Like the desert in which it dwells,
Menagerie Press is a study in contrasts.
Take the building itself: the formerly
abandoned rectory beside the old
church in Terlingua now houses an
agglomeration of antique presses and
old lead type combined with comput-
ers, printers and new fonts and faces
from custom foundries.
On waist-high wooden counters that
line the press room, artisan papers in
sumptuous colors are neatly stacked
next to test pieces Stedman has accrued
in the course of her jobs for a diverse
clientele of local businesses and private
clients, as well as her own personal proj-
ects.
Handmade books featuring flowing
calligraphy and elegant colored ink
bound with textured art papers and
embellished with bead-and-string clo-
sures dot the press room, whose walls
are decked in printer’s “job cases” –
compartmented wooden cases, which
gave birth to the terms “upper case”
and “lower case” – filled with antique
type and “dingbats” (printer’s orna-
ments) 50, 75, even 100 years old.
And there is the designer herself.
Stedman was born in Fort Davis and
spent her childhood as part of an Air
Force family who lived around the
world, with stints in Germany, France,
Italy and the Philippines.
She readily ascribes her design aes-
thetic to her exposure to European art
and architecture, which blended with
her innate artistic nature to produce an
appreciation of graphic design, typogra-
phy and ultimately fine-art printing.
She was especially influenced by the
clean lines of the Bauhaus style that
swept Germany in the 1920s, the
Craftsman style of influential 19th
Century British designer and typogra-
pher William Morris and the return to
fine-art printing exemplified by the
American Roycroft School.
Stedman pursued an artist’s educa-
tion in California, studying lettering,
typography, calligraphy, graphic design
and art history. Her fascination with
printing and typography dove-tailed
with the resurgence of fine-art printing
in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
By the 1960’s, letter-press printing
had been phased out by large-scale lino-
type operations. While scattered private
presses held on to the old ways, newspa-
pers and other commercial printers
migrated to linotype – and more recent-
ly, to computer-generated typography.
This sea-change had a silver lining:
small-scale presses across the country
started selling off presses and type,
allowing fine-art printers like Stedman
to acquire classic equipment for their
own use.
“People started using letter-press as
an art form,” she says, “creating small-
edition books with hand-done woodcuts
and illustrations.”
In 1999, fueled by her dream of
making a life in fine-art printing,
Stedman founded Menagerie Press (the
name refers to the wide array of house-
hold pets she grew up with) in Fort
Bragg, NC.
Two years ago, Stedman came back
to the Big Bend. She brought along her
presses – and her dream of creating a
studio printing operation that would use
classic equipment to create bold new
designs.
She gained permission from Ghost
Town proprietor Bill Ivey to rent the
old adobe rectory next to the church.
The abandoned building needed work:
there were no floors, and sections of
walls had fallen victim to neglect and
the harsh environment of the
Chihuahuan desert. The building
needed a new roof.
But Stedman saw potential in the
structure, and proceeded to bring it
back from the brink of ruin, transform-
ing it into a snug yet airy home for her
presses.
Stedman has collected old presses
and lead type for several years.
Menagerie Press is currently home to a
large 1920s Chandler&Price platen
press she found in Ukiah, California , a
large-format 1961 Vandercook flatbed
press acquired in Hillsboro, New
Mexico and a smaller Chandler&Price
press, circa 1900.
She put together her type library,
which she continues to expand, from
letters found on eBay or acquired from
letter-press printers going out of busi-
ness, as well as specially commissioned
type from small type foundries across
the country.
Stedman’s work reflects wide inter-
ests and a deep reverence for classic
typography and design.
For Marathon artist Mary Baxter,
Stedman designed and printed large-
format business cards on silver stock,
featuring Craftsman-style graphics and
elegant copper-plate type in midnight-
blue ink. Another iteration of Baxter’s
card features bright turquoise ink on
glossy coated stock in vivid pink.
For the newly opened Famous
Burro restaurant in Marathon, she
combined different colored stock with
hip illustrations – cowboys, burros, and
bucking broncs – that tread the fine line
of elegance just this side of kitsch,
emblazoned with the tongue-in-cheek
slogan “a burro is not a horse.”
Stedman has a particular interest in
creating books – from beginning to end.
Her 2008 book project, “Why Terlingua:
Adventure on the Edge of Texas,” combines
character sketches of local residents and
memoirs of Terlingua old-timers along
with travel tips, photos and a guide to
the area.
Though the book project was digital-
ly designed, Stedman says the art of
good typography is “imperative,”
whether set by hand in a composing
stick or designed on a computer screen.
Stedman has deep roots in the Big
Bend region. Her maternal grandfather,
Roe Miller, came to Fort Davis at the
age of 12, eventually married her grand-
mother, Pearl, and became a well-
known area cattle rancher. An aunt,
Gene Miller, still lives in Fort Davis.
In earlier days, Stedman says, the
area was remote and insular, with few
newcomers to add variety to the firmly
entrenched population of ranchers.
“Fort Davis was a cow town,” she says,
and it held little interest for an artistic
young girl hungry for inspiration and
the chance to express her talents.
Even so, she was always homesick for
the wide open spaces of her West Texas
childhood, and when it became possible
to return to West Texas, Stedman
leaped at the chance.
Having come full-circle back to the
Big Bend, Stedman reflects on the
changes in the area since she knew it as
a young child. The main difference she
sees is the influx of outsiders, which is
adding diversity and opportunity to a
county once dominated by ranching.
continued on page 27
CHINATI
The Chinati Foundation is a contemporary art museum founded by the artist Donald Judd.
The collection includes work by twelve artists and focuses on permanent, large-scale
installations emphasizing the relationship between art, architecture, and the surrounding
landscape.
Most of the collection is accessible by guided tour only, Wednesday through Sunday. Advance reservations are
required to guarantee admission, available at www.chinati.org. Chinati offers FREE admission to residents of
Brewster, Jeff Davis, and Presidio Counties.
TOURS, WEDNESDAY - SUNDAY
Collection Tour, 10:00 AM
Includes all works in the permanent collection: Judd, Kabakov, Long, Rabinowitch, Chamberlain, Flavin, Arnarsson, Wesley,
Horn, Andre, Oldenburg & van Bruggen, as well as special exhibitions.
Selections Tour, 11:00 AM
Selected exhibitions from the permanent collection: Judd, Flavin, Chamberlain, and special exhibitions.
Artillery Sheds Tour, 3:45 PM
Judd’s 100 works in mill aluminum (also shown on the Full Collection and Selections Tour)
Donald Judd’s 15 works in concrete, self-guided viewing, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
UPCOMING SPECIAL EVENTS
Community Day
Sunday, April 28, 1 - 5:00 PM
FREE
An annual event celebrating our West Texas friends and neighbors. Self-guided viewing of the collection
and special exhibiitons, gallery talks, activities in the ArtLab and museum garden, barbeque dinner and
live mariachis in the Arena.
Free Summer Art Classes for Ages 5 - 13
July 16 - 19 and July 23 - 26, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Hands-on, creative fun for area students during their summer break. Registration available on-line.
Chinati Weekend
October 11 - 13
1 Cavalry Row Marfa Texas 79843 www.chinati.org 432 729 4362
Cenizo
Second Quarter 2013
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