Warren MacCormack has been so BUSY that it took him over six months to get to the photo shoot he promised me of his amazing Studio Z Mendocino Letterpress Business Cards. May I just say, it was worth the wait…oh, and did I mention “too busy” is a GOOD problem? The photos he took are fabulous and tell me a little about WHY he is so busy…They reflect the reflective nature of the cards we letterpress printed for him on Cranes 600 gram Lettra, the yummiest, thickest paper we can get our hands on. His already designed logo starts the reflectivity…WM and upside down it’s the same way. A big, round circle of not-too-shiny silver foil with the monogram WM reversed out, on a a big square card. That means the WM is paper that puffs up out of the silver foil circle, which is pressed into the paper with heat. This process actually re-forms the paper, giving a pronounced sculptural effect.
Warren shot the cards on a mirror, reiteration marking the rhythm of light catchment, reflecting the essence of what he does with camera and eye and art.
You may not usually think of the symbolism inherent in the card you leave behind to remind people of who you are, what you do, what you hope for, and what you represent in the world. This is the sort of magic and power I find in the work we do for you. I keep saying that letterpress printing has power in it…and I don’t mean to be all woowoo. I hear about it every day. That Art matters. That Art has power to change things, not just business but the world.
I just watched Lily Yeh’s plenary address at Bioneers online and am sitting here recovering from a good cry. I mean, tears streaming down my face… from her presentation of the work she brought to Rowanda, making public art with and of and for the ravaged people there, and how that Art manifested in getting drinking water, goats and cows, healing and recovery from too much devastation to contemplate. You can see her on YouTube soon and be amazed, inspired, called to action. I watched Salja Patel’s acted poem about the war in Afghanistan and again … Art has the power to move everything around…it is an essential of human life. How can we forget that?
So when I am making letterpress business cards, it is not just an ancient craft kept alive for making a living, it is a living Art, one that moves people in unexpected ways. Of course, I am not comparing this to the work these two women are doing, but it is also Art, and that is my point here. When you make a mosaic, a poem, a photograph, or even a letterpress business card, it is a communication, and it demands its own attention, it has its own trajectory. The message is perhaps not blatant, but the undercurrent registers and something is changed, remembered, we are participating with each other. How small a little thing, how also important.
Thank you for your Art, Warren. I’m glad you are so busy and I hope your business cards are doing their part in keeping you that way. I’m glad I get to work with Artists every day, and get to interpret their Art with my Art. What a big, round, amazing circle.
Thank you for reading my blog, everyone. I hope you tune into Bioneers tomorrow morning and listen.
One more photo of Warren’s letterpress printed business card … to reflect …
xoxo Zida
Studio Z Mendocino 