I had so much fun researching the local print industry, and I’m always thrilled whenever I can share about the incredible printmaking program NSCAD offered in the 70’s.
As one of the oldest cities in Canada, founded in 1749, there is a rich history of press, reproduction, offset, design, letterpress and conceptual printmaking in Halifax.
While much of the print industry has been displaced and outsourced to areas of larger industry and business away from the city centre, the historical significance is still recognized and celebrated today through building and street names.
An excerpt from Halifax Gazette - Canada’s First Newspaper, the Nova Scotia Archives.
On 23 March 1752, the history of printing began in Canada. On that Monday, from a small print shop on Grafton Street in Halifax, Nova Scotia, John Bushell sold copies of the Halifax Gazette — Canada’s first newspaper.
Printed on just half of a single foolscap sheet, the two-page tabloid featured news from Britain, Europe, New England and the other British colonies to the south — items that would be of interest to local government officials, military personnel and business leaders.
In 1887, the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design (NSCAD) was established, and later, a printmaking workshop space dedicated to lithography, intaglio and other print resources.
During the 1970’s, NSCAD was an area of significance and influence in conceptual art, and printmaking in particularly, saw artists pushing the boundaries and definition of what printmaking and reproduction can be.
Joyce Wieland. O Canada, 1970.
Lithograph on white Arches paper, Collection of NSCAD University.
An excerpt from Print’s Not Dead, CBC Arts.
When the workshop was founded, NSCAD itself was unlike any other Canadian college. In 1969, it became the first degree-granting art school in the country. Its new president, a young artist named Garry Neill Kennedy, was transforming the place into an environment where students could mingle with the most innovative artists of the era. The Lithography Workshop was one strategy for luring them there. No educational institution had anything like it.
“You’re getting these people like John Baldessari and Vito Acconci who were performers or writers, and they did these one-off projects. [The print workshop] tried to get them here to make a physical object that they could then sell. And conceptual artists weren’t selling anything — they were doing live work. So this was then something that they could profit off of.” - Melanie Colosimo, director and curator, Anna Leonowens Gallery Systems
Collins, L., 2019. Print’s Not Dead. CBC Arts.
Available at: https://www.cbc.ca/arts/in-the-70s-the-world-s-top-artists-flocked-to-halifax-this-new-project-revives-that-moment-1.5351935
DESIGN PRACTICE
Trampoline Branding is a 50+ person branding and advertising agency who work across traditional and digital mediums to help clients achieve greater brand presence or marketing goals. They bring energy and life to corporate projects, while keeping within professional boundaries.
1489 Hollis St 2nd Floor, Halifax, NS B3J 3M4 | https://trampolinebranding.com/
Midnight Oil is a one-man design, screen-printing and letter-press shop. His highly illustrative designs make him a go-to for tour poster designs, custom art prints, packaging design and tactile business cards. Midnight Oil also hand screen-prints complex, multi-layered designs which make him a one-stop-shop for many of his clients.
2168 Gottingen St, Halifax, NS B3K 3B4 | https://www.midnight-oil.ca/
DOSE Media are a two-person design team who inject their personality and perspective in every project. They push boundaries and standards we typically see in client branding, bringing boldness and fun to their designs, no matter the client or project.
No public address.| https://dose.media/
DESIGN PRODUCTION
NSCAD University has a public print shop that has capabilities to print and bind presentations, art books, one-off letterpress prints and more.
5163 Duke St, Halifax, NS B3J 3J6 | https://nscad.ca/design-print-services/
The Printing House is national chain that can bring any project to life. Any material, and size, and output — they will make it happen. The team at the Halifax location are focused on customer service and developing relationships with longstanding clients.
1809 Barrington St Suite B101, Halifax, NS B3J 3K8 | https://www.tph.ca/059-2/
Inkwell Boutique is an stationary boutique with an on-site studio. They offer custom letterpress printing and graphic design of personal stationery, business cards, event invitations, posters and art prints. They approach letterpress printing as an art form and work with clients to create unique, hand printed pieces.
1453 South Park St, Halifax, NS | https://inkwellboutique.ca/
Readings and lectures
In conversation with Maziar Raein.
I enjoyed both of their perspectives on how the access to resources have changed for students and professional designers. We have the luxury of endless images at our fingertips – but what is often missing is context. This could be a common pitfall of my generation when we search for things to fit our need as opposed to learning about where work fits in greater context.
An excerpt from Drip Dry Shirts
Drip Dry Shirts
I found it interesting that there seemed to be two driving forces behind the development of graphic design industry in the 20th century – advertising and print media. As a former print maker, I’m aware of print media and technology and how it relates to fine art art, but a big blind spot for me is the more industry-driven area of print media – typography for one.
I identified Bauhaus as an area of future research as the combination of aesthetics across many fields, the sharing of information, and related print publications could help me dive deeper in to learning more of historical design industry and how it was driven my socio-economic factors.