IAN LINDHARSTEN; Guest Writer; lindhaio@plu.edu
Tucked away inside Ingram Hall is a gallery that displays what the Pacific Lutheran University Department of Art and Design’s website claims to be the largest printing equipment collection in the Pacific Northwest. The gallery has most recently had on display the “End of Times 2” exhibit which was on display until the end of February.
This exhibit, according to its website, was put together by accomplished print artist Mary C. Bruno of MC Bruno Press. A sequel to a similar project in 2012, the collection was the result of an exchange of works between 41 different letterpress printers, including PLU’s very own Visiting Assistant Professor Jessica Spring.
The original “End of Times” collection was a similar collaboration between letterpress printers and the “first print exchange [dealt] with the possibility of an apocalypse with the close of the Mayan calendar.” With the “End of Times 2” exhibit, there was a focus on the fact that, in 2017, “Cultural icons [were] dying left and right, a reality TV star [had] won the US presidential election and the Chicago Cubs won the World Series… With all the chaos around, people are depending on us for a light in the darkness, some sign of hope, a reminder of the good things in life and what is within our grasp,” according to endoftimesprints.wordpress.com.
If people still want to see the exhibit in person, and learn more about the art of letterpress printing, they should contact Professor Spring at springjl@plu.edu. According to Spring, although this exhibit will be taken down soon, the Letterpress Gallery will continue to host exhibits from a different artists throughout the semester and will host two more Letterpress Lunches on March 21 and April 18.
