Hamilton had a fantastic couple of days at the SGCInternational conference in Madison, Wisconsin in mid-march. Museum staff, Jim Moran and Stephanie Carpenter, and Museum Volunteers, Lily Johnson and Liz Geoffrey, hosted two inky events, a demonstration in the Type Shop at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a pop-up at the Art Lofts.

The demonstration showcased two Hamilton Wood Type Legacy designs, Konop by Mark Simonson and Bernice by Marian Bantjes. Konop is a monospaced (fixed-width) typeface where each character fills a square and Bernice is a border design inspired by the border stamping machine at the museum, which relies on creative combinations and rotations of a few geometric shapes. Participants had the opportunity to print the design using two of the Vandercooks in the shop and take the commemorative print home.

The pop-up was located in a brightly lit space where Hamilton prints were on display along with Jim printing on a mini Showcard press. The prints are only 7x11 inches! Each visitor got to choose from a little collection of blocks and then take home a unique print.

The conference was an inspiring few days of printmaking. We got to see friends, make new ones, and come home excited about sharing our love of letterpress.