Gifted 2019/2020 Feature: Homework Letterpress uses digital tools with a traditional aesthetic

Homework Letterpress – Daria Hirny

The Heidelberg’s rotating gripper releases a piece of paper on to the platen, and the press closes. A moment later, the same robotic arm retrieves the freshly cut 8.5-by-5.5-inch rectangle and sets it neatly into the delivery pile, while a second gripper grabs more stock.

Open, close. Grab, release.

Every so often, Daria Hirny pauses to check the quality of the die cut — interrupting the rhythmic hiss of the air pump, used to suck the paper up on one side and blow it down on the other.

The fine art graduate serendipitously discovered the 1965 windmill after completing a printmaking internship at the Banff Centre.

“I came back to Edmonton not really knowing what to do next,” Hirny says. “Letterpress seemed like the perfect blend of creative and commercial.”