{inspired} Hatch Show Prints

I love unplanned adventures. Chris and I purposely under plan vacations because the chances of spontaneous (and a lot of the time more memorable) adventures increases when we spend less time on a schedule. One day, on our recent trip to Boston, while having lunch near Boston University, we saw this poster across the street. Chris wanted to go check it out because it looks strikingly similar to a tattoo a friends of ours just had done.

What we found a Hatch Show Print art exhibit. Oh friends, it was amazing! Have you heard of Hatch Letterpress? Neither of us had and we both agreed it was the coolest thing we saw in Boston. We actually spent a couple hours in this little BU gallery.

Hatch Show Print, located in Nashville, is one of the oldest print shops in the U.S. They were letter pressing  posters in 1879! The company began as an advertising company, but is really known today for its concert posters. In fact, as you'll see from the website, Hatch is actually a part of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. The show, part of the Smithsonian's Art of the Letterpress series, featured a wide variety of posters and, my favorite part, actual letterpress blocks.

We weren't allowed to take pictures in the museum (sad!). And, I tried a few times. But we were the only people in the museum and it was really obvious. Luckily,  there is a  this flickr stream with photos from other shows!

Hatch actually does a few different types of posters.
There are Advertising posters:

Large wood block prints:

Monoprints (which were so awesome!):

And of course, the famous show prints. These are my favorite, I think (every time I look I find a new favorite):

 All these are more *current* and found here.

 We came home with a little souvenir! This is the official BU show poster. I ordered a frame for it this weekend and am so excited to find a place for it in our house! 

I also love that we came home with this small post card. The food letterpress print was both of our favorites, so it's fun to have a little sample of it.

I learned a few things from this show. 1. I want to go to Nashville, just to take a tour of this place. 2. I want more Hatch Letterpress posters! 3. I want to learn letterpress :).

http://www.bu.edu/today/node/11473