Dixie State University’s weekly lecture series, “Dixie Forum: A Window on the World,” will host the presentation “Typography, Printmaking, and Graphic Design” by folk artist Amos Kennedy.
Kennedy will offer his lecture from noon to 12:50 p.m. today at the Dunford Auditorium in the Browning Resource Center on the DSU campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Kennedy is originally from Louisiana and graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He started out as a system analyst, working for different corporations. Kennedy never imagined he would be a printer or an artist, but now he is known for his letterpress printer.
The idea of becoming a printer and artist all started in the late 1980s when Kennedy took his sons to Williamsburg, Va., where they saw an 18th-century print shop and bindery. Kennedy was immediately intrigued with the process, the tools, and the look of the finished product. Upon returning home, he enrolled in a printing course and set up a small printing studio in his basement.
Now Kennedy spends his days organizing drawers of thousands of wood and lead type pieces, cans of ink, reams of paper, various tools, and an informal archive of his past work. He makes event posters commissioned for various festivals and prints large quotes and sayings that speak to him and appeal to his potential audience.
Dixie Forum is a weekly lecture series designed to introduce the St. George community and DSU students, faculty and staff to diverse ideas and personalities while widening their worldviews via a 50-minute presentation.
More information on Dixie State University’s Dixie Forum series is available by contacting DSU forum coordinator John Burns at (435) 879-4712 or burns@dixie.edu or at dixie.edu/humanities/dixie_forum.php, the Dixie Forum Facebook page, or the Dixie Forum Twitter page.
