The Harry Smith Print Shop features a Chandler and Price platen press and a Vandercook SP-15 proof press. Courses are offered for students who wish to learn printing techniques using distributable type on both platen and proof presses. The print shop adds a fine crafts dimension to the Writing and Poetics course offerings. Periodic classes in bookbinding and paper making are also offered.
The core press and much of the older Perpetua type were originally owned by poet Lyn Hejinian’s Tuumba Press. Poets printed in this press included Alice Notley, Fanny Howe, Clark Coolidge, Michael Palmer, Ron Silliman, Bob Perelman, and Charles Bernstein. After Lyn passed the press on to David Sheidlower, David used the imprint Coincidence Press. He printed chapbooks by Larry Eigner, Pat Reed, Andrew Schelling, Robert Kelly, Rachel DuPlessis, and others. When David decided to stop printing, he offered his print shop, including the historic Chandler & Price Platen press, to Naropa. Later, equipment arrived from Rydall Press, which was founded by friends of DH Lawrence, and from Ken Mikelowski’s Alternative Press. The larger platen press was received from Salt Works Press and dates back to 1915. Type and more equipment have been added, thanks to the generous gifts from donors.
The Kavyayantra Press is the imprint for chapbooks and broadsides published through the Department of Writing and Poetics. The press is housed in the cottage where filmmaker, scholar and musicologist Harry Smith resided. Printers Brad O'Sullivan and Julie Seko teach letterpress printing courses, which are offered every semester.
The first step in letterpress printing is to set the text. In the print shop, there
are many drawers of metal type. Each letter, symbol, or space exists on its
own block. Emmett Scott returns type to a drawer according to the California
Job Case Layout system. When the text is completely set into one solid
block, the type is then tied to hold it in place, like this Shelley quote.
Nate Jordon considers paper and ink choices with instructor Julia Seko. Once deciding on brown, he rolls out
the ink, adds it to a block, then prints this on his paper to test this color choice on the particular paper.
Kat Slivinskaya prints using the Vandercook Press, which is from the early 1960s. She uses red ink on
a monotype block for her first step in printing. Instructor Julia Seko helps evaluate the results.
Nancy Conger places her text on the Chandler & Price Press, which is from about 1945.
Then Nancy and instructor Julia Seko place guide pins to hold the paper in place.
