I love making art that is accessible to people and being an active member of my community.
Before I found letterpress, I was working in large commercial print shops and making art on the side. When I discovered letterpress printing it just clicked, it was the perfect balance between the commercial and fine art worlds. The presses allowed me to make bigger runs of my woodcuts, but weren’t as automated as modern commercial printing presses. It allowed me to make larger editions of prints so I can keep them reasonably priced and accessible to everyone, and it allowed me to start working with bands.
I’ve always had a romantic idea of the role a print shop historically played in communities and wanted a modern version of that. We landed in Marietta by chance, and we immediately fell in love. The first settlement in the Northwest Territory, founded in 1788, nestled at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers. A picturesque town with old buildings and homes, brick streets lined with massive trees, a low cost of living, and an engaged community. Our shop sits in the heart of it all on Front Street. Although we make posters for events around the country, it’s always been important to me to leave time to make posters for local events. We’ve made posters for farmer’s markets, the roller derby team, girl scouts, local festivals, food pantries, and more. We regularly host school groups from Kindergarten through College, camps, clubs, retirement homes, and more. I’m passionate about sharing the craft of letterpress and woodblock printing with people. We don’t teach formal workshops but if someone walks in the door and wants to learn to print, I invite them in and we make a print together. It happens often.
Bobby working on the Marietta Bike Tunnel Mural, which features fish native to the Ohio River.
Personal Projects
OYO
We would throw parties in our printshop that often turned into jam sessions. These jam sessions turned into a band, Oyo (the Iroquois word for big river). I get together with five of my best friends to play music once a week, I play the banjo. We just finished our second album and play shows regularly in Ohio and West Virginia. I didn’t start playing music until later in life, and it’s been such a joy getting to be a part of Oyo. Check out our music on streaming services, or grab a record with a sweet woodcut printed jacket.
Public Art
In 2018 I joined the board of Marietta Main Street, a nonprofit organization that provides a variety of services downtown. I took over as the chair of the Public Art Committee. It quickly became a huge part of my life. We have an amazing committee and together have coordinated many public art pieces downtown and have gotten to work with dozens of local artists. Two of our projects were recognized by Heritage Ohio as the projects of the year in the state of Ohio in 2021 and 2022. It’s been extremely rewarding getting to see the growth in the art community here in Marietta and the love the community as shown towards all of the new public art that has gone up around town. You can read more about a few of the projects here: