Letterpress printer and artist on campus

MSUM Book Culture Series sponsors Margot Ecke’s visit

Margot Ecke, founder of Smokey Road Press, a letterpress shop and bindery based in Athens, Ga., will present a lecture Wednesday, Sept. 4, at 6 p.m. in King Hall Auditorium on the MSUM campus. The lecture follows a bookbinding demonstration from 10 a.m. to 12:50 p.m. in the Center for the Arts Room, 164; from 2-3 p.m. she will hold an informal discussion about starting an artist-run business (Center for the Arts, Room 168). All events are free and open to the public.

Ecke has been printing and binding books and teaching at universities and workshops around the country for more than 18 years. She opened Smokey Road Press two years ago. The press serves as a community center for letterpress and bookbinding classes and works with artists from around the globe to create and publish edition prints and books. The press also hosts a residency program, bringing artists to Athens to create printed works.

In preparation for her visit to MSUM, Ecke collaborated with Minnesota Poet Laureate Joyce Sutphen, a New Rivers Press author, to produce two letterpress printed broadsides featuring Sutphen’s poems. The poems were commissioned by New Rivers Press to commemorate New Rivers’ 45th anniversary and 10th year of publishing from the MSUM campus. The broadsides will be available for purchase for $40 each or $70 for the pair. Proceeds will be divided between New Rivers Press’ Dawson Family Endowment and the Tim Ray Scholarship for Art Students. Prints will be on view during Ecke’s public lecture at MSU and available for purchase at any time.

Ecke’s visit and collaborative project with Joyce Sutphen was made possible by a Dille Grant, the Visiting Artist funds from the Department of Art & Design, and New Rivers Press. This event is part of the Book Culture Series initiated to celebrate the renovation of the MSU Livingston Lord Library and its future role as a center of learning and creativity.

For more information, contact Suzzanne Kelley, Managing Editor & Co-Director, New Rivers Press, at 218.477.5870 or email her at kelleysu@mnstate.edu.