{"id":46232,"date":"2024-09-30T09:33:33","date_gmt":"2024-09-30T13:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/?p=46232"},"modified":"2024-09-30T09:33:34","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T13:33:34","slug":"social-activist-with-a-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/2024\/09\/social-activist-with-a-press\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Activist with a Press"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cI use letterpress printing, but I use it to disrupt the segregated realms of fine printing and artists\u2019 books.\u201d
–excerpt from \u201cMy Manifesto\u201d in the new book Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.: Citizen Printer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To read Amos Kennedy\u2019s manifesto is to glimpse into the passion and love that Kennedy holds for letterpress printing and his sincere believe in the power of the printing press. Kennedy is one of the leading practitioners of letterpress printing today, known mainly for his bold stylistic technique that foregrounds powerful messages against a colorful backdrop. He prides himself on being a \u201cdisturber of the peace\u201d and a member of the \u201cSchool of Bad Printing,\u201d both of which point to the strong social activism presented in his work as well as the humor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born in Lafayette, Louisiana, Kennedy grew to study mathematics and began a career as a computer programmer, but his love of calligraphy and books led him to eventually leave the corporate world for the life of a printer and designer. He studied book arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but before that a visit to a printing demonstration at Colonial Williamsburg led Kennedy to purchase a Vandercook printing press and four cabinets of type, which he installed in his basement. Thus, a printer was born and, today, Kennedy operates a letterpress shop called Kennedy Prints! in Detroit, Michigan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Social
Selections from the “Quotations from Rosa Louise Parks” series by Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kennedy\u2019s work is preserved in numerous libraries, archives, and museums, and the University of Cincinnati\u2019s Archives and Rare Books Library is pleased to join that community. ARB recently acquired two sets of Kennedy\u2019s work. The first is the poster series \u201cQuotations from Rosa Louise Parks,\u201d which includes twelve posters that feature quotations from the civil rights activist over various typographic layers. In a 2023 interview, Kennedy described his technique this way:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When you look at something like the Rosa Parks portfolio, you\u2019ll see that there\u2019s one layer that has dates that are significant to her life. Then there\u2019s another layer that has places that are significant to her life. This continues for about four layers, because one of the things I like to do is envision people having that aha moment\u2014when that poster has been on the wall for a considerable amount of time, and they see it every day, but suddenly, they turn their head a certain way, and they say, \u201cOh, the word Montgomery\u2019s behind there. I never noticed that before.\u201d And that will draw them in to look and study it more.” (– as printed in Citizen Printer<\/em>, p. 69)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second set of Kennedy\u2019s works is comprised of 134 church fans bearing the names of individuals killed will working for civil rights in the United States from 1946 to 1968. The fans are accompanied by a series of standard road maps on which Kennedy has printed the number of individuals murdered in various states. The portfolio takes a simple object with strong ties to the Black church and creates a haunting, repetitive visual narrative. As Kelly Walters has written in Citizen Printer<\/em>, Kennedy\u2019s \u201cuse of the fan asks us to contemplate how the rites of funeral memorialization can serve as a tool for historical remembrance as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Social
Examples of Kennedy’s church fans and road maps.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As part of his manifesto, Kenney states: \u201cThroughout history, the printer has had to choose to either resist or assist in the marginalization of knowledge. I made the choice: I resist.\u201d There is no better summary of the work that Amos Kennedy has produced over the years, and ARB is proud to now help preserve his work as we look to diversify examples of printing and the book arts in our collections. We are working to create an online finding aid for the Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. Collection at ARB and hope to add to the collection in the future. Those who are interested in viewing materials from this collection can email ARB at archives@ucmail.uc.edu<\/a> to schedule a research appointment. To learn more about Kennedy\u2019s life and career, we recommend the excellent documentary Proceed and Be Bold!<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI use letterpress printing, but I use it to disrupt the segregated realms of fine printing and artists\u2019 books.\u201d –excerpt from \u201cMy Manifesto\u201d in the new book Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.: Citizen Printer To read Amos Kennedy\u2019s manifesto is to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":462,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,600,31,13],"tags":[2363,2358,1793,2361,36],"class_list":["post-46232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arb","category-special-collections-2","category-uc","category-uclibraries","tag-amos-paul-kennedy-jr","tag-archives-and-rare-books","tag-digital-fabric-printing","tag-social-activism","tag-uc-libraries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/462"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46232"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46238,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46232\/revisions\/46238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}