WOOD BLOCKS AND METAL TYPE
Letterpress legends. Graphic design gods. Masters of move-
able type. The folks at Hatch Show Print have created iconic
posters for musicians, wrestlers and county fairs for over 130
years. Located in downtown Nashville, Hatch is the longest-
running print shop in the United States. The Smithsonian's
traveling exhibition of Hatch posters, print blocks and other
memorabilia, "American Letterpress: The Art of Hatch Show
Print," has stopped in Athens at the Georgia Museum of Art
with dozens of examples of art on display now though Nov. 6.
The Hatch brothers, Charles and Herbert, opened their shop
in 1879 and printed everything from the show posters they
became known for to advertisements, tickets, election ballots
and handbills announcing lectures, plays and musical revues.
The exhibition starts with examples of these early prints,
including the first: a six-by-nine-inch flyer for Reverend Henry
Ward Beecher on the subject of the "Reign of the Common
People." Using wood blocks and metal type, craftspeople at
Hatch still make their prints the way they were made in the
late-19th century. Blocks are hand-carved to create images,
with separate blocks carved for each color in the design. Paper
is pressed onto the inked block with a new pass through the
press for each layer of the design. The exhibition has several
examples of these woodblocks on display as well as partially
printed posters to explain the process.
Posters from the late 1920s through the 1940s are like
portals to another era. Eye-catching colors and bold typefaces
advertised the popular entertainers of the day: Silas Green,
Marquis the Magician, and country and bluegrass stars like Eddy
Arnold and Bill Monroe provide powerful illustrations of life in
the South during this period. The posters are fascinating as
examples of great design and craft, but also as sociohistorical
artifacts. The next era for Hatch came during the late 1950s,
when they began to use metal photoplates in their designs.
Faster and cheaper to make, these posters have a different look
from the prints using hand-carved wood blocks, but are still
iconic images of music legends like Elvis and Johnny Cash.
Hatch Show Print returned to its early roots in the 1980s
under the management of Paul Ritscher. Re-prints of some
of its famous old designs were popular items for a nostalgic
public, proving there was something about the longevity of
Hatch that was valuable and still desirable. UGA graphic design
professor Julie Spivey notes, "There has been a resurgence of
handwork in graphic design, perhaps in response to ubiquitous
digital design. The imperfectness of letterpress can be visually
soothing in contrast to all the slick information that bombards
us daily." Eileen Wallace, UGA visiting professor of printmak
ing, agrees: "One of the timeless elements of Hatch work is
that the posters are not stick or perfect: the type is worn or
scratched; the colors sometimes don't register perfectly but it
does not matter; there is a spirit of ingenuity and enterprise
that comes through that cannot be duplicated digitally."
In the 1990s, manager Jim Sherredan continued to re-strike
historic prints and also developed a new collector's item in
making monoprints. Taking paper that had been used to test
the print register, he and others used archival image blocks
from the Hatch collection to create new combinations with
lots of repetition and layers. The results are
wildly imaginative compositions that look both
vintage and strikingly contemporary. These art
prints, as well as current design from Hatch
artists, are also on display, bringing the history
of Hatch up to the present day. Local artist and
printmaking aficionado Amanda Burke sums
up the lasting appeal of the Hatch method:
"Letterpress has a vintage look. It is imperfect
and hearkens back to a time when the artist
was still present in the final product. Gutenberg
would appreciate that it's still around."
This exhibition is complemented by "Hot
Metal and Cool Paper: The Black Art of
Making Books," which presents books printed
by LaNana Creek Press, Press of the Nightowl
and Tinhorn Press with several examples from
UGA's Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript
Library. Affiliated events include a tour by Todd
Rivers, GMOA's chief preparator, on Sept. 28
at 2 p.m.; Family Day on Oct. 2 from 10 a.m.-
noon, where kids can make a Hatch-inspired
print; a "High Falutin' Hootenanny" with BBQ,
beer and music on Oct. 14 starting at 6:30 p.m.
(tickets required); and a lecture on "The Sacred
and the Profane in Nashville's Mother Church,
the Ryman Auditorium" given by GMOA director
William Underwood Eiland on Oct. 20 from
4-6 p.m. See the museum's website for details
at www.georgiamuseum.org.
In nearby Augusta, the 2011 Westobou
Festival celebrates the life and work of avant-
garde filmmaker Maya Deren, "the mother of
American underground cinema." Four of Deren's
films will be screened at the Sacred Heart
Cultural Center on Thursday, Sept. 29 with a
catered social hour starting at 6 p.m. New
musical scores composed by Mac McCaughan
(of indie bands Superchunk, Portastatic,
and co-founder of Merge records) will be performed live by
McCaughan and a small ensemble. Deren, working in the 1940s,
won both a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship and Grand Prize
at the Cannes film festival. Her work, which explores the idea
of the persona, dream imagery and the subconscious, is said
to have influenced artists like Cindy Sherman, Matthew Barney
and David Lynch. For tickets and more information about
"Transfigured Time: Music for the Films of Maya Deren," see
the Westobou Festival website at www.westoboufestival.com.
ATHICA Wrap-Up: The "last chance" voting night for the
"Mystery Triennial" is Thursday, Sept. 15, 7-9 p.m., followed
by a 7:30 p.m. performance of "Poi, Poles 'n' Pins on the
Porch" by Canopy Studio performers Ann Lily-Woodruff, Vince
Walzberg and Safety Third Juggling. On the closing night,
Sunday, Sept. 18, from 4-6:30 p.m. the artists' identities will
be revealed and the "Who Dunnit?" contest winners, People's
Choice Award and Board Choice artists will be announced.
At 5 p.m., "Music to Tabulate By" will be performed by Jerry
Hendelberg and Carl Lindberg.
Caroline Barratt arts@flagpole.com
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SEPTEMBER 14, 2011- FLAGPOLE.COM 9
