Prints are 15 x 22 inches.

Contact Laurie for information and prices.

One More	EEEEEEEE	InsideOutside
Es on Top	In the Key of E	G is for Gail

In my work letterforms are used as shapes
and images are made.
Can letters transcend being letterforms?
Can they disconnect from language?
When is a letterform only a shape?
Is a shape different than a letter?
When does a configuration of letterforms become readable as a word?
Is a word a picture or a concept?
How many words make a story?
Can a story be a picture?

The shapes of letterforms are traditionally intended to be transparent when we read. In my work, letters retain their individual identities while also being part of a larger entity — a picture, word, or story. My stories have visual form and cognitive meaning. They are short and big in size so that the image of the words can be perceived. New and old meanings, both visual and conceptual, collide, explode and coexist in the prints.

I Challenge Anyone

Woodtypes on Bogus Rough Sketch

I Challenge Anyone, a broadside created by Szujewska, for an exhibition of broadsides made to honor Mutanabi Street, the 1,000 year-old heart of Baghdad’s intelligentsia decimated by a car bomb on March 5, 2007.

The broadside was inspired by an article written by Anthony Shadid for the Washington Post. Shadid’s story is a personal account of his friendship with Mohammed Hayawi, a bookseller killed on the street.

See a picture of Mutanabi Street and read more about its recovery.

At Work with Jack

12 x 18 inches
Meridian types on Rives BFK

At Work with Jack was written and read by Laurie to honor Jack Stauffacher, at an Evening with Jack Stauffacher, in celebration of Jack and The Greenwood Press, sponsored by the San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts and held at WaterMark Graphics, San Francisco, 15 May 2002. It was published by Jack Stauffacher, Greenwood Press, San Francisco, December 2002, 75 copies.

$100

Words as sets of shapes that form perceptions, make meaning, and tell stories, are a ceaseless pool of ideas.
The prints speak for themselves.

All prints are printed with wood types and oils and ink on Stonehenge paper.

Contact Laurie for information and prices.

The Plain Truth	Spinning the Truth	The Truth Hurts
Genesis	Risk	Noisy SIlence 3
Noisy Silence 5	Noisy Silence 6

 

CLICK EACH CARD for larger view and details to purchase.

Popova® is a typeface inspired by a few letters noticed in a book on Russian Constructivist art. Laurie hopes to complete and release this font in the coming year.

Giddyup and Giddyup Thangs

Laurie designed Giddyup® and Giddup Thangs® while she was an art director at Adobe Systems. Rope letters decorating cattle brands and cowboy blankets were the inspiration for the typeface. The idea was to make each letter with one line that overlaps like a rope, rather than two strokes joined together. She based the ornaments, Giddyup Thangs, on icons of the old west.

Both fonts are available from Adobe Systems and typesellers around the world.

Ensatina Press

Ensatina Press was founded in 2005 by Laurie to pursue her love of type, words, and the letterpress as an artistic medium. Her early career was focused on this medium, but design school, the digital type revolution, and the opportunity to run her own professional design firm intervened.

All typesetting at Ensatina Press is done by hand using authentic wood and metal foundry types. The three- dimensionality of these types heightens awareness of them as objects and shapes. The letterpresses are a Vandercook Universal 1 Press and a Vandercook #2 press both hand-operated.

Ensatina Press mixes its own ink colors, often using ink salvaged from old print shops. Artist oil paints are also used, providing the opportunity for deep, rich, unusual colors, as oil paint is a more pliable and less stiff medium than printing ink.

Electric inking is used when printing cards or broadsides in small editions. The Vandercook #2 has no inking system and all work must be inked with brayers. Most prints made on the Universal 1 are inked by hand. Subtleties of color and accidents occur when inking large wood type with brayers making each Ensatina Press print a record of the creative experience.

Ensatina Press is located in the midst of an oak woodland forest on Sonoma Mountain in Northern California’s wine country, where a diversity of wild life, including the namesake ensatinas of her press, make their home.

 

Monoprints prints arise from the search to exploit the Vandercook letterpress in new ways. They are made with oil paints and ink worked on a plate in the bed of the press and printed on Stonehenge or Somerset papers.

10 x 14 inches

Please contact Laurie to purchase.

Boxing	Cocooning	Backbone
Eve’s Garden	Under	Where It Is

LetterWorks are prints made using authentic woodtypes printed with oil paints and/or inks using one of a kind hand inking methods.

Big Short Stories

Tales inspired by historical events.

15 x 20 inch broadsides.
Woodtypes printed with oils and ink on Stonehenge paper.
Each story printed in an edition of 5.
Ongoing project.

Contact Laurie for information and prices.

 

Dharma Series

Woodtypes printed with oils and ink on Stonehenge paper.

Contact Laurie for information and prices.

Refuge	Delusion	Karma
Upright	Ancient Twisted Karma	Ancient Twisted Karma
Greed	Greed

 

Prints inspired by gustatory pleasures.

Woodtypes printed with etching inks and oils on Stonehenge paper.
Edition of 2.

$40 — $75 each.

Holiday cards are $18 for boxes of 7 or 8 cards.

CLICK EACH CARD for larger view and details to purchase.

Retailers contact Laurie for price list.

Celebrate Life’s events.

CLICK EACH CARD for larger view and details to purchase.

Timeless greetings for friends and lovers.

CLICK EACH CARD for larger view and details to purchase.

Greeting cards include traditional and non-traditional greetings. Using authentic wood types set by hand, cards are printed in small editions. The paper is made from an Italian mill using green practices.

Cards are $5 each.

Any 5 for $20.

Holiday cards are $18 for boxes of 8 cards.

Broadsides

The broadside is a large sheet of paper printed on one side. Historically they were used to announce an event, proclamation, advertisement or other current matter and were an inexpensive way to distribute poetry, songs, and satires. They were the popular “broadcasts” of their day, bringing news to the public quickly and disappearing. Today, the broadside format is also used for poetry and the presentation of short prose.

Woodtypes printed with oils and ink
on Stonehenge paper, signed.

10 x 14 inches.

$100 each.

Ampersand, The Quarterly Journal of the Pacific Center for the Book Arts, Broadside and Exhibition Review: Effects of War: Altered Lives, Altered Books, Summer 2007, Volume 24, Number 4, 2007.

Calligraphic Type Design in the Digital Age: An Exhibition in Honor of the Contributions of Hermann and Gudrun Zapf, edited by John
Prestianni, Ginko Press, 2001, reviewed by David Pankow in Letter Arts Review, Volume 18, Number 1, 2003.

Online Design, Putting the Best Face Foreward, Anne Telford, February 1993, San Francisco, CA.

Communication Arts, May/June 1993, Laurie Szujewska, Anne Telford, Coyne & Blanchard Inc., Palo Alto, CA.

Visible Language, Volume 25, Number 2/3, Spring 1991, The Artist’s Book: The Text and Its Rivals, “The ‘Non’ Book: New Dimensions in Contemporary Book Art,” Jessica Prinz.

ID Magazine, The Book Transformed, January/February 1985.

American Book Collector, Review of Center for Book Arts 10th Anniversary Exhibition, January/February 1985.

The First Decade: Center for Book Arts, An Exhibition at the New York Public Library, September 7–November 29, 1984, illustrated catalogue raisonne with an introduction by Francis O. Mattson.

Awards

Graphis Digital Fonts 1996
AIGA Information Graphics: Design of Understanding Exhibit 1996
Society of Typographic Designers Premier Award 1994
ID Annual Design Review 1993
The 100 Show 1993
International Typography Almanac 1993
AIGA Communications Graphics 1993
Type Directors Club 1992
ID Annual Design Review Gold Award 1992
DAAD Best of Typography 1992
The 100 Show 1992
International Typography Almanac 1991
Print Regional Design Annual 1991
Type Directors Club 1991
Creativity 1990
Type Directors Club 1990
Western Art Directors Club 1990
AIGA Communications Graphics 1989
The 100 Show 1989
Society of Publication Designers 1989
Agfa Achievement in Design Award 1989
Western Art Directors Club 1989
Graphics Design USA 1989
Printing Industries of America 1988
AIGA Communication Graphics 1985

Publications

The Education of a Typographer, essays edited by Steve Heller, Just Looking, by Laurie Szujewska, Allworth Press, New York, 2004.

At Work with Jack, poem read by the author, Laurie Szujewska, at an Evening with Jack Stauffacher, in celebration of Jack and The Greenwood Press, sponsored by the San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts and held at WaterMark Graphics, San Francisco, 15 May 2002. Published and printed by Jack Stauffacher, Greenwood Press, San Francisco, December 2002, 75 copies.

Ampersand, Quarterly Journal of the Pacific Center for the Book Arts, Broadside/Laurie Szujewska, Vol. 24, No. 4, Summer 2007, San Francisco, CA.

Bay Area Women Artists
August 2009, juried by Donna Seager
O’Hanlon Center for the Arts
Mill Valley, CA

Works with Paper
July 2009, juried by Louise Forbush
O’Hanlon Center for the Arts
Mill Valley, CA

Bibliophoria
June–July 2009
Sebastopol Center for the Arts, juried by Donna Seager
Sebastopol, CA

Wabi Sabi Exhibition
June 2009, juried by Dart & Esther Cherk
O’Hanlon Center for the Arts
Mill Valley, CA

Mutanabbi Street Starts Here
May - July 2008
The Arthur and Mata Jaffee Center for Book Arts
Florida Atlantic University Wimberly Library
Boca Raton, FL

Secrets & Lies
March–April 2008
23 Sandy Gallery
Portland, OR

Mutanabbi Street Broadsides—Iraq: Reframe
Spring 2008
Montalvo Center for the Arts and Saratoga Public Library
Saratoga, CA

Mutanabbi Street Broadsides Exhibition
December 2007
St. Helena Public Library
St. Helena, CA

Mutanabbi Street Broadsides Exhibition
Fall 2007, San Francisco Center for the Book
San Francisco, CA

Art that Speaks
2007
O’Hanlon Center for the Arts
Mill Valley, CA

Effects of War: Altered Lives, Altered Books
Spring 2007
California Institute of Integral Studies
San Francisco, CA

Abstract Rhythms
Spring 2007
Sebastopol Center for the Arts
Sebastopol, CA

Off the Grid
2007
Center for Book and Paper Arts
Columbia College
Chicago, IL

The Art of the Card
October 2006
Pendleton Center for the Arts
Pendleton, OR

Group Drawing Show
September 2006
Sebastopol Center for the Arts
Sebastopol, CA

Explorations in Art & Language
2006
Sebastopol Center for the Arts
Sebastopol, CA

New Work Exhibition 1986
Center for Book Arts
New York, NY

Bookworks International 1986
Erie Arts Museum
Erie, Pennsylvania

Ten-year Celebration Exhibition
of The Center For Book Arts 1984
New York Public Library
New York, NY

InsideOutside, 2008

Laurie and teacher, mentor, and friend,
Jack Stauffacher

Armin Hoffman and Laurie at the Yale School of Art

At work in Brooklyn, NY loft studio

Szujewska (right) and artist Caroline Cox, waiting to perform as The Chairs at Rouletter, NYC, in 1980. Other band members (not pictured) included Tim Spelios, John Sherman, and David Weinstein.

One More, 2008, 15 x 22 inches

15 x 20 inches

At Work with Jack

purchase on etsy >

Be Here Now purchase at etsy		Bowowow purchase at etsy		Meow purchase at etsy
Karma purchase at etsy

Ensatina Press produces and sells works made by Szujewska on her press.

An ensatina is a salamander measuring 1-1/2 to 3-1/5 inches which breathes through its moist thin skin. The legs are long and the body is relatively short. Here on Sonoma Mountain the coloring is dark brown with yellow to orange coloring at the limbs. The eyes are quite large.


A view of the landscape at Ensatina Press

One More from AlphaWorks

Great White Bears from Big Short Stories

Refuge from Dharma Series

Wine purchase at etsy		Cabernet purchase at etsy		Chardonnay purchase at etsy
Merlot purchase at etsy		Pinot Gris purchase at etsy		Pinot Noir purchase at etsy
Zinfandel purchase at etsy		Bread purchase at etsy		Bread and Wine purchase at etsy

Humbug purchase at etsy		Joy purchase at etsy		Let It Snow purchase at etsy
New Year purchase at etsy		Snowflake purchase at etsy		Twas The Night purchase at etsy

Happy Birthday (green) purchase at etsy		Happy Birthday (yellow) purchase at etsy		Feel Better purchase at etsy
Good Job purchase at etsy		Heart purchase at etsy		Thank You purchase at etsy

Love purchase at etsy		Kiss Kiss purchase at etsy		Love Love purchase at etsy
Ooops! purchase at etsy

At Work with Jack

Mutanabi

Bowowow purchase at etsy		Woof purchase at etsy		Arff purchase at etsy
Ruff purchase at etsy		Meow purchase at etsy		Meow Silver purchase at etsy

At Work with Jack purchase on etsy		The Education of a Typographer
Spread from The Ampersand.

Story from Big Short Stories, each page is 15 x 20 inches. Laurie Szujewska (shoe yév skä) is a typographer and artist in whose work the word is the image. She makes prints using the mediums of letterforms, words, oil paints, and inks on a Vandercook printing press.

A love of words, type and all things typographic has been central to her work. In 2005 she focused on the letterpress as an artistic medium and began designing and hand-printing small editions with the Ensatina imprint. Writing in The Education of a Typographer (2004), a collection of essays edited by Steven Heller, Ms. Szujewska noted that:

“Working with the press…provides me with a visceral experience of letterforms as shapes and sculpture moving in space.”

Szujewska acquired her first printing press while living in New York City and working in the printing industry. She studied at the Center for Book Arts and began making artworks focused on working with type and relief printing as an artistic medium. She created graphics for the new music organization, Roulette, and was a member of the band, The Chairs. Her passion for typography led her to advanced study in the masters program at Yale School of Art, where she studied with design masters Paul Rand, Bradbury Thompson, Armin Hoffman, and Wolfgang Weingart.

She then served as a designer, and later art director, for the type products division of Adobe Systems, where she was responsible for the design of numerous award-winning projects, including the Adobe Originals Type Specimen Book Series and the popular typeface Giddyup.

After seven years at Adobe, Ms. Szujewska started her own design firm. Shoe yév skä Design focused on exhibits, logos, books, corporate communications, and publications. The recipient of numerous graphic design awards, Szujewska’s work has been exhibited worldwide.

Ms. Szujewska’s artwork has been exhibited in galleries in Chicago, Portland, Philadelphia, and the San Francisco Bay Area. She has been a guest artist at the San Francisco Art Institute, and has taught design and typography at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She has also been a guest lecturer Center for Creative Imaging in Camden, Maine; Kent State University and Ball State University.

Szujewska received her Masters degree in Design from the Yale School of Art, and her Bachelors degree in Journalism from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urban, where she first set hot type and designed newspaper pages.

Ms. Szujewska’s home and studio lies nestled in an oak woodland on Sonoma Mountain in Northern California’s wine country, where a diversity of wild life, including the namesake ensatinas of her press, make their home.

Professional Experience

Ensatina Press, founded 2005, owner/artist
Letterpress art studio.

shoe yév skä design, principal · 1995 to 2005
Owner/designer/typographer designing graphic work including annual report, book, direct mail, exhibit, logo, and publication design. Clients include AAA, Adobe Systems, Chronicle Books, Friends of Calligraphy, Greenwood Press, Los Altos Museum, McGraw Hill, Shedd Aquarium Chicago, 3M, and others.

Adobe Systems Incorporated,
Art Director · 1989-94
Designed and art directed 16 award-winning books for Adobe Originals typefaces. Designed, managed, and produced marketing materials for the Adobe Type Library. Designer of the 1993 annual report and the typeface Giddyup.

Adobe Systems Incorporated,
Designer · 1987-1989
Designer of Colophon, a magazine which showcased state of the art computer design and printing using Adobe software.

Center for Book Arts, New York City,
Artist · 1980-87
Created and printed letterpress artworks.

Fred Weidner & Son Printers, New York City
Designer/Production Manager · 1980-1985
Designed newsletters, brochures, and books; managed and directed the production of a full range of printed matter including sheet-fed and web-offset printing, silkscreening, engraving, embossing, die-cutting, letterpress and book manufacturing.

Teaching

San Francisco Art Institute
Guest Lecturer, Winter 2006

Minneapolis College of Art and Design
Adjunct Faculty, Winter/Spring 1997

California College of Arts and Crafts
Instructor, Fall 1993

Center for Creative Imaging, Camden, Maine
Guest Lecturer, 1992

Kent State University
Guest Lecturer, 1991

Ball State University College of Fine Arts
Guest Lecturer, 1988 [see template for form]