By Kathleen Hartsfield
Staff Writer
The Art Department and Union’s American Institute for Graphic Artists chapter hosted the screening of the documentary, “Linotype: The Film,” and other events March 8-9 that documented the history and use of the Linotype machine.
The event was unlike anything Union’s chapter has hosted in the past, said Ben Hamilton, chapter president and junior digital media studies major, who added that other schools regularly host community events similar to this one.
The organization bought the rights to show the documentary and invited Larry Raid of Denmark, Iowa, who runs Linotype University, to speak over the weekend.
“Linotype: The Film” was directed by Douglas Wilson.
Raid, Nancy Freeman, owner of Green Frog Press in Alamo, and Ryan Oetting, 2011 digital media studies alumnus, led a panel discussion held after the showing.
Raid owns a Linotype museum, runs Linotype University and owns more than 90 Linotype machines. He was interviewed in the Linotype film.
Freeman owns Green Frog Press in Alamo, Tenn., and invited chapter members and students enrolled in graphics courses at Union to visit the business March 9. Students learned there how to operate a Linotype machine, which transformed the art of printing in 1884.
The machine was invented by German-American Ottmar Mergenthaler.
Hamilton said the Linotype’s use was a dramatic step up from printing presses that required every letter of text to be set out.
The Linotype machine makes lines of text out of lead “slugs.”
“This sped up the printing process dramatically,” Hamilton said. “You could produce a book in a couple of days instead of a couple of weeks.”
Melinda Posey, assistant professor of art, said hosting the event allowed students to see the progression of the graphic design profession over the years.
“Our students have been attending workshops at Green Frog every semester for the past two and a half years,” Posey said. “This is the first time that we have been able to get students working with the Linotype because it has been not functioning in previous years.”
Raid’s participation as a guest lecturer made the event even better, Posey added.
During the workshop, students made their own lines of text out of molten lead, a new experience because most are familiar only with design work using computers rather than 2-ton machines.
“By working on the Linotype machine, you develop an appreciation and amazement of how far technology has come,” said Julie Hembree, junior graphic design major. “There is no room for mistakes on the Linotype machine.”
Hembree described the atmosphere as “gritty,” with shiny, liquid metal spitting out of the machine to form the text-line slugs.
“It’s what you’d expect an old factory to sound like,” Hembree said.