There’s an event coming up that I’m extremely excited to talk to you about. Unfortunately, a knuckle head in the family just has to go get married that weekend and I’ll be out of town, sad! It’s the 10th Annual Printers Fair and it’s coming up on Saturday and Sunday October 14-15. Its being held at The International Print museum in Carson. I know that’s not exactly in The Corridor but the event is well worth the trip.
Now, what is a printers fair and why the heck should I go to it? Well… it’s one of the largest collections of working printers going back almost 300 years. And we’re not talking about some dot matrix machines from the 80’s. They are machines going back to Ben Franklin, The Gutenberg Press and beyond. Did you hear the part where I said it’s a “WORKING” museum? There will be dozens of staff and volunteers to help teach you about the presses and to help you manually work them. You will physically print your own pieces.
There will be a host of vendors, including some amazing letterpress artists from across the country, giving demonstrations and making some of their art available. Paper and Craft artist will have booths to show off some their best and newest pieces. This is a kid friendly event so load up the van head down to the museum and let them learn, not only, how to make paper, but have a chance to make their own from pulp. Then have them set their own type and press it into their paper. It’s 100, err 99%, they made it… to my knowledge they won’t be making the ink (idea for next year Mark?).
If you can’t make it down for the fair there are still many reasons to visit the museum during their regular hours. They provide educational programs for up to 25,000 kids a year from elementary through high school and college art programs, history classes, mobile exhibits on wheels and public presentations quarterly. The Dickens holiday program is right around the corner. Come listen and watch Charles Dickens narrate some of his most famous characters as they come to life. Listen to the podcast to hear about all the amazing things the museum has to offer, it’s literally a treasure trove of history and a great addition to (near) The Corridor.
You can visit the International Printing Museum website here.
