Printers Ball 2013: Trip & Return

Spudnik Press Cooperative is thrilled to announce the 9th annual Printers’ Ball: Trip & Return. The annual celebration of literary culture and printmaking will be held at the Hubbard Street Lofts, 1821 W. Hubbard Street, Chicago. Spudnik is taking the reins of this year’s program from the Poetry Foundation, the event’s founding organizer. This year’s program returns the Printers’ Ball to its roots as a neighborhood event with an emphasis on readings and performances, live printmaking demos and workshops, exhibitions, and food and drink tastings. The festivities will span an afternoon, running from noon until 6 pm on Saturday, July 27, activating seven gallery and studio spaces through the building and featuring some of the best poetry, visual, and culinary culture in the country.

“Spudnik has grown and our studio has integrated more printing processes, including letterpress and offset printing. These processes lend themselves to book arts and publishing projects. With Printers’ Ball celebrating the materiality of the literary arts, I think we’re an ideal organization to address how literature and printmaking intrinsically speak to and support each other,” says Spudnik Press Cooperative’s founder and executive director, Angee Lennard.

Founded in 2004 by Poetry Magazine Associate Editor Fred Sasaki, the Ball was first held at the now-shuttered HotHouse, later moving to various venues throughout Chicago, including the Double Door, the Zhou B Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and Columbia College Chicago. Along the way, it has grown from a local celebration to an event with presenters from all over the United States and drawing attendees, last year more than 4,000, from across the city and beyond.

The theme for 2013 is “Trip & Return.” A letterpress printing term, it’s also a playful acknowledgement of the return to discussion of the craft. This daytime event will host letterpress and screen printing demonstrations, discussions by well-known print and poster makers, readings from local poets, and performances from Elastic Arts Foundation musicians throughout the many art and design spaces within the spacious building. Local food trucks and beverage vendors will also be on hand. As is tradition, magazines, literary organizations, and design studios—over 400—from across the country will provide complimentary magazines and ephemera to all attendees of this free event.

Confirmed presenters include:

Artist & writer Tony Fitzpatrick in conversation with Fred Sasaki
Printshop demos with Brad Vetter & Alex Valentine
Free jazz performances curated by Elastic Arts Foundation with Michael Zerang, Fred Longberg-Holm, Paul Giallorenzo, & Aaron Zarzutzki
Readings and broadsides curated by Woodland Pattern with poets Anne Kingsbury, Lewis Freedman, & Anna Vitale
Poetics Theater with the Danny’s Reading Series
Conversations with Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, Detroit Wood Type Co. & Signal Return
Reading and conversation with writer and visual artist Mary Burger
Risograph demos with SPARE
Workshops on surrealist poetry, bookmaking, & bookbinding
Summer spritzers by Hornswaggler Arts & WBC-Goose Island Root Beer and Spicy Ginger courtesy of the WIT Beverage Company
Sweet treats by Ice3 Ice Cream & savory snacks by 5411 Empanadas
On-the-spot tote bag screen printing by Spudnik Press Cooperative
Read/Write Library’s BiblioTreka Mobile Library

Curators include:

Sarah Dodson, MAKE Magazine; Nell Taylor, Read/Write Library; Luke Daly, arrow as aarow and Spudnik Press Cooperative; Adrienne Miller and Angee Lennard. Spudnik Press Cooperative; Chad Kouri, The Post Family; Elisabeth Hass, Simple Honest Work; Alison Kleiman, DePaul Art Museum; and Corrina Lesser, Chicago Humanities Festival, among others.

Printers’ Ball 2013 is presented in partnership with Spudnik Press Cooperative Printshop and Annex, Platform, Johalla Projects, The Post Family, Simple Honest Work, and IAEOU. Made possible by the Poetry Foundation and Poetry magazine.

Click below for admission tickets:

General Admission
Surrealist Poetry
Folded Book Structures
Book Binding