"I really wanted to attend an institution that was somewhat of a community -- something small -- and to connect with professors and with the administration and have them know my name. And, because of MCLA's internship program, I was able to get my foot in the door at a very prominent company which jump-started my career."
Christina Barrett '03 Director of Marketing & Communications, Berkshire Chamber of Commerce
News & Press Releases
Feb. 8, 2008
NORTH ADAMS, MA – MCLA Gallery 51 will host “The Broadside: Marriage of Literature and Art,” on Thursday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
“The Broadside” will feature painter, graphic designer and calligrapher, Julio Granda, along with poet and letterpress printer, Barry Sternlieb, who will describe in detail the complex process of printing poetry and visual imagery onto single sheets of handmade or mould-made paper to produce lasting original creations.
Utilizing a diverse display of finely-printed, limited edition examples of projects completed during the past 20 years, Granda and Sternlieb will describe their experiences through poetry and discussion.
Broadsides – a form of street literature – began in the 16th century and continued until the mid-19th century as a type of printing of large printed sheets of paper, designed to be plastered onto walls. In the centuries before there were newspapers and 24-hour news channels, the general public had to rely on street literature to find out what was going on. The most popular form of this for nearly 300 years was “broadsides.” Sometimes pinned up on walls in houses and ale-houses, these single sheets carried public notices, news, speeches and songs that could be read (or sung) aloud.
By the mid 19th century, the advent of newspapers and inexpensive novels resulted in the demise of the street literature broadside. Through the ages, broadsides also have been a popular means of publishing single poems for poets.~ In the last century, poetry broadsides matured into attractive forms of art, often pairing a poem with a drawing or other design and executed by printers of high creative merit.
Granda received his MFA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He has been on the faculty and served as the chair of the Berkshire Community College Fine Arts Department. His artwork has been shown all over the Berkshires and throughout the country, and is included in many private collections.
Sternlieb has been published in numerous magazines and literary journals, including The New England Review and Yankee, as well as in various anthologies such as Strong Measures: Contemporary Poetry in Traditional Forms (Harper & Row) and Wild Song: Poems of the Natural World (Univ. of Georgia Press). He also is the editor and publisher of Mad River Press, specializing in handmade letterpress limited edition poetry chapbooks and prints since 1986.
Reservations are recommended. If you would like to RSVP for this presentation, please call 413-663-5253. MCLA Gallery 51 is at 51 Main St., North Adams. The Gallery is open daily, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, 413-664-8718, or go to [ http://www.mcla.edu/Gallery51 ]www.mcla.edu/Gallery51 .
