In celebraiton of the new Dr. Petko type donation, Pyracanthra Press invited the letterpress and book artist, Jessica Spring, to make a collabrative letterpress print! She along with her print partner in crime, Cindy Iverson, are incredibly talented artists with brilliant personalities. By using Jessica's daredevil lettertype setting furniture, we created a new and improved version of the iconic smiley face, composed of 35 different words we brainstormed in honor of our generous donor.
Before I go any further into the story, in my defense, I began this collaboration with every intention of being extremely serious and professional to the core. However, as I started working with Jessica, Cindy, and my leader Dan Mayer, I felt like I was amongst friends and just acted like myself. So as we debated on words, "Brilliant, hmmm, can someone look brilliant?" I subconsciously began to act out the words without realizing; "Yes, I think someone can look brilliant" and then flash my best valedictorian grin. Cindy and Jessica burst out in laughter to draw my attention to what I was doing. My accompanying performance was turning fifty shades of red. This, along with many other insider stories, were shared in an article featured on ASU's News! A type of excellence indeed!
I learned so much from Jessica's visit; the joys and color-choice struggles in collaborations, how to spell contemptment, and that I share Jack Black's crazy eyebrow skills. Dan even gave me the opportunity to design the two posters announcing Jessica's visit and workshop, which were posted all around the Herberger's hallways and elevators (something I have always wanted to do!) Oh I dearly hope to work with Jessica and Cindy again. Gratefully, I will see them at this year's SGCI in Portland, Oregon!