Events
Salon Series 53: Citizen Printer in Conversation
with Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr., Kelly Walters
Join us for a conversation between Citizen Printer, Amos Paul Kennedy. Jr. & curator Kelly Walters.
- Date
- Time
Through the use of bold language, graphic typography, and colorful layers, Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.’s letterpress prints embody an intensity that catches the eye and provokes the mind. Curated by designer and author Kelly Walters, the exhibition Citizen Printer includes a wide variety of printed artifacts such as broadsides, maps, church fans, handbills, and oversized posters that demonstrate Kennedy’s ongoing commitment to the fight for civil rights.
Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.
Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr., was working a corporate job when, at nearly forty, he discovered the art of letterpress printing on a tour of Colonial Williamsburg. Kennedy then devoted himself to the craft, earning an MFA in graphic design at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He now operates Kennedy Prints!, a letterpress printshop in Detroit. He has been featured in outlets like Hyperallergic, the New York Times, and the Economist, and he has exhibited in dozens of museums and galleries across the United States, including Poster House, the Brooklyn Public Library, the Library of Congress, and the libraries of the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Kelly Walters
Kelly Walters is an artist, designer and founder of the multidisciplinary design studio Bright Polka Dot. Her ongoing design research interrogates identity formation and systems of value embedded in Black visual and material culture. Kelly has curated a number of exhibitions, including Kindred, Open Dialogue: Artists + Designers of Afro-Caribbean Descent and Remix: Activating the Archive. She received a Graham Foundation award for her exhibition With a Cast of Colored Stars in 2021. Kelly has written about Black American design histories and the impact of colonization on the construction of the Black image. Her publications include Black, Brown + Latinx Design Educators: Conversations on Design and Race and the co-edited anthology The Black Experience in Design: Identity, Expression & Reflection. Kelly is currently the Director of the BFA Communication Design program and an Associate Professor of Communication Design at Parsons School of Design in New York.
