Community Letterpress Workshop

Declaration artist Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. returns to Richmond from Detroit for a special letterpress event, free and open to the public. Make and take your very own letterpress print under Kennedy Jr.’s artistic direction. Choose from “We are all a work in progress” or “Art speaks to the soul” — sayings selected from declarations left by ICA visitors in our Learning Lab.

At 6:30 pm, our 3-in-30 tour begins with Kennedy Jr.’s work at the ICA and then heads down W. Broad Street to Parlor Salon and Taylor’s Barber Shop to explore the off-site installations of his work. (This is likely to be a 45 minute tour, or more. Forgive us!)

Kennedy Jr.’s multi-site project Passin’ on to others, comprised of hundreds of letterpress prints, is on view at the ICA and in ten independently owned barbershops and salons around Richmond. The off-site installations consist of proverbs and aphorisms generated at each business by its owner, stylists, and patrons. Together, these words highlight the power of everyday conversations shared in public community spaces. The on-site installation contains submissions from all of the participants, along with the artist’s own words.

Find and visit all of the off-site locations.

AMOS PAUL KENNEDY, JR.

Kennedy Jr. is a self-proclaimed “humble Negro printer” whose letterpress work represents the messages and identities of African-Americans whose “words… have largely been excluded from ‘fine print.'” He uses traditional letterpress techniques to create richly colored, hand-pulled letterpress prints that often incorporate messages and aphorisms that spur conversation about race and class. Through his fine, layered printing of simple text using traditional letterpress technique, Kennedy Jr.’s work encourages reflection on historical and current African-American identities and overlap between the struggles of the Civil Rights movement and present needs for bold action to pursue social justice.