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Last night the new show Wood Type, Evolved: Experimental Letterpress & Relief Printing in the 21st Century opened at the Center for Book and Paper Arts. It is a fantastic show of contemporary work using wood type and is just delicious. Really, I think I may have drooled a couple times.

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It was the perfect way to start the school year. PIT (Pulp, Ink, and Thread), the Book and Paper Arts student organization, had a table, and it was lovely to see all my classmates’ faces. There’s so much in store this year. I’m teaching my first undergraduate class, Papermaking, which is thrilling and terrifying simultaneously. And I have a slew of awesome classes on the roster.

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It’s my second year in this program, and on the first day of classes on Wednesday I thought back to last year and how nervous I had been, how worried about missing the train and being late, how I didn’t know what to expect from my classmates or professors. It felt so good to sit in class this week with the people who are now my friends and colleagues and to feel the comfort a year of constant critiques and contact has brought. Last year was challenging and there’s no doubt that this year will bring its own obstacles, but honestly, I can’t wait! There are so many good unknowns – what kind of projects I’m going to make, who I’m going to meet, what new artist I’m going to discover. After a year in this program I know that I have a lot to look forward to.

Wood Type, Evolved was just a hint of what will surely be a super year to come!