The Dead Feminists broadside series is a collaboration between Chandler O’Leary and Jessica Spring. The broadsides feature quotes by historical feminists, tied in with current political and social issues Each limited-edition broadside was letterpress printed from hand-drawn lettering and illustrations. A portion of the proceeds of each piece was donated to a nonprofit cause that aligns with the issue highlighted by the artwork, in honor of the power of the press to change the world.
An explanation of their methodology:
Our method is a mix of traditional and contemporary letterpress processes. Historical broadsides were printed with metal and wood type composed to create a form for printing (as Jessica does with her other projects). Our series is completely hand drawn by Chandler, using original illustrations and typography, which reference historical examples from the time period in which each feminist lived. Jessica prints each broadside by hand on her 1960s Vandercook Universal One. Since we both have a background in printing, our designs are specifically tailored to the medium of letterpress. We’re constantly pushing the envelope with tight registration, detail work, large floods of ink, and other experi-mentation. Our collaboration is fairly fluid, with both of us involved in some degree with every aspect of our process. Jessica tends to do the initial research, choosing the woman we’ll profile next and gathering information for the colophon. Chandler roughs out the illustration with a pencil sketch that we discuss together and brainstorm ideas for how the final piece might look. Next, Chandler refines the pencil drawing and then redraws it in black ink—required to create a crisp printing plate—separating the colors by hand. We send out for our plates, and since our broadsides are printed in anywhere from two to five colors, each color requires a separate plate and pass through the press. Chandler often has some pretty specific ideas about color and color layering, but those can change when Jessica actually mixes the ink and we see how it looks. We work especially closely at this point because despite the best-laid plans, everything can change as ink hits paper and colors react to one another. It’s also the time when something imagined, or even roughly viewed via a computer screen mockup, can become a whole other thing with the alchemy of printing. Once we’ve agreed on how everything looks, Jessica prints the edition, one color pass at a time, carefully registering each color with the one printed before it. Finally, we sign and package the prints in our finished edition, and Chandler launches the work on-line via social media at @deadfeminists, and via blog posts on our website.
For more on the project: deadfeminists.com
All broadsides are 18 x 10″ unless otherwise noted.
