Featured

Typography

More is More

by Nick Kapica on 20/08/2012

A recent exhibition in Te Ara Hihiko included work from three Massey University College of Creative Arts papers: Printmaking (200 level), Screen Printing for Design (300 level), and Contemporary Letterpress (400 level).

 

Above: Hannah Milner. Our Darkest Day. Wooden type printing, Digital printing.

Curated by typography lecturer Annette O’Sullivan together with Matt Clapham and John Clemens it brought the best examples of these papers together in a single exhibition exposing the relationships between them. Typography forms a strong component of the Visual Communication Design programme and this existing knowledge is built upon in the Screen Printing for Design and Contemporary Letterpress papers. There was a celebration of disciplines on show, with students from many areas of the College of Creative Arts: Graphic Design, Textiles, Illustration, Fine Arts and Photography included. Many students are attracted to these papers as they provide an experimental space to explore ideas and techniques that can be applied at a later stage to other projects. Although based around traditional printmaking techniques students also employ digital technologies and equipment such as laser cutters to answer the project briefs. The best work from the Contemporary Letterpress paper will be submitted to the International Society Typographic Designers Student Assessment Scheme later in the year.

Above: Renee Calder. The Men of Pike. Wooden type printing, Handwriting, Scanning, Digital printing.

Above: Holly Williamson. Public / Private Self. Woodcut.

Above: Karen Frechtling. Public / Private Self. Laser cut, Drypoint, Woodcut, Embossing.

The 200 level Printmaking brief ‘Public / Private Self’ asks students to investigate and explore an interpretation of public and private self through a number of printmaking processes: Relief printing, Intaglio, Dry point, Colography, Monoprint and Monotype, using man made, natural and typographic approaches.

Above: Various students. Interpreting music, Screen print process work.

The 300 level Screen Printing for Design brief ‘Interpreting Music’
Introduces students to a range of screen printing methods and processes through the exploration and translation of the emotive nature of music. This is demonstrated firstly through the abstract use of shape, line and colour and then through the introduction of image. Exploring the emotive nature of music, students were asked to develop a visual coding system for a hypothetical music festival that can be used to generate a series of posters that celebrate a specific music genre while promoting the festival.

Above: Samantha Lewis. The H Bomb. Laser cut plates, Hand printing, Scanning, Digital printing.

The 400 level Contemporary Letterpress brief ‘What is in a name? — What is in a place?’ investigates the combination of hand printing and digital processes. Students begin by researching the origins of a local place name that they express in four words using hand printing. The histories of this place were then explored through a visual article using a number of technologies.

These are elective courses within a rich design program, students choose these papers alongside their core subjects enjoying a cross disciplinary environment where they can work alongside and with students from other subject areas. These courses provide students with a desired ‘hands-on’ environment which contrasts much of the other courses they take. The manual qualities of printing slows down the creative process and provides access to a visual language that in many cases feeds back into the core subject courses.

Above: Kieran Stowers. A Long History of Give and Take. Photocopying at varying densities, Turps release, Digital printing.

Above: Sarah Harmon. Waiho i Porirua i te Kainga Ururua – The Land of Many People
Wood cuts, Laser cut plate, Monoprints, Digital layers