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On October 24th, Special Collections and the Makerspace transformed Canaday Library's lobby into a busy, temporary letterpress printshop—complete with cases of antique wood type and decorative ornaments, a table-top press, inking station, stacks of colored paper, and tables for drying prints. Working with special guest , they hosted three letterpress poster printing workshops for the ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ community. The programs were designed to support the current exhibition, SAY IT! Poster Design & Graphic Messages, currently on view in the 1912 Gallery. Bronwen Densmore, Makerspace Coordinator said that "these kinds of events are deeply meaningful as they invite individuals to experience and process ideas as a community." Inspired by the Say It! exhibit, a collaboratively generated prompt, and one another, workshop participants had the opportunity to make art that communicates and inspires. She also added that "there has been a growing appetite for printmaking on campus, which is exciting to see as people explore ways of messaging and connection."

Each workshop began by asking a group of College community members to pick a thematic word for their collective project. The first group chose "Community", the second "Courage", and the last "Curiosity". Individual participants then got to work, galley trays in hand, composing a line of their own that riffed on the lead word, selecting wood sorts, and setting a line of type in the proper orientation for relief printing. They also practiced with letter spacing and word spacing. "With a limited line width, they had to select their fonts carefully, negotiating how best to graphically express their ideas," said Janelle Rebel, Seymour Adelman Director of Special Collections. "Would they use an elegant all caps serif, a narrow blocky slab serif, or something round and bold? Would they intersperse decorative elements?" In fact, many chose to intermix typefaces and uppercase and lowercase letters within a single word, a technique known as parangonnage. "This changes up the reading dynamic and imbues each word with frenetic energy," Rebel said. "How would each person interpret the prompt? What would their lines look like together on one poster?"

Once they negotiated their options, participants brought their work to PRINTADELPHIA's Marisha Simons, who prepared the group's design on the press, locking up their lines of type on the incredible . "Anticipation was building as each person's line was added," Rebel said, "Would a letter be upside down? Had a 'p' been mistaken for a 'b'?" To check, Simons inked the forme and pulled off a proof to the excitement and applause of those gathered. In Bryn Mawr fashion, participants immediately spotted mistakes, offered corrections, and then Simons manually tweaked the forme. Once it was ready again, printers queued up with paper sheets in hand to print their posters. "They discovered how physical it is to pull a print!," Rebel noted.

In addition to gaining exposure to the basics of letterpress printing, all participants got to take home one of their posters. "Being able to experience the joys and challenges of hand printing posters will hopefully give new appreciation to our communities about the tactility of print," Rebel said. "Such experiences offer an embodied understanding of the interplay between writing, design, and typography and an alternate approach to printing arts history." Community members and the public can view SAY IT! Poster Design & Graphic Messages, which includes many examples of letterpress printing ranging from the 19th century to today, Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. through May 29, 2026.