{"id":14717,"date":"2019-08-26T13:00:16","date_gmt":"2019-08-26T19:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/?p=14717"},"modified":"2019-08-26T13:00:16","modified_gmt":"2019-08-26T19:00:16","slug":"using-words-as-mirrors-book-and-letterpress-class-helps-explore-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/2019\/08\/using-words-as-mirrors-book-and-letterpress-class-helps-explore-identity\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Words as Mirrors: Book and Letterpress Class Helps Explore Identity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Designs and photos courtesy of Ben Blount<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cMy work explores questions of race and identity, and the stories we tell ourselves about living in America,\u201d explains Ben Blount, designer, letterpress printer, and visiting professor for his Block 6 class at Colorado College, Book and Book Structure.<\/p>\n

Born and raised in Detroit, Blount studied graphic design at Washington University in St. Louis. After college, he worked as a designer for several years before returning to school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d always had an interest in design, typography, and books as a form, and I took an evening class at Columbia College Chicago to learn how to use a printing press,\u201d says Blount. Columbia College Chicago specializes in arts and media disciplines across all areas of creative expression. When Blount started evening classes, he learned of the full-time graduate program there, and his path in life had to change slightly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d been on my way to design school, but that evening class made me switch gears. I refocused, worked towards, and received an MFA in book and paper arts,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cWhat really attracted me to it was the tactile nature of the craft, how interactive it could be. I loved manipulating type! It\u2019s also really cool just how much everyday language comes from printing \u2014 \u2018mind your p\u2019s and q\u2019s, out of sorts, hot off the press, make an impression\u2019 \u2014 all these phrases have their origins in print work, so it\u2019s a really impactful medium of work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now based in Chicago, Blount has a \u201cday job\u201d as an art director for an advertising agency in the Windy City, and still finds time to devote to his socially conscious printing and letterpress work.<\/p>\n

His design is all client-based, and Blount strives to maintain an emotional, meaningful lens.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe printing work, and my ad work, it all comes from something emotional. It\u2019s all about finding and expressing something more meaningful, even if it\u2019s someone else\u2019s work that you\u2019re putting your own spin on,
\nas I do for my day job,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Blount\u2019s own printmaking work deals with identity, race, and culture. \u201cI\u2019m trying to have a conversation with the viewer,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not using print work as a confrontation option, but a conversational one, trying to represent and explore topics visually that may be uncomfortable for some people verbally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of particular interest and focus for Blount at the moment is \u201cexploring and solving problems around white supremacy,\u201d he says. \u201cThe issue is, it\u2019s really hard to move forward linguistically because we\u2019re not all coming to this conversation with the same language basis, which is where the visual element
\nof print can be useful, I hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

The focus of Blount\u2019s work coincided with the release of the initial report from the college\u2019s external review on racism and antiracism, conducted by Dr. Roger Worthington from the Center for Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education at the University of Maryland.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Worthington report inspired a lot of the work I did while at CC,\u201d Blount says. \u201cAntiracism seems a step beyond the normal diversity and inclusion initiatives you see at a larger organization, which was encouraging. I tried to figure out what I could pull from the report, from being on campus around the students, and events of the day with speakers like Shaun King and others.\u201d<\/p>\n

His Block 6 class was his first time teaching undergraduate students, and Blount arrived at CC not quite knowing what to expect.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a really great experience. I loved it,\u201d he says.\u201cI had a wide variety of students in my class and everyone brought something to the table, and they all came with a level of responsibility and competency that was really encouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking Ben Blount\u2019s Block 6 bookmaking class was one of the most rewarding experiences I\u2019ve had at CC so far,\u201d says Molly Seaman \u201921. \u201c<\/b>Making the posters, postcards, and books required of us took hours of work. My classmates and I sometimes found ourselves at The Press in the middle of the night \u2026 our hands, arms, and faces streaked with different colors of ink.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Press at Colorado College, now in its 41st year since being established in 1978, has two full-sized printing presses, a composing and drafting room, and a huge variety of type options, materials, and inspirational pieces for students to draw upon. But students learned it\u2019s not just the materials that are important.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cPress work takes time, patience, and love,\u201d Seaman says. \u201cBen Blount was right beside us \u2014 always smiling, always joking, always laughing, and always enthusiastic and prepared to help us realize our ideas. He is one of the kindest and most talented people I\u2019ve ever met, and I feel beyond lucky to have been one of his students.\u201d<\/p>\n

While at CC, Blount immersed himself in the life of the college, including leading a presentation on art, race, and identity called \u201cSee Something Say Something\u201d in the Tutt Library Event Space in February.<\/p>\n

\u201cCC is an amazing place,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was important to me that I got involved as a member of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Press is very cool. It\u2019s really great to see people of all majors from across the community come through The Press, utilizing the space and people like Aaron Cohick as resources, not simply art majors. It\u2019s a real community, and I loved being a part of it.\u201d\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Designs and photos courtesy of Ben Blount \u201cMy work explores questions of race and identity, and the stories we tell ourselves about living in America,\u201d explains Ben Blount, designer, letterpress printer, and visiting professor for his Block 6 class at Colorado College, Book and Book Structure. Born and raised in Detroit, Blount studied graphic design…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":952,"featured_media":14588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[106],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-14717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-summer-2019","tag-features"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/files\/2019\/08\/cc-bul-sum19-p12.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/952"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14717"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14718,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14717\/revisions\/14718"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}