University of Sydney Library seeks its next Printer in Residence

By India Education Diary Bureau Admin On Feb 17, 2020

Applications for the 2020 residency open now

Talented letterpress printers and artists are invited to apply for the 2020 Printer in Residence Program, an 8-week residency that provides a unique opportunity to develop works using the Library’s Albion Press workshop.

Barbara Campbell, 2019 Printer in Residence, in the University of Sydney Fisher Library’s printing workshop.

The successful resident will be supported with $7,000 in funding, access to the Rare Books & Special Collections Library and exclusive use of the Piscator Press workshop in the University’s Fisher Library.

Last year’s resident, Barbara Campbell said the program was a “dream opportunity” for artists with experience in letterpress printing.

“There were so many highlights from the Printer in Residence program; building a real relationship with the big old Albion press every day was an honour,” she said.

Having completed her PhD at the Sydney College of the Arts in 2016, Barbara was keen to extend her research into bird-human interactions through the medium of letterpress and into the library environment.

Barbara Campbell’s ‘A Bird is in the Library’ project explored her passion for print techniques, haiku, libraries, and birds.

“I’d studied printmaking as an undergraduate and more recently letterpress printing,” Barbara said.

“Bringing the printing skills and the recent research together was very satisfying as an artist. Working at the Fisher Library drove home to me what an important hub it is in the life of the University and Sydney more broadly.”

Located on level one of Fisher Library on the University’s Camperdown campus, the printing workshop is home to the Albion letterpress printer, which was purchased by the library in the early 1960s.

Founder of the press and University Librarian, Harrison Bryan, said at the time, “It is not our aim to pander to the past, to cherish the precious or to promote the dilettante. We just hope to print well.”

In addition to the Albion press, residents have access to a second printing press and 3D printer.

This year will mark the third year of the Printer in Residence program, which takes place in semester two.