Hot Type in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History

Artistic inspiration in the face of a pandemic:

By Joan Boudreau, March 9, 2023 (posted on the National Museum of American History blog)

As part of the museum’s initiative to document COVID-19, the Graphic Arts Collection acquired a group of artistic works that were produced in reaction to the pandemic and intertwined events. These works were produced by printers and printmakers living across the United States.  

In 2020, as Americans began to feel the profound effects of COVID-19, printmaking artists found some comfort in continuing to create artworks as they had done before the pandemic. Some artists decided to make use of their talents to produce works that assisted their communities, customers, local businesses, and fellow artists. Others, especially artistic organizations, promoted the creativity of their members during the pandemic with calls for artworks responding to particular themes. These artistic responses were uplifting, contemplative, and sometimes severe.

Social distance square “Be Kind, Stay 6 Feet Behind” by Brad Vetter (2021. 0182.02)

Brad Vetter, a letterpress printer from Louisville, Kentucky, assisted his community by being one of a few artists commissioned by the Louisville Visual Art organization to produce stickers called "social distance squares.” The project promoted the work of the artists while offering local businesses a way to display health-related suggestions. The “square” pictured here suggests that readers “Be Kind, Stay 6 Feet Behind.” Vetter’s poster “We Will Get Through This Together!” offers a community hug and some positive hope.

Letterpress-printed poster “We Will Get Through This Together!” by Brad Vetter (2021.0182.01) 

In 2020 and 2021, businesses across the United States struggled, as many of their former customers were reluctant to leave home for fear of exposure to the virus. Businesses and clients began to adjust to the circumstances by using the internet to buy and sell food, daily-needs products, and other merchandise, including artworks.

In another community-based effort, the internet-based EraseCOVID project combined the interests of different artist groups to assist each of them, while producing artworks that were promoted for sale. The project’s organizers offered one-third of the proceeds of the sale of their COVID-related posters to the producing artists, one-third to the publisher-printer of the artworks (Graphic Business Solutions, Inc.), and one-third to MusiCares, an organization benefiting musicians.  

Graham Annable, a Canadian American cartoonist and animator living in Oregon, worked with EraseCOVID to offer nature-lovers some humor and comfort with his anthropomorphic representations of animals.

Posters “Stay Inside & Save Lives, ‘The desert owls were absolute masters of self quarantine’” and “Stay Inside & Work Together, ‘Hey! I thought we were rationing the popsicles?’” by Graham Annable. (2021.0110.01 and 2021.0110.07)

Therese Buchmiller, a Pacific Northwest educator, visual artist, and illustrator, also worked with the EraseCOVID project to produce her posters, which reminded people to mask up and to take time to understand how they could stay safe.

Posters, “Be a smart cookie. Learn the facts. Be safe. Stay healthy,” and “Some superheroes Wear Masks And Stay Home to launder their capes” by 

Therese Buchmiller. (2021.0111.02 and 2021.0111.01)

In the spirit of community assistance, Michael Roselli, a shop owner in Woodstock, Virginia, wanted to welcome customers to his business but also ensure everyone was comfortable during their visit. His shop offered curbside pickup where customers were also greeted with what became a popular tongue-in-cheek window display including a poster showing a large black bear and the words “Stay One Medium Sized Bear Apart From Each Other, Social Distance – Be Safe.” A small accompanying sign assisted viewers with the somewhat unnerving information about how large a bear can be.

Posters "Stay One ..." and "How Long is a Bear" by Michael Roselli (2021.0109)

In 2020 the Chesapeake Chapter of the American Printing History Association put out a call for a print exchange to inspire creativity and reactions to the pandemic and recent political activities. The print exchange was dubbed “Out of Sorts.” Print exchanges are a tradition among printers and printmakers that occasionally supply each member a copy of all the other members’ works. The folio cover for the chapter’s assemblage of about 12 printed broadsides included a quote attributed to Anni Albers: “Great freedom can be a hindrance because of the bewildering choices it leaves us, while limitations, when approached open-mindedly, can spur the imagination to make the most use of them and possibly even to overcome them.” At least 12 members produced several copies of one or more designs. Some entries included bold letterpress statements recording their sympathetic feelings and motivational interests associated with the Black Lives Matter movement. Others documented more general words of encouragement and warning; still others offered some humor.

Gregory Robison’s small but mighty entry offered the sentiment “Keep Calm But Keep Your Distance,” a motivational poster echoing a similar British response before the London Blitz. 

Letterpress-printed broadside “Keep Calm But Keep Your Distance” by Gregory Robison. (2021.0142.01)

With the declaration that “Virtual Ice Cream Doesn’t Work!”, Randy Newcomer expressed his frustration about COVID with a reminder about how life used to be a lot easier and more entertaining.

Letterpress-printed broadside, “Virtual Ice Cream Doesn’t Work!” by Randy Newcomer. (2021.0142.01)

Another organization-based, theme-directed call from The Providence Art Club produced a compilation of printed works titled “Hot Type” with a variety of prints from 25 printmakers. The portfolio was described as a group of works that “address the issues and tragedies of this time. The artists ‘speak’ through these prints with images that are . . . beautiful and dark.” Each artist presented a personal comment about their own situation. Some of the works presented commentary on political events.

To describe her print “See No,” Carol Strause FitzSimonds recorded the question “What happens when each of us — when humanity — turns a blind eye?”  Her print description, included in the portfolio, records that the 17th-century Japanese Shinto maxim about seeing, hearing, and speaking no evil reminded followers “to protect one’s self from unsavory or challenging behavior, thought, or language.”

Aquatint print “See No” by Carol Strause Fitzsimonds (2021.0144.01)

David DeMelim's collage print “HR 7075 (From the Revised History of White America)”  is a commentary on Donald Trump's presidential administration. It shows Cheese Doodles and a 3D facemask reading “but did you vote?" spread over an advertisement promoting the importance of voting. In his print description DeMelim offers an image of a redacted document, which refers to “Twitter,”  “made America great,”  “Mexicans,” and other politically associated and charged words. He also documents a subtitle for the print as "H.R. 7075: Climate Change and Hurricane Correlation and Strategy Act, . . . to prevent a president from using nuclear bombs on hurricanes.” 

Collage ink print “HR 7075” by David DeMelim (2021.0144.01)

Printing and printmaking artists can compress popular concerns and sentiments into artistic works. Each artistic expression holds an important personal truth along with a call to others to understand the importance of that truth. We can all benefit from exposure to these concerns and sentiments and by understanding the interests of others.

Joan Boudreau is a curator of the printing and graphic arts collections in the Division of Work and Industry.

Posted in From the Collections