I was a client of Colby Printing. They printed 75 posters of mine "Your Favorite Yiddish Author Here" as meticulously and lovingly as I could have ever hoped. I proudly asked them to put the union "bug" on the bottom, usually omitted in art pieces, and hoped to order another run one day. I'm so sad that this Los Angeles institution has vanished in a cloud of inkjet. While my poster was being printed my house was burglerized, and the computer I created the artwork on stolen. But Colby had the little thumb drive, safe and sound, and because of that my poster lives on. Maybe that's another reason I loved them.
I grew up in Los Angeles and moved away by 1981 to Washington, DC. These posters, along with the east coast /mid atlantic poster company, Globe Poster were great influences of my own artwork and still are. I have posters from both companies in my collection. This is a fantastic documentary commenting on the influence on commercial art on fine art with great footage on Los Angeles.. so much of this footage is exactly how I remembered it, and want to remember it as. Fantastic.
Grew up down the street from Colby in Pico Union. I grew up (27 years) with their style of posters as part of my visual vernacular. Catholic school fiesta posters to 80s freestyle concert events. That being said, I never ever knew what they did in that building until I produced a concert in 2011, and we wanted that old school street poster look for the promotions. I had the pleasure of having a poster printed at Colby and working with the grand kids. Our poster was day-glo orange, yellow and green. Maximum brightness right? Our event took place on October, 28th, 2011. Until this very moment that I saw this on KCET, I was not aware that Colby had closed. A sad moment for me, realizing that yet another beloved member of this cities extended family has faded off into the history books.
Sweet story, well done. A tribute to craft. But, as with much "art," the politics gets ignored. Three unions - boasted by the title, but never explained. My guess is LPIU, GAIU, then GCIU. And no printing for causes? Certainly there must have been - farmworker support, demos, strikes, pickets. Occupy the commons is an important struggle, and print rules. Long live Colby Press and the like.
Sadly, discussion of the 3 unions (letterpress, typesetters, and silk screen) alluded to in the title didn't make the final cut. Colby was deservedly proud of their legacy of working with organized labor though, and Herbert Colby built his carer as a union printer -- you can see his 1939 union card at 0:49! Of particular interest, in the last years, 2 of these unions were represented by only one man each. "One man, one union," as Glenn Hinman says. Jose Rosa, Colby’s sole union letterpressman appears a few times in the video, and deserves a special thanks for for willingness to reveal his work for our cameras. Colby’s political clients were also a consideration in thinking about this. Most campaigns, especially local ones, preferring to print with a union shop.
I was a client of Colby Printing. They printed 75 posters of mine "Your Favorite Yiddish Author Here" as meticulously and lovingly as I could have ever hoped. I proudly asked them to put the union "bug" on the bottom, usually omitted in art pieces, and hoped to order another run one day. I'm so sad that this Los Angeles institution has vanished in a cloud of inkjet. While my poster was being printed my house was burglerized, and the computer I created the artwork on stolen. But Colby had the little thumb drive, safe and sound, and because of that my poster lives on. Maybe that's another reason I loved them.
I grew up in Los Angeles and moved away by 1981 to Washington, DC. These posters, along with the east coast /mid atlantic poster company, Globe Poster were great influences of my own artwork and still are. I have posters from both companies in my collection. This is a fantastic documentary commenting on the influence on commercial art on fine art with great footage on Los Angeles.. so much of this footage is exactly how I remembered it, and want to remember it as. Fantastic.
Grew up down the street from Colby in Pico Union. I grew up (27 years) with their style of posters as part of my visual vernacular. Catholic school fiesta posters to 80s freestyle concert events. That being said, I never ever knew what they did in that building until I produced a concert in 2011, and we wanted that old school street poster look for the promotions. I had the pleasure of having a poster printed at Colby and working with the grand kids. Our poster was day-glo orange, yellow and green. Maximum brightness right? Our event took place on October, 28th, 2011. Until this very moment that I saw this on KCET, I was not aware that Colby had closed. A sad moment for me, realizing that yet another beloved member of this cities extended family has faded off into the history books.
This was great Stecyk! SIDE NOTE: Church of Type opened last year. Also on Pico Blvd. Keeping letterpress alive!
This is great. THANK YOU!
some of the most iconic typographic designs in our lifetime.
This is the Colby Poster doc I was talking about Anthony Peters. Produced by the lovely Lana Kim.
Interesting and well done. I tried to click the Like button, but it didn't register an increase in the number.
Sweet story, well done. A tribute to craft. But, as with much "art," the politics gets ignored. Three unions - boasted by the title, but never explained. My guess is LPIU, GAIU, then GCIU. And no printing for causes? Certainly there must have been - farmworker support, demos, strikes, pickets. Occupy the commons is an important struggle, and print rules. Long live Colby Press and the like.
Sadly, discussion of the 3 unions (letterpress, typesetters, and silk screen) alluded to in the title didn't make the final cut. Colby was deservedly proud of their legacy of working with organized labor though, and Herbert Colby built his carer as a union printer -- you can see his 1939 union card at 0:49!
Of particular interest, in the last years, 2 of these unions were represented by only one man each. "One man, one union," as Glenn Hinman says. Jose Rosa, Colby’s sole union letterpressman appears a few times in the video, and deserves a special thanks for for willingness to reveal his work for our cameras.
Colby’s political clients were also a consideration in thinking about this. Most campaigns, especially local ones, preferring to print with a union shop.
Very good video !!!
Does anyone know what happened to the Colby printing press? They show the day it was taken from the building but don't say where it's going.