Chloe and Gillian
The Independent Publishing Resource Center has been Portland’s beloved center of the D.I.Y. publishing community since 1998.
I spoke with Rebecca Gilbert, co-founder and original director of the IPRC, about the history of the center, Portland’s indie publishing scene since the mid 1990s, and her role in Portland’s print community.
The front door of their North Portland shop.
Stumptown Printers is a letterpress and offset print shop in Portland, OR. Started in 1999, they are most well known for their enigmatic media packaging.
I spoke to Eric Bagdonas, who co-founded the shop with his brother, Bryan Bagdonas, and Rebecca Gilbert. We talked about the history of the shop, Portland’s print scene, print in the 20th and 21st centuries, and much more. Read More
"Don't think too hard. It's only drawing."
It is important to have heroes. It is also helpful when they are real people. I have my share of individuals who continually inspire me with their amazing quality of work, thoughtfulness, and uncanny ability to make it all come together (many of them have been highlighted here on Bangback). Artist Carson Ellis ranks right up there at the top of my list.
Carson is a full-time illustrator who creates beautiful work for children’s books. She is also the artist-in-residence for The Decemberists. She is prolific and kind and we had the extreme pleasure to work with her when Pinball was producing the paper goods line Tenth & Grant. She was born in Vancouver, BC and raised in suburban New York. She studied painting at the University of Montana in Missoula, where she received her BFA in 1998. Currently residing in Portland, with her husband Colin Meloy, son Hank, and two cats, she has been working at a feverish pace to illustrate The Decemberists’ latest album and also finish up the eighty-five (!) illustrations for the book Wildwood. Luckily, we grabbed a few minutes with her this Spring to hear about her latest efforts and inspirations.
P.S. She is going to be speaking at the Portland State University MFA lecture series this coming Monday. Don’t miss it. It’s free and starts at 7:30.
The C.C. Stern Type Foundry opens its doors to the public this weekend, their collection of aged foundry equipment and metal type on display.
The C.C. Stern Type Foundry will say hello to the world this weekend, excited to share the heavy equipment and hard work they’ve been wrapped up in for the last few months. Self-described as a working museum (“with an emphasis on ‘working’”), C.C. Stern boasts one of the largest collections of Monotype casting matricies in the United States. As one of the only working type foundries on the West Coast, the museum is stepping in to fill a void as a resource for the Pacific Northwest’s growing community of designers, book artists and letterpress printers.
The UK-based artist uses found print ephemera to create new beauty.
Anthony Zinonos is a UK-based collage and print artist who has an impeccable eye for the textures, patterns and colors of old ephemera. Anthony’s hybrid collage-illustration work is visually striking yet transcends much contemporary collage work in its pointed consideration for content and narrative. His work can function in both an art context and the design world, emerging as editorial illustration in print publications as well as in the form of original collage and ephemeral pieces.
You can find his work in his online portfolio, in his online art shop, or in his online print-zine-poster shop.
Anthony lent us a bit of his time to talk about collecting paper, print in the digital age, and nostalgia. Check out a short interview below, along with more images of his work.
A glimpse at Triangular Press headquarters, with storage designed by Vontundra.
Barbara Tetenbaum has been making and releasing artist books under the Triangular Press imprint since 1979. She is professor and department head of Book Arts at the Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland, and her limited-edition artist books draw from a long tradition of letterpress printing and hand-binding techniques.
Two titles.
Justin Bland lives in Portland. Here he makes books, small books that straddle the border between art object and publication. His books have been distributed by Café Royal Books, Kaugummi and other notable entities. His work was recently included in the book Fanzines by graphic design historian Teal Triggs, released earlier this year by Thames & Hudson Publishers.
Find his book projects at his website. Also see his flickr stream, where he regularly posts images of his own work and print objects made by others.
An independently published newsprint project.
At one point last spring, I found myself sitting outside on a bright gray day, on a damp bench with a free newsprint publication in my hands. I realized I was having an essentially Portland experience: I was enjoying an accessible, independently published piece of collaborative artwork, an artifact of my city’s highly inclusive and DIY creative scene. (Plus, a downpour was imminent.) Mia Nolting and Rachel Pedderson are responsible for this artifact, a publication called &Review that brings together multimedia work from an ever-expanding group of international artists. They kindly took the time to answer some of my questions about the motivations and processes involved in creating their publication. Read on.
Revenge of the Decorated Pigs
Publication Studio is a Portland-based print-on-demand (POD) book publisher and distributor, of works created closely with authors and artists.
All of their books are printed in-house on an Instabook rig and share the same simple appearance, using recycled stock (usually old folders) with the same typeface on the covers.
I was introduced to Publication Studio through its founder, Matthew Stadler, being on the bill at a music show. He got up with a book in hand and talked passionately, in the place of someone singing with an acoustic guitar. It was a surprising and compelling way to be introduced to such a project.
Recently, I was able to ask Matthew for a bit of extra insight into the project.
Elvrum in his own print shop
Phil Elverum is best known for his work as the bands Mount Eerie and The Microphones, as well as his production on beloved records by Mirah, Little Wings, Jason Anderson, Thanksgiving, and many more. He is also a strikingly prolific, exceptionally talented, and inventive independent printer. I recently asked Phil to share some history about his work with print and the running of his label P.W. Elverum & Sun.
Pinball Publishing
We're a creative publishing company located in Portland, Oregon. We are fueled by a love for print, collaboration, and the manufacture of meaningful objects.
Phil Elverum: Print Pioneer of the Pacific Northwe...:
Phil Elverum is best known for his work as the bands Mount Eerie and The Microphones, as well as... 
Hatch Show Print:
Hatch Show Print is one of the oldest print shops in America. For a hundred years Hatch was a si... 
Carson Ellis, Illustrator Extraordinaire:
It is important to have heroes. It is also helpful when they are real people. I have my share of... 
Eco-friendly CD Packaging:
Printer: Pinball Publishing
Item: Pinball Pak (CD Packaging)
Paper: 20 pt. Chipboard
Inks: Pa... 
Field Notes and Fifty States:
Item: Field Notes Colors "County Fair" 50 Editions
Paper: 100# linen cover stock (Blue, Red, Ye... 
Coffee Common, Scout Books, TED 2011:
"The people serving you coffee today come from a movement, not a company."
So reads the first... Pinball Publishing is a creative publishing company located in Portland, Oregon. We are fueled by a love for print, collaboration, and the manufacture of meaningful things. Pinball powers a growing web of interconnected projects, including Scout Books, Bangback, and Print Pinball.
Bangback is a place for print. Here we share our own print projects as well as expanded coverage of print culture at large.
Print is dead. Long live print!
