ArtOrg’s May 13-28 “Broadsides!” Exhibition Features
Acclaimed Letterpress Editions of Modern Poetry

PDF file of Scott King “Broadsides!”

They are small packages – compelling words and phrases printed with exquisite care on sheets of uncommon paper – but they pack all the punch of the simultaneous firing of the guns on a man-of-war.
“Broadsides,” a two-week exhibit of poetry and prose letterpress-printed by Scott King, opens 3-9 p.m., Saturday, May 13, at Art Org, 200 Division St., Northfield, Minn. King, the founder of Red Dragonfly Press, has been a resident artist at the Anderson Center in Red Wing, Minn., since 1999. Sought after for his gifts as a typographer and bookmaker, he has created single-sheet broadsides and books for such noted poets and authors as Barry Lopez, Joseph Millar, Dorianne Laux, and Joyce Sutphen. His printed pieces have found homes in collections and libraries throughout the country.
From 7 to 8 p.m. during the opening, Minneapolis author James Lenfestey will read from his latest collection, Han-shan is the Cure for Warts. One of the works on display, it consists of 21 poems inspired by the Chinese poet Han-shan. A former editorial writer for the Star Tribune, Lenfestey has taught college literature and directed an alternative school during a long and varied career in communications.
Letterpress printing harks back to a time centuries before desktop publishing, when getting printed material into readers’ hands took hours, weeks, and months of painstaking labor rather than hitting a few keys on a keyboard. “Setting type is slow going,” King noted in an account he wrote of creating Pulling Wire by Barry Lopez. “[It requires] physically reaching with the right hand for each letter of each word and standing it on end in the composing stick held in the left. … Over several months, days were dedicated to the task and, eventually, all 253 lines of the story were set.”
A former environmental chemist whose connection with nature is evident in his book design, King is an admirer of poetry as well as a poet himself. “Just as certain men carry jackknives and a child might carry a favorite stuffed animal,” he writes, “I carry books of poems at all times and nearly everyplace I go.”

Exhibition dates and hours: “Broadsides” runs Thursdays through Sundays May 13 to May 28 at Art Org, 200 Division St., Northfield, Minn. Gallery hours are Thursdays and Fridays 5 to 8 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. To request special viewing for individuals or groups please call 507-645-2555 and make an appointment.