Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. Explained

Amos Paul Kennedy Jr.
Birth Place:Lafayette, Louisiana
Education:MFA, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1997
BS Mathematics, Grambling State University, Louisiana, 1972[1]
Occupation:printer
Children:2
Relatives:Amos III (son), Adric (son)

Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. (born 1948) is an American printer, book artist and papermaker best known for social and political commentary, particularly in printed posters.[2] One critic noted that Kennedy is "...unafraid of asking uncomfortable questions about race and artistic pretension."[3]

Biography

From an early age, Kennedy was interested in letters and books and studied calligraphy for several years.[4] At the age of 40, Kennedy visited Colonial Williamsburg, a Virginia living history museum, and was mesmerized by an 18th-century print shop and book bindery demonstration. The incident so influenced that he studied printing at a community-based letterpress shop in Chicago[5] and, within a year quit his AT&T systems analyst job, which he had held for nearly two decades, to continue printmaking studies.[6]

Kennedy articulated his fascination with letterpress printing in one interview: "... I believe it was the capability of making multiples. Multiples of text are important to me. They allow for distribution."[6]

He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studied under legendary book designer Walter Hamady, and earned an MFA in 1997. He later taught graphic design at the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts at Indiana University.[7] [8] His letterpress poster shop, Kennedy Prints, is located in Detroit, Michigan.[9]

Technique

Kennedy creates prints, posters and postcards from handset wood and metal type, oil-based inks, and eco-friendly and affordable chipboard. Many of the posters are inspired by proverbs, sayings, and quotes Kennedy locates or potential clients provide.[8]

Using hand presses, he "produces large editions of wildly colourful, typographically-driven posters on inexpensive chipboard stock, posters which are often so riotously layered with vibrant colours of ink as to retain a wet iridescence and tackiness years after they were printed. His working method often involves overprinting multiple layers of text ...resulting in no two prints being truly identical."[10]

Residencies, Exhibitions, and Awards

Kennedy has been hosted as an artist-in-residence at a number of institutions, including the Minnesota Center for Book Arts,[11] Virginia Center for the Book at the University of Virginia,[12] BookLab at the University of Maryland,[13] and the Wells College Book Arts Center,[14] among many others.

His work has been exhibited at a range of museums, galleries, and libraries, including the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art,[15] the Museum of Modern Art Library,[16] the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University,[17] and the Indiana University Bloomington Fine Arts Library.[18] In addition, his work is held in the permanent collections of the Poster House,[19] the New York Center for Book Arts,[20] and the Letterform Archive.[21]

In 2015, Kennedy was honored as a United States Artists Glasgow Fellow in Crafts and received a $50,000 unrestricted prize.[22] He was named the Individual Laureate by the American Printing History Association in 2021,[23] and the Outstanding Printmaker Awardee from the Mid Atlantic Print Council in 2022.[24]

Archival Collections

Selected bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Curtin. Michael. Amos Paul Kennedy Jr.: Proceeding Boldly. Smile Politely. 2 March 2010 . 8 April 2018.
  2. Book: Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.: Citizen Printer . Letterform Archive Books . 2024 . 9781736863381.
  3. News: A.C.. Just "a humble Negro printer". The Economist. 3 September 2017.
  4. Web site: Stop Calling Yourself a Creative Communication Arts. Communication Arts. 3 September 2017. en-us. 4 July 2017.
  5. Web site: Kennedy, Jr.. Amos Paul. Stop Calling Yourself a Creative Communication Arts. Communication Arts. 4 September 2017. en-us. 4 July 2017.
  6. Web site: Amos Kennedy Jr.: From Corporate Analyst To Modern-Day Artisan. 99U by Behance. 4 September 2017. 13 February 2017.
  7. Web site: Steeves. Andrew. Print! Amos Kennedy, Jr. & the Fine Art of Rabblerousery. 4 September 2017.
  8. Fields. Monique. Words to Live By. American Craft Council. Jan 2012. 4 September 2017. en.
  9. News: Who We Are • Amos P. Kennedy Jr. . en-US . Partners in Print . 2023-11-03.
  10. Web site: Steeves. Andrew. Print! Amos Kennedy, Jr. & the Fine Art of Rabblerousery. 4 September 2017.
  11. Web site: Robbins . Andrea . 2017-05-27 . Printer-in-Residence: Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. . 2023-11-03 . Minnesota Center for Book Arts . en-US.
  12. Web site: 2019-04-01 . Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. Residency Recap . 2023-11-03 . Virginia Center for the Book . en-US.
  13. Web site: Petrou Artist in Residence: Amos Kennedy @BookLab . 2023-11-03 . University of Maryland College of Arts and Humanities.
  14. Web site: 2019-03-20 . Amos Kennedy at Wells! . 2023-11-03 . Wells Book Arts Center . en.
  15. Web site: Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.: Rosa Parks Series . 2023-11-03 . Bainbridge Island Museum of Art. 3 January 2023 .
  16. Web site: January 9, 2017 . Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.: Quotations of Rosa Louise Parks and Church Fans . Museum of Modern Art.
  17. Web site: Amos Paul Kennedy Jr.: Passin' on to others . 2023-11-03 . Institute for Contemporary Art . en-US.
  18. Web site: 2016-02-02 . Exhibit: Prints and Artists' Books from Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr., Printmaker: A Selection from the Fine Arts Library Indiana University Libraries . 2023-11-03 . Indiana University Libraries / Arts & Humanities . en.
  19. Web site: Lippert . Angelina . 2023-02-28 . Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. and the Democracy of Printing . 2023-11-03 . Hyperallergic . en-US.
  20. Web site: Center for Book Arts Archive : Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. . 2023-11-03 . Center for Book Arts.
  21. Web site: Coles . Stephen . 2018-06-26 . This Just In: Amos Kennedy Jr. . 2023-11-03 . Letterform Archive . en-US.
  22. Web site: Amos Paul Kennedy. United States Artists. 4 September 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20160925121439/http://www.unitedstatesartists.org/fellows/2015/amos-paul-kennedy. 25 September 2016. dead. dmy-all.
  23. Web site: Announcement . 2021-01-05 . APHA's 2021 Awards Recipients Named . 2023-11-03 . American Printing History Association.
  24. Web site: MAPC Power of Print . 2023-11-03 . MAPC Power of Print . en-US.
  25. Web site: [Amos Kennedy print collection] ]. 2023-11-03 . Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.
  26. Web site: Kennedy & Sons. Fine Printers. Kennedy & Sons collection. findingaids.library.emory.edu. 4 September 2017. en. 16 November 2007.
  27. Web site: Guide to the Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. collection Printers Mss 83. oac.cdlib.org. 4 September 2017.
  28. Web site: Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. Digital Collection . 2 March 2020 . digital.library.illinois.edu.
  29. Web site: Collection: Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. ephemera collection . 2023-11-03 . Modern Manuscripts & Archives at the Newberry.

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