Letterpress Karma?!?

This past August my husband and I went on an Art Crawl. We met with many wonderfully talented artists. One of the stops was at the shop of a letterpress artist. When I told her my printing story she said our meeting must have been karma!

When I was a high school senior many years ago, I wanted to study printing and graphic arts at our local tech college. My dad and I stopped in at the school and asked to tour their facilties because I was interested in their printing program. I was told in no uncertain terms that "girls were not allowed in the program!" And that was that. No tour, no enrolling in their printing classes.

So now years later, I am thrilled to see a woman running the presses in her own shop. Her name is Mary Bruno and she is the creative force behind Bruno Press. (http://www.mcbpress.com/) She invited me to come and watch her do some printing so today was the day!

I had so much fun visiting with her and watching her print off some really fun cards. She was kind enough to answer my many questions while trying to get some work done. Her shop is filled with paper, type, presses, examples of her work and much more. It was awesome just to be around all that wonderful printing "stuff". I'm really hoping to get back and actually try a little printing by myself! Mary even offered to come speak to my 2nd graders about letterpress printing! (and sent me home with some of those "really fun cards"!)

I'm thankful for whatever brought us together--karma or not. I'm also thankful that times have changed and girls have the opportunities to pursue whatever career they want. While I'm not too sad that my life has taken other twists and turns, it sure was sweet to be in Mary's letterpress shop today!