Based in Ypsilanti, MI USA, Ingrid Ankerson is an educator in graphic design at a nearby community college, as well as a practising graphic designer, illustrator, and letterpress printer. She enjoys exploring the potential of typography through repetition and subtle movement of small metal type on the bed of her Vandercook #4 press.
Ingrid first used a letterpress printer back in 2000 when she was at grad school studying Creative Writing and Publishing Arts at the University of Baltimore. However, it wasn’t until many years later that she had the chance to print again. Approximately two years ago she bought a mixed-use building where she could live and set up a letterpress studio. Still relatively new to her practice, and working on her own press in her own time, Ingrid enjoys using small metal type to create textures, patterns, and geometric shapes. “So many people do this with large wood type, but I enjoy the time it takes to work with the small (8-14 point type) and exploring those possibilities,” comments the printmaker.
Currently, her process is fairly slow, and rather than using the press to make multiples, she makes subtle changes to the type on the bed of her press and runs the same piece of paper through the press multiple times – as many as 400 or more times.
Originally inspired by typewriter art, as she has been printing and experimenting, Ingrid has discovered that it is the process and the time it takes for such small marks to build up into something more substantial that provides the most inspiration. Rather than meticulously planning out her designs on the computer, she simply starts to print and sees where it takes her.
Ingrid concludes; “Because I’m only two years in to printing I have no set ideas of where this practice will take me. I’m interested in exploring more and letting things unfold as they have. I so enjoy my time at the press that I imagine I might do even more intricate work.”
www.ankerson.com
@ingrid_ankerson
Image credit: Juliet Hinely
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