Moveable Type

Well, frankly, this trip has been a real shit show.
I should have known better than to plan a tour through the central plains this time of year, but I just kept thinking back to last year and all the beautiful spring weather I encountered… forgetting that I had been traveling far south of where this tour has taken me this year.  So forgive if I bitch for a little while.  It’s not that this trip has been without its bright moments, but it has also been fraught with set backs, at just about every step of the way.  Here we go.

The first day’s drive was gorgeous, through the rolling hills of southern New Mexico.  I was heading towards Roswell, to set up shop at the Anderson Museum of Art.  This museum represents the private collection of Don Anderson, the founder and benefactor of the Roswell Artist-in-Residence program, and is made up entirely of work from artists who have gone through that program.  My friend Ven is currently a resident there, and so he helped connect me with the museum for some truck printing, and hosted me and the boys for the night (Run on Sentence was traveling alongside me for this first day).  Fun time!

My next stop was Amarillo, Texas, and I set out on a balmy afternoon, all sunny and bright.  I drove with my windows down.  When I rolled into town the next day around noon, it was a dreamy 60 degrees and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.  I parked at Vermillion Editions, a phenomenal printmaking facility affiliated with West Texas A&M University.  This place is massive – 8000 square feet housing lithography, intaglio, screenprinting and letterpress equipment, including a few of the biggest Mailänder presses I’ve ever seen.  We had a great afternoon of printing and hanging out, but we kept hearing weather reports that a snowstorm was on its way in.  It seemed so abstract and implausible.  Sure enough, though, by 4pm the temperature had dropped about 30 degrees and the sky had clouded over.

By 5pm, once we had retired to Vermillion director Michael Raburn’s studio for happy hour, the snow had started – big fat flakes coming down fast.  It was an instant blizzard.  I was scheduled to speak to students at WTAMU in nearby Canyon, TX the next morning, so I decided to make tracks down to my hotel before the storm got too bad.  Good thing, too, as the next morning the entire area was socked in by the second worst blizzard in Amarillo’s history.  Needless to say, the campus visit was cancelled (all schools, businesses, and roads were closed), but the university was kind enough to put me up for another night at the hotel (thanks, Marcus!).  I woke up the next morning to clear skies, and decided to hit the road so I wouldn’t miss any of my other gigs.

The storm had passed, but not before wreaking havoc on the entire panhandle of Texas.  I had a harrowing 15-mile drive from Canyon back up to I-40 on a state highway that had been partially cleared.  There were abandoned cars littered off the sides of the highway, and the road itself had huge piles of crusty snow creating channels that your tires kind of sank into like a slot car, but without the logic of a slot car track.  It was scary.  I-40 was closed due to ice, and cars and trucks were starting to pile up for miles on the highway and the on/off ramps.  I exited just in time to avoid too much of a back up, and camped out at a truck stop with a bunch of big rigs for awhile, awaiting any news of the highway reopening.

There was no news for hours, and when the highway finally reopened, there was traffic backed up for MILES and cars were still skidding off the road.  The truck stops and gas stations were out of gas.  I made an executive decision, bought a 6-pack of beer, and checked into one of the last rooms available at a nearby motel to wait it out another night.  I made the right call – for the next few hours, I could hear sirens up and down the highway, coming to the aid of impatient and over-confident motorists.

So it was the right thing to do, but it meant that I was now two days behind schedule and had to cancel events in Tulsa, Springfield, and Columbia, MO.  This was a big bummer, not only because I had been looking forward to those gigs, but also because it meant I had to make the drive from Amarillo to Columbia without ever getting PAID.  At 8mpg, that 730 mile drive was an expensive one.

Even though I had to cancel my first workshop in Columbia, MO, I was still able to get there in time for the first day of the True/False Film Fest!  This is an amazing documentary film fest that I’ve been going to for the past five years.  I first started going as the Run on Sentence “merch girl” a few years back, since Dustin and the band play music at the festival.  Being the merch girl, I got an honorary musician pass and got to see some movies for free and go to all the fun parties.  One of the (many) great things about True/False, apart from the stellar film programming, is all the art and music programming that also goes on around town as part of the festival.  And so last year, I decided to actually participate in the festival, and I brought the truck.  It was a ton of fun, and I knew I wanted to go back again with the truck this year.  So I did.  My parking spot this time around was less than ideal (in a parking lot behind one of the venues) and so it took until the last day of the fest for people to actually find me back there.  This was pretty frustrating, and it was freezing cold and someone ran over my extension cord so my heater stopped working but, despite all that, the festival was still really fun.

I was able to reschedule my visit to Drury University in Springfield for the following week, so I headed down there and worked with some really great students for the afternoon, and even got to participate in my first ever tornado drill!  After that, it was a really windy drive up to Kansas City for a couple days of Rn’R at Dustin’s parents house.  Things were starting to get back on track with this whole tour, and I was feeling more relaxed.  But that didn’t last too long, and it was here that I started to get sick.

It seemed like I was going to keep it at bay, but then I drove up to Lincoln, Nebraska for a truck event at Porridge Papers.  We had a really fun night – this was my second visit to Porridge Papers (first time was way back in August 2011) and this time Dustin played some music and all of his Nebraska kinfolk came out, which was hilarious.  But, pro tip: hanging out in a truck in the cold all night is not a way to feel better when you’re starting to feel sick.  I woke up the next morning feeling like a corpse and began to dread the long drive ahead to Rapid City, South Dakota.  Fortunately, I had three days to get there and could break it up into shorter chunks.  I was only about 3 hours into it when I saw this:

*sigh*  I stopped for the night, got myself a hotel room, took some NyQuil and watched the blizzard roll in from the west.  In the morning, the snow and wind were still raging, so I stayed in bed all day and convalesced – I knew this would mean a looong drive the next day, but at least I had this extra day to sleep and shake off the ill.  I hit the road in the morning and headed northwest, through the Sand Hills of central Nebraska.  This is a gorgeous landscape, the sky and roads were clear, and I was feeling quite a bit better.  Until…

Look at a map, find the emptiest part of Nebraska, and that’s where I broke down.  I was about 30 miles from any town, and I wasn’t really sure what had gone wrong.  It didn’t feel like I’d run out of gas (my gas gauge is broken so, even though I keep track of my mileage, I’m never totally sure how much gas I’ve got in there), and the engine had thankfully never died on me before, so I didn’t have a reference point for what that might feel like.  I was out of range for the GPS on my phone, so I used my one bar of reception to text Dustin and have him look up the closest repair/towing company.  About an hour later, a truck showed up, checked things out, poured in 5 gallons of gas for good measure and the Type Truck started right up.  I was relieved, and also felt like a huge idiot.  Backtracked 30 miles to top off the rest of the tank, dropped $250 for the gas and roadside assist, and then continued my endless march onward.

I rolled into Rapid City around 11pm, checked myself into the hotel that my hosts, AAF Black Hills, so graciously arranged for me, and enjoyed a complimentary drink at the hotel bar.  I slept like a queen and, in the morning, I headed over to the Dahl Art Center to sound check for my lunchtime presentation.  It was a great crowd, and it felt good to lean heavily on a little comic relief while talking about my recent travels.  It was all I could do to shake off the accumulated frustration of the previous three weeks.  From here, things really started looking up.  It seemed as though all the snow was behind me, benevolent skies ahead.  I was feeling better, and was determined to have the last week of tour improve dramatically.  After my presentation, I had a chance to wander around Rapid City, stretch my legs, eat a salad (GREENS!), and then meet my host Jason and a friend for dinner and drinks.  I had decided to stay another night, since I didn’t have to be in Laramie until the following evening.  It was a good call.

The next day’s drive through the Black Hills was gorgeous, and reminded me why I got myself into these situations in the first place.  It was sunny, 60 degrees, and all back roads for six hours.  Bliss.  It completely recharged my batteries and reset my expectations and hopes for the rest of the trip.  I rolled into Laramie feeling rejuvenated and ready to share my story without the film of defeat that I fear was still lingering during my presentation in Rapid City.  I was presenting at the University of Wyoming, and met some of the most curious, motivated, creative, and generally awesome students.  This always makes my job so much easier and more meaningful – to feel like I’m having a conversation with my audience, rather than just talking at people.  This bunch of students seemed especially engaged, and ready to ask questions and take chances.  I spent two days in Laramie, a really lovely town.  My hosts showed me the town, took me out to eat, and made me feel really welcome.  And the weather was unbeatable.

And so, on Friday morning, an unseasonably warm day, I hit the road to Boulder to get set up at FACTORYmade, an amazing multidisciplinary creative lab/design space.  It’s part retail, part gallery, part workshop, part design studio, and all awesome.  They were hosting an exhibit of really impressive student furniture design from the University of Colorado Green Tech program, and invited me to take part in the evening’s festivities.  Big thanks to Sam and Alison who helped coordinate and get me involved in the event!

And then Denver.  I set up at two branches of the public library.  It was considerably colder and grayer than it had been the day before, but we still got a pretty good turn out between both locations.  It was mostly kids, and I was amazed by A) how active the libraries were on a Saturday morning and B) how fearless the kids were about just walking into the truck.  I feel like most people, especially kids, are usually pretty cautious about coming into the truck – as well they should be!  Aren’t we all taught NOT to get into a stranger’s vehicle?!  But these kids – while certainly not reckless – were also not afraid, and instead they came right in, ready to make a print and try something new.  My lovely hosts treated me to a huge Mexican lunch feast before I shoved off and hit the road again.

I had a phenomenal drive south from Denver, on back roads through the mountains to Taos, New Mexico.  And so now I’m decompressing for a day or two in Santa Fe, catching up with my family, before heading home tomorrow.  This tour may have started off (and continued) on the wrong foot, but it turned around.  That’s the beauty of traveling and remaining open.  There are new adventures up around every turn.  So what’s next?  Less travel, more work.  Still printing, all the time.  I’ll be getting ready for the National Stationery Show in May, trying to pick the business back up out of the ashes.  My eternal quest.  More travels to come, I’m sure, just not quite sure what that will look like, or when that will be.  I’ll keep you posted.  As always, THANKS for joining me on this adventure!  I wish I could afford this jacket:

I’m heading out this Friday for a month-long tour of the Great Plains! Tour schedule is as follows, hope to see some of you out there!

2/23: Roswell, NM – Anderson Museum of Art
2/24: Amarillo, TX – Vermillion Editions
2/25: Canyon, TX – West Texas A & M University
2/26: Tulsa, OK – Letterpress of Tulsa
2/27: Springfield, MO – Drury University
2/28 – 3/3: Columbia, MO – True/False Film Festival
3/8: Lincoln, NE – Porridge Papers
3/12: Rapid City, SD – AAF Black Hills
3/13-3/14: Laramie, WY: University of Wyoming
3/15: Boulder, CO – FACTORY/MADE
3/16: Denver, CO – Denver Public Library
3/19: Albuquerque, NM – TBA

Friends, I’ve just wrapped up a three-week tour of our nation’s west coast. Particularly, this tour focused on the massive and sunny state of California – the Golden State. This tour was in conjunction with a big life event for me – relocating to Silver City, New Mexico. I got here about 5 days ago and, I have to admit, I’m pretty spent. But I’m happy. I’ve been enjoying spending time on solid ground, exploring this new town, and settling into a home with my partner Dustin – the first non-vehicular place we’ve called home in two years. It feels great. But the tour was great, too. I’m afraid I’ve waited too long to do an honest recap of all that happened, so I hope that a whole pile of photos will suffice, and will tell the story in a broader sense. My deepest gratitude and appreciation to all my hosts and friends I spent time with along the way – thank you for being part of this grand adventure!  I probably won’t be posting much to this website for the next few months, but you can always check out my Power and Light Press site, or follow me on Facebook, twitter, and Instagram (@TypeTruck), if you’re into that sort of thing.  Thanks for coming along for the ride.

 

I’ve been holding some exciting news in for awhile, and now it’s time to let the cat out of the bag.  I’m thrilled to announce that Power and Light Press will be relocating to Silver City, New Mexico!   In just a few short weeks!  !!!  In my travels this past year, I had a lot of time to think about the next steps in my life and in my business, and I visited a lot of towns around the country.   I got to know some really cool places that had me fantasizing about what my life might look like there.   This was one of my favorite games as I traveled. But there was one place where it really didn’t feel like a game.   It felt real.  New Mexico is a place I keep coming back to, in my mind and in person.  It’s a place Dustin and I have been visiting and talking about moving to for years.   I have family roots there, and it’s the land of green chile and 300 days of sunshine every year (but snow, too!).  It is, indeed, the Land of Enchantment.

Silver City is a small town in the southwest corner of the state, an old mining town at the edge of the spectacularly beautiful Gila Wilderness.   It’s a quiet yet creative town, the rents are cheap, and there’s a really good coffee shop in town.  The first part of the move will be driving the Moveable Type truck down, and I’m planning a 3-week tour through California and Arizona.  You can check the schedule on the TOUR DATES page of this site, and I’m still making some additions to it.  If I’m coming through your town, I hope you can make it out and say hello!

Once I get to Silver City and we settle into our sweet little house, I’ll start looking for a studio space to set up Power and Light Press.  I am so excited about this, and I’ll be sure to post updates about that process on the website, Instagram (@typetruck), facebook, twitter (@typetruck), blah blah blah…

In other fun news, the truck finally got some signage!  Friend and sign-painter extraordinaire BT Livermore gave the truck the royal treatment the other day and I gotta say, it looks pretty sharp.   A lot of folks have asked me why (until now) I didn’t have any signage on the truck.   It seemed like a missed opportunity to publicize the project.  This is definitely true.  But I was really wary of drawing more attention to myself as I traveled. Because I was on the road for so long, and because I was also living in the truck, I really came to appreciate the anonymity afforded by an unmarked vehicle.  I could fly below the radar most of the time, which was important in maintaining some sense of privacy and normalcy in my life.  So why now?   Because, frankly, the truck needed a little sprucing up.  And this upcoming tour is short enough that I don’t think I’ll be bothered by a lack of privacy.  And because, honestly, I probably won’t be hitting the road again for 11 months in one go.   So it seems like the right time.  And because it looks really, really awesome.

As always, thanks for your support through these adventures.  Please keep in touch!

I just got back from a week out with the truck and, I gotta say, it was a pretty darn good week.  Summer with a capital S.  And a capital U-M-M-E-R.  Daytime highs around 102 degrees outside (about 104 in the truck) meant it was a sweaty, sweaty week.  But there’s something kind of refreshing (in a sense) about just accepting the summer heat and diving right in.  It’s also your only option when you’re driving a truck with no air conditioning.  I had a cooler full of ice, a giant jug of water, and a pile of sweat-mopping bandanas within arm’s reach of the driver’s seat.

First stop was Pendleton, Oregon.  Home of the famous Pendleton Round-Up, one of the biggest rodeos in the country, but probably most famous for the Woolen Mills, maker of iconic blankets and shirts.  I had coordinated with Roberta Lavadour at the fantastic Pendleton Center for the Arts to set up the truck – not at the art center, but at the farmers market, which happens every Friday evening during the warmer months.  This particular Friday also happened to be the grand finale performance of the kids’ Rock Camp, and an outdoor stage was set up in the middle of the street, one block down from the market.  The entire town was out to support its young musicians that night.  Rock Camp is a week-long program that encourages kids to pick up an instrument – guitar, mic, drum kit, camera, or pen – and learn how to use it.  There’s music instruction, of course, but there are also workshops in performance, songwriting, music journalism, and promotion.  By the end of the week, the kids have put together bands and perform original music in front of a live audience of their families, friends and neighbors.  It is an awesome thing to witness.

The next day, I made the beautiful drive up to Spokane, Washington to finally connect in person with my e-friend Patrick, who runs Platform Booking.  Patrick had set up an event for me in Spokane last spring, at the very end of my big tour, but he couldn’t make it out that night, so I was looking forward to actually meeting him in real life this time.  He arranged for me to set up shop outside a show at a pizza joint.  It was a loud show and a beautiful evening, the pizza was good and the beer was cold, and I think everyone had a great time.  The night ended with a campfire, which is pretty much my #1 ingredient for a good night.

Next stop: Enterprise, Oregon!  This was a harrowing drive.  It started out pleasant enough, heading south out of Spokane, but then the route ducked into the Hell’s Canyon region of the Snake River basin, at the border of Washington, Idaho, and Oregon.  It’s beautiful country, but that road… in that truck… it’s a good thing my destination was a brewery, because I definitely needed a drink.  I made my way to the Terminal Gravity Brewery in Enterprise.  It was a pretty quiet afternoon, but I made some coasters with the few folks who stopped in to check out the truck, and got caught up on my trip-planning for the rest of the week.  My event in Bend had been cancelled, so that left me with three full days free to explore this gorgeous eastern part of Oregon.  My priorities were hiking, swimming, and camping.  These are not difficult things to do in this part of the world.

I made camp that night and, after getting the truck tuned up a bit the next morning, I headed south of town to hike up Hurricane Creek.  This was a lovely hike through forests and meadows, finally opening up to a series of waterfalls and icy cold pools.  It had been HOT in town, but up here the air was cool enough that I didn’t really want to submerge myself in the water… but I put my feet in and had a snack and hung out with this cool old dog who had wandered up the trail away from his human companion.

The next day, I drove down through Baker City and started to head west into the Umatilla National Forest.  I stopped for a long, ambling stroll along Phillips Lake, and jumped in the water before looking for a place to stop for the night.  Crashed out early that night, and got up again the next morning ready for my next adventure – John Day Fossil Beds!

The John Day Fossil Beds are records of the Cenozoic Era (age of mammals, going back 40 million years!), and are made up of three separate areas – I stopped at the Painted Hills Unit. The Painted Hills, as you might imagine, are brightly colored hills, striated with soil and stone deposits from different geological eras.  The photo above shows off the gorgeousness of the landscape, but doesn’t really capture the colors of the hills, so here’s another:

I camped that night and prepared myself for the next day’s re-entry back into civilization.  One last gorgeous drive through the Cascade Mountains and into the Willamette Valley’s wine country.  I was headed to the town of McMinnville, to set up the truck at Third Street Books.  McMinnville is a cool little town about 45 minutes SW of Portland, and Third Street is an awesome bookstore.  The ladies there curated a special display of letterpress books in conjunction with my visit.  It was also discovered that Kate, who works at the bookstore, and I grew up about 3 blocks from one another back in Washington, DC.  And her sister and I went to college together, had many mutual friends, but never met.  We had a really fun evening, which ended with me visiting the open house for Type A Press, a new/old letterpress shop in town!  Chelsey was raised surrounded by printing – her family has been in the newspaper business for a few generations, and she has inherited some of the presses, type, and equipment that her grandfather used.  She’s been running her own print shop for a couple years, but just recently made the leap to doing it full time.  Her shop is lovely, and she does beautiful work.  Good luck, Chelsey!

Last stop on my mini tour was back in Portland, at my friends’ studio, Magnetic North.  This place is rad.  It’s a shared studio and gallery, specializing in illustration, screenprinting, block printing, hand-lettering, and letterpress, and featuring the abundant talents of BT Livermore, Mary Kate McDevitt, Fred DiMeglio, KB Sawyer, and Lacey Van Nortwick.  It is also the world HQ of Man’s Face Stuff, purveyors of fine mustache wax, “Fighting Irony since 2009″.  It was a sublime Portland evening, and we had a super fun night of printing and hanging out.  Now I am exhausted, but also really excited to announce that BT will be painting some signage on the truck.  FINALLY!  This will be happening sometime in this next month – photos to come, of course.  Happy summer to you all!

I’m super excited to hit the road again this weekend, albeit for just a week in Eastern Oregon and Washington.  It’s going to be one last hurrah of what has been a great summer.  Here’s the schedule:

Thursday 8/16 – Portland, OR – ATF Conference, Kennedy School (after the 7pm screening of “Linotype: the film”)

Friday 8/17 – Pendleton, OR – Farmers Market, 4-7pm

Saturday 8/18 – Spokane, WA – Pacific Avenue Pizza/Browne’s Addition, 8-11pm

Sunday 8/19 – Enterprise, OR – Terminal Gravity Brewery, 4-7pm

Thursday 8/23 – McMinnville, OR – Third Street Books, 4-7pm

Friday 8/24 – Portland, OR – Magnetic North, 6-?pm

 

 

Going to the post office is a big part of my job.  In my travels this past year, I had to stop at a lot of post offices along the way, to fill orders and send postcards.  I was smitten by the tiny ones I encountered in small towns all over the country, and so I recently made a bunch of drawings in their honor.  I’ve set up a Tumblr called, curiously, tiny post offices.  I’ll be adding more drawings all week and, in a month or so, I plan on producing a line of letterpress printed postcards based on these drawings.  I’ll have those available in my Big Cartel shop whenever they’re ready.  Til then!

Does anyone else think it’s kind of messed up that it’s already July 21st?  I sure do – I’m already beginning to feel wistful about the waning days of summer.  But instead of singing summer’s sweet lullaby just yet, I’ve decided to fix myself a mint julep and “bear the cost and suffer the weight of human existence.”  I am honored to be a part (the July part) of Printeresting‘s PDF of the Month Series!  This project has been on hiatus for over a year, but they’re getting it back up and running, kicking it off with a year’s worth of “Printeresting’s Guide Zines”, download-able PDFs from various artists and designers not normally associated with zine culture.  My contribution to this series is a zine (my first ever!) inspired by my January 2012 visit to Rowan Oak, William Faulker’s home in Oxford, Mississippi.  You can download it from the image above or, better yet, visit the Printeresting website for a higher-res file and assembly instructions.  Download it, print it out, fold it up, and be sure to check back next month for the latest installment!  Also, anyone in Maine should check out the related Rum Riot Press exhibit at Space Gallery in Portland – this show opens this Thursday, and celebrates small presses and independent publishing from around the world.

Cheers!

Hello, friends of Moveable Type!

It’s been awhile since I’ve reached out on this here blog… but I wanted to write today to announce two things: 1) my studio is applying for a grant and needs your help and 2) I’ve got some upcoming truck events in the great Northwest.  Please read on!

So, this grant.  As many of you know, when I’m not printing out of a truck, I operate my business out of a cooperative studio in Portland called Em Space Book Arts Center.  This is an amazing facility and has really allowed Power and Light Press (that’s me!) to get up and running these past few years. Em Space provides shared workspace, equipment, education and community support to independent printers and bookbinders.  We each pay monthly dues that go toward rent and upkeep, and in return we gain 24-hour access to the studio and all its wonders.  This is a tremendous help to those of us who are starting a business but can’t yet invest in a fully equipped print shop of our own, or for the more casual printer/bookbinder who just needs occasional access to equipment and studio space.  We also offer classes and other community outreach programming to try to increase awareness and familiarity with book arts.

We’re applying for a BIG small business grant to help us grow.  This grant will award $250,000 to 12 small businesses who are making an important contribution to their communities.  We firmly believe that Em Space is a vital resource in Portland, and thrill at the opportunities 250K could bring – improved workspace (with climate control?!), additional equipment investments, a visiting artists program, a dedicated paid manager position (it’s currently all volunteer run, mostly by Rory, who puts in well over 20 hours of unpaid work each week) and, most of all, just a bit of security that we can continue to provide for our members.

But in order to be considered for this grant, we first need to gather 250 votes by June 30th – that’s THIS SATURDAY!  The voting process is super simple and quick – we don’t need any of your money, just one minute of your time, and it could help us out SO much.  Please consider casting a vote for us so we can be in the running!  All you have to do is visit www.missionsmallbusiness.com, click on “log in and support”, and search for Em Space Book Arts Center by name.  That’s it!  We really appreciate your support – thank you!!!

In other news, I’ve got a couple trucks events coming up.  This weekend, I’ll be heading out to central Washington to an awesome place called Mighty Tieton.  I’ll be taking part in their Camp Mighty Tieton, which will involve camping, experimental shelter-building, textile workshops, wine, music, movies in a barn and printing in a truck.  Should be fun.

And then later in the summer, I’m planning a week-long tour of Eastern Washington and Oregon, with planned stops in Spokane, WA, Pendleton, OR, Enterprise, OR, Bend, OR, and McMinnville, OR.  More on that later.

Thanks for reading, thanks for your support, and keep in touch!

Portland friends – come on out this Friday to Em Space Book Arts Center!  This will be a big, comprehensive wrap-up from the trip… prints, photos, other stuff.

Also, great homecoming feature from Oregon Public Broadcasting today, on their Arts & Life website: http://www.opb.org/artsandlife/arts/article/moveable-type-returns-home-portland/

Hope to see you there!