The Press at CC

MISSION

The Press at Colorado College is a letterpress and book arts studio, dedicated to education through the arts and histories of the book. The Press is an interdisciplinary, imaginative, and creative enterprise. We make books, prints, and paper, we teach people how to make them, and we provide other educational opportunities to broaden and contextualize those activities. The Press is framed around the questions:

• What is the role of a letterpress studio at a small liberal arts college in the Rocky Mountains?
• How can our work utilize the strengths of immersive teaching on the Block Plan?

In our daily practice we address the minute and practical problems of the space between letters as well as the messy, theoretical questions around what it means to print and publish today. The Press at Colorado College is a resource for the entire CC community: students, faculty, staff, and alumni. It is a space to gather, a space to learn, and a space to give voice to our ideas and ideals.

FACILITIES

We have four flatbed cylinder presses, including a Vandercook 219ab, Vandercook Universal III, Vandercook Universal IV, and Asbern. We also have a 9x12 Chandler & Price platen press, a guillotine, and a type saw. We are lucky to have a large collection of metal and wood type that was generously donated to The Press.

For bookbinding, we have a fully equipped studio for beginning to intermediate bookbinding. For papermaking, we have a Davis Hodges beater on loan from the CC Art Department, which was donated by Sandy Kinney. We have moulds of various sizes, including three professional-grade moulds and several student-grade moulds.

LOCATION, HOURS, and CONTACT

The Press is located in Taylor Hall (920 N. Cascade Ave.), adjacent to the Bemis Residence Hall.

Appointments are recommended as hours may vary. Students, staff, and faculty with permission to use The Press have access 7 days a week, 7am-11pm. 

Jillian Sico, the Printer of The Press at CC, can be reached at 719-389-6376 or by email (jsico2023).

CLASSES AT THE PRESS

The Press regularly works with faculty to incorporate printing projects into their classes. Faculty in all departments are welcome to work with The Press. Projects can include letterpress typesetting and printing, bookbinding, posters, zines, digital typography, publication design, etc., and can be as simple as an afternoon demo and as complex as a block-long project. Contact Jillian Sico, the Printer of The Press, to discuss options. It is best to give at least 1 block of lead time; more is better! You can see some past class projects on our portfolio site.

Some classes that have completed projects with the Press include:

• AS102 - Intro to 2D Design
• AS210 - Sculpting Objects as Narrative Devices
• EN280 - Rhizomatic Storytelling
• EN220 - Book History & Materiality
• EV333 - Atmospheric Dynamics
• HY200 - History & Future of the Book (half-block)
• RM200 - Eating Asian America: Race & Food

There are currently four full-block classes taught at the Press:

• AS110, Book Arts & Letterpress, Summer Block A (odd years)
• AS210, Topics in Book Arts: Environmental Book Arts, Summer Block A (even years)
• AS226, Book & Book Structure, Block 6
• AS126, Letterpress Poster Workshop (0.5 credits)

The Press teaches at least one workshop a year open to all CC students, faculty, and staff through the CC Arts & Crafts Program. 

BOOK STUDIES MINOR

Colorado College offers a Book Studies Minor for students interested in pursuing advanced studies related to books and printing, including a capstone project that may be completed at the Press, either as a full block or spread out over multiple blocks. See The Book thematic minor program page (Colorado College).

POSTERS BY THE PRESS

The Press can be hired to design and print posters for CC events. All of our posters are handmade by CC students in small editions. We do not do commercial or professional printing for hire. Please contact us at least three weeks before you need the finished posters. We cannot guarantee that we can accommodate all requests, but we do our best based on student availability and our class schedule (e.g., we cannot print posters during Block 6 when we have a full block class). Please contact The Press for current pricing.

In general, we do not print posters for private clients outside of Colorado College.

STUDENT, STAFF, & FACULTY INVOLVEMENT AT THE PRESS

There are a number of ways for CC students, staff, and faculty to get involved at The Press aside from the options listed above.

• We organize various programs and events that are open to students, staff, and faculty, including an annual Open House, Protest Poster Printing, exhibitions, and workshops and lectures with visiting artists.
• We are excited to work with students, staff, and faculty on a limited number of projects that have a  service/justice component. Projects will need to be funded from the sponsoring department, club, or individual. The Press can provide training and oversight for two such projects per academic year.
• We are sometimes able to host staff days at the Press for groups of up to 16. These workshops are usually 1-3 hours long.

Contact Jillian Sico (jsico2023) to learn more about these opportunities.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT AT THE PRESS

We teach occasional workshops open to the general public through the Bemis School of Art at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College. Look for the Press classes under "Printmaking." We also work with a limited number of local non-profit groups and universities to offer workshops or tabling.

The public is welcome to attend most Press events that take place on campus. Upcoming Press-related events will be listed on the campus events calendar. Contact Printer Jillian Sico for more information and access.

PUBLICATIONS BY THE PRESS

The Press publishes artists' books and broadsides in collaboration with writers, artists, and scholars. Publications by The Press at CC can be viewed and purchased through our portfolio site.

HISTORY

The Press at Colorado College was founded by James Trissel, a professor in CC's Art Department, in 1978. Under Trissel's guidance, The Press became one of the most notable academic letterpress studios in the country, regularly producing beautiful books on a variety of subjects, from Color for the Letterpress, to Twelve Mammal Skulls, to A Selection of Poems by Helen Hunt Jackson and Emily Dickinson. Since Trissel's death in 1999, The Press has continued its work under the supervision of Brian Molanphy (from 1999 - 2004), Chris Forsythe (from 2004 - 2006), Colin Frazer (from 2006 - 2010), and Aaron Cohick (2010 - 2023). Jillian Sico has been the Printer of The Press since 2023.