We are excited to announce Wendy Murray as the Library’s inaugural Printer in Residence.

Wendy is a Sydney-based artist and arts educator with extensive experience in letterpress printing. Her work addresses social and political issues through poster making and book arts.

During her 8-week residency at the Piscator Press, Wendy will use letterpress and digital printing processes to produce an edition of 80 copies of Sydney – we need to talk, a collection of short, accessible explorations of the politics of urbanisation. Authored by a multi-disciplinary team of University of Sydney scholars, the book will be launched as part of the 5th Festival of Urbanism in September 2018. As well as using the Library’s Albion presses and type collections, Wendy’s design will draw upon the historic publications of the Piscator Press that are now held in Rare Books & Special Collections, a display of which will be installed in the Library in the coming weeks.

Of this project, Wendy writes, ‘This illustrated book is an experiment with collaborative short-form writing. Each co-authored piece involves a dialogue between people and places. Sydney is the central character in each essay, as each author is Sydney based – we draw from our research and experiences in our city. And, each essay goes somewhere else: Sydney meets another city’.

Wendy’s project will also provide a valuable learning opportunity for second-year SCA Printmedia students, who will be involved in the final printing and binding processes.

A detailed program of events associated with the residency, including open studios, launch events and the companion exhibition, will be added to this page shortly.

Find out more about Wendy and her work on her website and Instagram.

Acknowledgements:

Art Scene
The University of Sydney Chancellor’s Committee