The Chicago Portfolio School

Steel & Ink: Letterpress workshop with The Post Family

It was on odd feeling as I stepped through the door to the building where The Post Family Art & Design Collective is located. Ten foot white walls, no directional signage, and fluorescent lighting all make for an eery experience. But the Sunday we spent with The Post Family was anything but eery. In fact, it felt right at home.

Our guide and mentor came in the form of David Sieren, Post Family member and master at not getting his hands smashed in the antique, one-ton printing press. With his tutelage and a good serving of inspiration from the beautiful, lofty design studio, we were off setting our own type in no time. By the time we finished setting our 50 pounds of lead type, David was busy coating the ancient press with ink. Old as it was, the press worked quite well as we watched the rollers soak up the ink and deposit it with graceful strokes onto our waiting paper.

The end results were anything but ordinary. Experimenting with different papers, thicknesses, and type allowed for some truly amazing layouts. As amazing as my description of the day is, you can see the whole process for yourself in this CPS student-made, feature film. Make sure you check it out, the cinematography is top notch. Our thanks go out to The Post Family for a great creative learning experience.

Creative Mornings at The Chicago Portfolio School

It was a chilly, big city morning when the creative fires began to warm up the Chicago Portfolio School as advertising and creative professionals from the surrounding areas gathered for the world renowned Creative Mornings breakfast lecture series. Needless to say, every morning is a creative morning at CPS, but this sunrise had a little extra creative power packed into the room.

A big heaping of that creativity was duly laid on us by non other than illustrator Jay Ryan; part comedian, part human, and the full on creative genius behind The Bird Machine print shop. After the wonderfully delicious (and free) breakfast and coffee, Jay tore into his life work with fascinating details. And the devil is in the detail, as we learned through Jay’s painstakingly thorough process. There is so much more that goes into the process of printing one of Jay’s beautiful illustrations and it was very interesting to get a peak behind the curtain. In the magician’s profession, it is seen as career suicide to share your trade secrets. And even though some might call what Jay does magical, we are glad to have had the opportunity to learn some of his tricks.

The morning ended has it started, as people drifted around chatting with one another and finishing the last of their breakfast, satisfied with the boost of creativity they received. The lecture was a huge success and I can not wait for the next Creative Mornings. In the end, we shared some laughs, we shared some insight, and most importantly, we all had a reason to go into work a little later that day. What more could you ask for?
 

 

The Jake Project

Somewhere at CPS there’s a guy named Jake, and I’m trying to find him.

Normally, this task wouldn’t be very difficult. I’d probably send him a Facebook message or an email asking to meet up, and if that didn’t work I’d ask someone for his cell phone number. But there’s the rub. You see; the whole reason I want to find Jake is the very reason I can’t.

Jake is on a technology boycott. He’s not on Facebook. He’s turned off his cell phone. And from what I understand, he’s even ignoring Twitter. CPS students have taken to leaving him messages the old-fashioned way: Notes in the elevator. When asked where I could find him, the guy outside 7-11 said, “Who’s Jake?”

I guess my detective skills could use some improvement.

When I do find Jake, I’m very curious to hear about his experience. What’s the hardest part? What has he learned? Has it changed the way he’ll use technology from now on? And most importantly: How’s his fantasy football team doing?