httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAHQ2AGtZr8
Type Face Website
They have a store and a section to pre-order the limited DVD
Typeface focuses on a rural Midwestern museum and print shop where international artists meet retired craftsmen and together navigate the convergence of modern design and traditional technique.
It’s a Thursday afternoon and all is quiet in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. Main Street is virtually empty, and there are “for rent” signs in several shop windows. In the last few years, the un-employment rate has been consistently on the rise in the region. Factories are leaving the heartland for cheaper locales and the little town of Two Rivers is struggling to re-invent itself. Jim VanLanen, one of the town’s most industrious entrepreneurs, began developing small museums as a way to bring tourists and industry to the area.
A few blocks off the main drag, in a section of the old cavernous Hamilton printing factory, a lone employee waits in the most popular of these museums for visitors to come. A couple of individuals straggle in every few days and then, come Friday, the museum fills with life. Machines hum, presses print, artists buzz about. One weekend each month, the quiet of Two Rivers is interrupted as carloads of artisans drive in from across the Midwest. The place comes alive as printmaking workshops led by, and filled with, some of the region’s top creative talent descend on the sleepy enclave. The museum is significant to the town’s history, but more importantly, its existence is critical to the worldwide design community who are passionate about the history of their craft and its function in the contemporary field. They believe the future of their industry may lie in the past.
Typeface, Kartemquin’s latest documentary in progress, will bring this fascinating junction of historical and contemporary, as well as rural and urban America together for enjoyment and contemplation. This film will be of interest to art and graphic design enthusiasts, to teachers as an educational resource, and to anyone looking for a film about perseverance and preservation in the heart of America.
Hamilton
The Hamilton Wood Type Museum in rural Two Rivers, Wisconsin, a struggling industrial town on Lake Michigan about an 90 minutes north of Milwaukee, houses over 1.5 million wood letterforms. Currently, these letters are not behind glass or partitions, but are instead organized and available for the layperson or artist to consider, hold, and if they attend a workshop, use for printing. The Museum occupies a portion of the original Hamilton Company type factory building, residing there free of charge to heighten Two Rivers’ cultural status.
The Wood Type Museum’s existence has become critical to a subset of the international art and design community who is passionate about the history of typography and its function in the contemporary field. While people have been zealous about printing since Gutenberg’s first press, the scenario at the Hamilton Museum illustrates an intriguing convergence: the historical transformation of a craft having evolved from a practical, commerce-driven commodity to an object of aesthetic inspiration and academic study. Through the museum and workshops in Two Rivers, wood type now has a direct influence on today’s contemporary art and graphic design. This museum is a regional institution of particular importance to Illinois’ artistic community, especially in Chicago. One weekend each month, the quiet of Two Rivers and the sedate atmosphere of the museum are interrupted as carloads of artisans drive up from Illinois. The museum comes alive as monthly printmaking workshops led by, and filled with, some of the region’s top creative talent descend on the sleepy enclave and set it awhirl.
Stacey Stern, a printing instructor at Columbia College and the owner of a small Chicago letterpress company, leads workshops at Hamilton whenever she can. “It’s such an inspiring place—so much of the creativity I feel there comes back with me into my Chicago studio. I hope we can keep the workshops going.” This story will provide insight into a fascinating chapter in American design history, touching on the often-amusing culture clash that regularly takes place in this small Midwestern town, and examining the complex roles that museums play in our society.
