A field trip? Oh goodie! Field trips bring back wonderful childhood experiences of going to the zoo, the farm, and more exciting places like Universal Studios Hollywood. Even as a college student, I still appreciate a field trip here and there, better than sitting in a class room! Today, I went to Em Space which is a printing and book arts resource center in Portland, OR. I like to be early for any meeting, just in case I run into traffic or aliens or something. You just never know. So, I got to the center about 20 minutes early. About 10 minutes to 1:00 I decided to head in, thinking it wasn’t too early as to show that I was eagerly excited or anything. As I open the door, I hear ABBA. Yes, ABBA playing loudly and two young guys doing some printing work. Hmm. Interesting. There was some amazing work by other artists on display and since I was the first person there I looked around. Now that I know the work and precision that goes into making art with letterpress, I admire those artists immensely. Apparently construction work on the road got in the way of timely-ness but others finally came and we had a nice tour of the space by the professor. Printing with letterpress is no easy work, but when the first almost perfect print of a type that you’ve set comes hot off the press, it’s magic. And it’s slightly addicting. And I really hope that more people continue giving life to this artistic way of expression.
Smartypants Chick 