School of the Art Institute of Chicago Letterpress Studio Tour
Video presentation is allowed to be used for educational purposes.
Cathie Ruggie Saunders and Martha Chiplis, coauthors of “For the Love of Letterpress: a Printing Handbook for Instructor and Students,” published by Bloomsbury and now in its second edition, will take you on a tour of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago Type Shop. The fully equipped letterpress studio is located on the 13th floor of a Holabird and Roche Jewelers Row building in the heart of downtown Chicago.
Ruggie Saunders has presided over the studio since 1983, with the help of Chiplis since 2009, growing it from its original donation of one Vandercook and 2 cabinets of type, through 5 moves, to its current 300+ metal and wood typefaces, five Vandercook cylinder proof presses, two C&P presses, a photopolymer machine, a Challenge guillotine, and two Sigwalt tabletop presses.
Inside the studio, students enrolled in the degree program take beginning through advanced courses. Students create, design, and produce visual communication, with an emphasis upon the integration of letterpress with materials, structure, and content within visual/verbal formats such as single sheets, traditional books, artist’s books, and 3-D sculptural multiples.
Cathie Ruggie Saunders:
Associate Professor, Adjunct & Letterpress Coordinator:
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Professor, Art & Design Department Chair, and SXU Gallery Director:
Saint Xavier University.
Exhibitions: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Temari Center for Asian & Pacific Fibers, Hawaii; American Cultural Center, New Delhi, India.
Awards: American Graphic Design Award 2019, 2014, First Annual Tampa Book Arts Studio Letterpress Excellence Award in Contemporary Ephemera (with Martha Chiplis); Illinois Arts Council Artists Fellowship; Teaching Excellence Award, Saint Xavier University.
Publications: For the Love of Letterpress, a Printing Handbook for Instructors & Students, written and designed with Martha Chiplis, 2013. Bloomsbury, London. Second edition: August 2019.
Martha Chiplis has an MFA from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She first printed on a Vandercook in 1984, and bought her own press in 1989. She worked for Sherwin Beach Press as a letterpress printer and designer for 16 years and began teaching at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2008. She is a freelance graphic designer, illustrator, letterpress printer, and coauthor of "For the Love of Letterpress: a Printing Handbook for Instructors and Students," published by Bloomsbury LLC, now in its second edition.
