The American Printing History Association (APHA) welcomes proposals for its 2013 Annual Conference. The event, titled Seeing Color/ Printing Color, will take place at the Grolier Club, 47 East 60th Street, New York City, on October 18 and 19.
From medieval woodblock books to the most current digital print technologies, color has been central to graphic communications. Color is also an expressive element with a rich and complex history. Since the invention of printing from movable type, printers have sought to perfect technologies that capture and reproduce the visible world. Reflecting on this historic legacy and its rapidly evolving future, the program committee invites proposals that examine color and color printing from a variety of perspectives.
Historical perspectives could encompass technologies from the very beginnings of printing to contemporary reproduction processes, from all parts of the world, including woodcut, engraving, chromolithography, lithography, pochoir, intaglio, flexography, silkscreen, hexachrome and stochastic color, and inkjet.
What influence is today’s ubiquitous RGB digital color having on color printing? Printers, designers, and artists notable for their use or study of color, such as Currier & Ives, Owen Jones, William Page, John Earhart, Jean Berté, W. A. Dwiggins, Albert Munsell, and Josef Albers could be suitable subjects. What influence did companies such as Pantone, Van Son, and Westvaco have on color printing? How have commercial and fine art printers approached color in printing differently?
Attendees will have the opportunity to sample some of New York’s cultural riches through special members-only tours and visits to the special collections of institutions and organizations such as The New-York Historical Society, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pace Paper, and a state-of-the-art digital color printing company.
Submission Guidelines
Proposals are due by March 7, 2013. All proposals must be submitted electronically as a Microsoft Word attachment (.doc or .docx format) or .pdf file to aphaconference2013@gmail.com. Proposals should be single-spaced with one-inch margins in 12 pt. Times New Roman. You will receive a timely acknowledgment that your proposal has been received.
APHA solicit proposals for 20-minute presentations or 50-minute panel discussions (maximum 400 words). Please include the following information, all centered on the page:
Line 1: Three to four keywords to aid presentation scheduling
Line 2: Name
Line 3: Presentation title
Line 4: Blank
Line 5: All contact information: mailing address, phone number, e-mail address
Line 6 to end: Text of proposal
End: Short biography (maximum 100 words)
The acceptance for proposals will be by blind judging, so names, biographies, and contact information will be removed before judging by the Program Committee. Those whose proposals are accepted will be contacted by April 15. APHA membership must be current within two weeks of acceptance of a proposal.
More details about the conference will be available at the APHA web site (www.printinghistory.org). Joel Mason (New York City College of Technology), chair of the conference program committee, is searching for a production site where attendees can view high-end digital color printing in action. Anyone wishing to offer a recommendation can contact him at jmason@CityTech.Cuny.Edu
