Today we’d like to introduce you to Kaitlin Crockett.
Hi Kaitlin, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I think ink must run in my veins. My granddad was a typesetter and printer at a newspaper, and my grandma was a proofreader at the paper. But it wasn’t until I discovered printmaking and book arts as an undergraduate Creative Writing major at Florida State University that I really found my medium. I bought a small printing press and some drawers of type from an old printer and launched Oma Darlin’ Press out of my parent’s garage. In 2013 I moved into a shared studio space with Bridget Elmer of The Southern Letterpress. We sold our hand-printed greeting cards at local pop-ups and hosted open studio nights called Paper & Pints, where we welcomed the community in to share drinks and print messages on coasters. Through getting in touch with our community, we discovered that people were interested in learning how to print, how to do it themselves. Both of us are educators, so we started offering hands-on classes in 2016, and thus Print St. Pete was born.
Since then, we’ve offered classes in letterpress printing, block-printing, book arts, calligraphy, hand lettering, sign painting, collage, stamp carving, paper marbling, and more. We have been closed to the public since March of 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but we hope to offer workshops and studio access by Summer. This past year we’ve been kept afloat by monthly Patreon supporters who receive limited edition cards & prints from us via snail mail. We’ve continued to work with local artists and organizations on special projects. Most recently, we’ve acquired 3 Risograph duplicators, which are sort of a hybrid between screen printing and copy machines. I’m currently working on a Riso zine that acknowledges the monumental growth that’s occurred within us during the past year of isolation and features portraits taken over Zoom.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Both Bridget and I have had full-time jobs outside of Print St. Pete, and juggling both has always been a struggle. I love my day job – I’m a librarian at St. Petersburg College – but I’ve never wanted Print St. Pete to feel like my side hustle because it’s certainly a full-time passion of mine. But there are only so many hours in the day, and sometimes I can’t be at the shop when I’d like to be.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My work focuses on the power of the printed word through the creation of posters, postcards, zines, and printed ephemera. Using traditional print methods—primarily letterpress, screen printing, and most recently risograph printing—I create printed media that responds to today’s social, political, and cultural issues. The prints are as much a product of the rapidly changing world that I am responding to as they are an homage to the heritage of the materials and tools I use to create with—well-worn wooden letters, handset metal type, handmade paper, and antique printing presses. There is an immediacy conveyed within the prints themselves—they have a message that must get out while at the same time acknowledging that everything takes time. It’s all about the process.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
The past year has taught me that our community believes in what we’re doing at Print St. Pete, and we’re so grateful for the support. It was heartbreaking to cancel all of the wonderful workshops and classes we’d had planned for last Spring and Summer, and there was a point where I wondered if we’d ever have classes again. But ultimately, it gave us an opportunity to reflect on what was truly important and how we might reinvent ourselves moving forward to best meet the needs of our community. The great thing about our latest medium – Risograph – is that most of the designing and prep can be done digitally/virtually, so we’re hoping to offer a virtual Introduction to Risograph soon.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@printstpete.org
- Website: https://www.printstpete.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/printstpete/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/printstpete
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