It opens today, Thursday, at 5pm.

Cork Printmakers is launching an exhibition of letterpress prints at Cork Public Museum in Fitzgerald Park, featuring original artworks in letterpress by 24 artists from Cork Printmakers and MTU Crawford College of Art and Design.

Frances Leach, Scale Scape, letterpress, 2024

Letterpress printing is a technique where the wooden or lead type is inked up and a direct impression of the raised surface is made onto a sheet of paper. Popularised by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-15th century and used in commercial printing until mid-20th Century, the process has seen a revival among visual artists and designers.

As part of Movable Type, the exhibited artworks utilise a collection of letterpress originally from Colman’s Printers, which was donated by Cork Public Museum to Cork Printmakers and MTU Crawford in 2021. It has been refurbished and rehoused for use by contemporary print artists.

The artists have innovatively engaged with the type, both using the type itself or making work inspired by it; with many exploring the themes of archives, language, the environment, personal artefacts and print history. Others explored the heritage and history of the letterpress type and its journey through prominent cultural, commercial and educational spaces in Cork.

‘Now the legacy of Coleman’s Printers will survive’

“I am genuinely thrilled to see the old printing type from Colman’s Printers getting a second lease of life being used by artists and researchers to create new works of printed art.” said Dan Breen Director, Cork Public Museum.

“This collaborative project highlights the importance of finding new and innovative ways to re-utilise some of the historical collections that often languish unloved in museum storerooms. Now the legacy of Coleman’s Printers will survive through the future work done at Cork Printmakers and MTU Crawford College of Art & Design.”