MBFDS #1
HELLO!
Hello friends and supporters of Bruno Press! Welcome to 2021, where things look the same but feel different. We made it through the holidays unscathed and looking back through it all, 2020 was a good year for Bruno Press.
Did you know that my poster was on the cover of a magazine? For reals?
Msp. St. Paul Magazine contacted me back in late November asking about a lil poster series I had started called Words from the Revolution with a few badass ladies from down in the metro. Long story short, I collaborated with my friend Dara Beevas on the project and she suggested a great quote from a local social activist and leader in the metro named Dr. Joi Lewis. I printed an edition of about 100 posters and made a gorgeous video about it with Rubinski Visual. Mpls St Paul Mag worked tirelessly to make the cover look and feel as letterpress-y as possible. Over 70K copies went out to subscribers and newsstands in late December, early January. SUCH a thrill, I have a bunch of copies, prolly gunna give 'em as Xmas presents, lemme know if you want one. Check out the wonderful lil piece my friend Jayne Haugen Olson wrote about me!
Did you also know?
The origin of the phrase "Mind your Ps and Qs" was advice printers gave to their apprentices so they didn't mix up their backwards-facing lowercase ps and qs while constructing their type.
Inspiration
I don’t know about you, but I watched the Amanda Gorman “Hills We Climb” poem and boy, that was inspirational. Not only is she 22 years old, but a Poet Laureate, a stunning speaker, and adept at helping to chisel away some of the negativity and defeat to uncover just enough hope and inspiration to convince this kid, that 2021 is going to be better.
Hot Off The Press
With that being said I decided to honor that very inspiration with a kickass poster! I laid this out to be a three color lino block carved poster with some hand set type as well. I kept the colors iconic to the day and carved the hell outta that block. The hands were killer! I am very proud of this limited edition run of posters! I decided to stay inline with the initiative I started with the Revolution series to donate a portion of the proceeds of this poster to the BIPOC community. I partnered with the Intercultural LEAD program over at the College of Saint Ben's & St. John's University. The iLEAD fellowship program is for high achieving, historically underrepresented, first generation college students! How cool! Gotta love doin' something local too! I am hoping that this becomes something I can shoot for doing several times a year.
My People
My friend Rachel is a very thoughtful person, is married with 2 small children and teaches at the College of Saint Benedict. She has taken the time to travel to Palisade, MN with a handful of letterpress printed protest posters -STOP LINE 3- (that her and her daughters MADE) and her 2 kids: Elsa (6) and Sarah (4) in tow to protest the Line 3 pipeline. Amidst all the things that occupy the time of a mother & professor, this became a priority and is teaching that to her kids. It is fun to watch a cool person raising cool kids. I know them to be cool because they are the BIGGEST fans of Quarantine Storytime, which I officially retired the end of January. We had a good run and all episodes are on my YouTube channel.
Printer Love
I follow printers and artists from all over the world, one of my favorites is Rick Allen of The Kenspeckle Letterpress up in Duluth, Minnesota. He is a VERY talented lino engraver and is a constant source of inspiration to me. Check his stuff out here.
Shop Updates
Got a bunch of things that are coming down the line in the shop this month. I have been commissioned to make posters for Art in Motion in Holdingford, what a cool place, have you seen it yet?
Work on the 2022 calendar has officially begun as well! It was such a bummer to have skipped a year but too much shit was going on last year at this time and it is my 10th Anniversary so I want it to be REALLY special! The theme is “Written in the Stars” and I cannot wait for you to SEE! Stay tuned!
Hope you enjoy this NEW monthly stream of conciousness that I am sharing. I love to write and I want to keep in touch since I do not SEE many people these days. I promise to keep it fun, interesting and an actual Mental Break from Dumb Shit.
Thanks for supporting a real life creative.
McBruno