Today we’d like to introduce you to Leslie Ross-Robertson.
Leslie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
In 2001, I founded Modern Optic, a contemporary letterpress studio in Los Angeles. Through Modern Optic, I have produced two lines of stationery and prints and I have provided custom work for artists, architects, and designers. In 2012, I started Wavelength Press, working in collaboration with contemporary artists to produce special edition prints. To date, those artists have included Lecia Dole-Recio, Harsh Patel, Steve Roden, Alison Saar, and Evie Shockley, Aram Saroyan, Brian Sharp, and Jonas Wood. Each project has offered possibilities to innovate with this medium.
I also manage Laboratory Press at Otis College of Art and Design and I teach Letterpress for Designers for Extension at Otis College of Art & Design.
Has it been a smooth road?
There are challenges in running one’s own business. I am the designer, printer, accountant, shipper, sales rep., and marketing department, among many other jobs. One of the biggest challenges for me is self-promotion and pricing. Fine art letterpress doesn’t have a long market tradition, which is often what sets the value. I tend to prefer tending to the idiosyncratic, technical demands of the medium to shaping a market. I hold the belief that my work will speak for itself. I am learning to take steps to share my value with others so I don’t miss opportunities.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
For me, the medium of letterpress brings together the detailed mechanics of printing with the creative processes of art. My letterpress work, often richly hued and meticulously layered, is printed with my antique Vandercook SP-20 Proof Press. People don’t realize at first that it is letterpress, with my specific technique, and often think it is digitally printed until they look closer and they feel the impression. My images are first drawn on the computer before being transformed into negatives and then photopolymer plates. The use of photopolymer plates is a contemporary technical update to traditional printmaking and is incredibly versatile, allowing for extraordinary detail with multiple passes as well as rich passages of color.
I’m inspired by modernism—its aesthetics, but also its notions of social progress and hopeful outlook for the future. My prints and stationery reflect my interest in the architecture and landscape of Southern California, the posters of the WPA Federal Art Project, and imagery from science textbooks and encyclopedias of the 1950s and 60s. I am currently working on a series of prints that include the planets of our solar system, based on NASA photographs, inspired by a science textbook of the 1960s.
I enjoy the collaborative aspect of working with other artists with Wavelength Press. I get to know the artist more personally and learn their process of working. It is a fun challenge to translate their work into the specific medium of letterpress while keeping the sense of their “artist’s hand”.
I am proud that I can use the medium of letterpress for causes that are important to me. I recently collaborated with artist Alison Saar on a letterpress print, “Rise,” through L.A. Louver Gallery which raised money for BLM and the print sale proceeds went to Dignity and Power Now, Summaeverything Community Center, and The Crenshaw Dairy Mart. I’m happy to report it sold out very quickly!
I also made a letterpress print which raised money for the organization WildPlaces, which focuses on conservation and “re-wilding” in the Giant Sequoia National Monument and has youth programs to teach about stewardship of our natural resources. 100 Giants Project was a year-long Otis Community endeavor that I worked on with co-worker Shelly Forbes to germinate and grow 100+ sequoia trees from seed, and WildPlaces was a partner in the project. This brought together my parallel obsessions with gardening and printing. The goal was to nurture the seeds to a stage where they could be transplanted into the 100 Giants Trail. The Sequoia trees have been challenged in creating new seedlings due to climate change and over-camping.
I am thrilled to be a part of a large letterpress show called “Ink on Paper: A Letterpress Showcase,” which will open in 2021 at the OC Great Park Gallery in Irvine. The show is curated by Rachelle Chung of colorbliss.studio and contains contemporary approaches to the art of letterpress printing from national and international artists and printers, as well as a historic press timeline from the International Printing Museum.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Los Angeles is a good place to start a business like mine because there is a large letterpress and art community here. I can find unusual press parts and materials that are necessary to be a printer. There are classes like the one I teach at Otis College of Art & Design to help someone interested in starting a letterpress business. I’m proud to say I have helped other printers start their business with my class. There is also an art market in Los Angeles that supports fine art prints.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.modern-optic.com. www.wavelengthpress.com
- Phone: 310.733.8157
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @modern_optic @wavelengthpress
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Modern-Optic-159904704050690 https://www.facebook.com/wavelengthpress
Image Credit:
Jamie Russom for Bio picture
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