graphic design, but he said the texture of the ink, as well as the colors, is more noticeable and vibrant than a computer would produce. While pointing at one of the posters in the exhibit, the curator highlighted the amount of time and effort the artist put is visible.
“We all get into this because we wanted to be artists and sometimes the computer is limiting,” Fowler said. “I didn’t get into this because I like computers. I like to make art with my hands.”
The opening reception for Contents Under Pressure will be hosted 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday in the School of Art’s Landmark Gallery. The exhibition will remain open to the public until Dec. 19.
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