re/done

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This exhibition follows a practice-based PhD project called The Printing Types by Dr Beck Howson, Senior Lecturer in the College of Art and Design, BCU. Dr Howson designed research methods by looking to the histories of Birmingham School of Printing at BCU to form new forms and dialogues. 

This iteration of the project sees a collective exploration of the work of the Birmingham School of Printing (BSP) in the archive. A space where colleagues at BCU, visiting professors, partners from other institutions, our friends in industry and current students showcase their practices in response to archival material. 

The typographic work that was selected to start these new conversations is a beautiful piece of printing by the staff and students at the BSP, directed by Leonard Jay, an influential typographer and educator, Jay was the head of the School of Printing between 1925-53. The Nature of the Book was written by Beatrice Warde in 1930 and was printed at the BSP, Margaret Street, Birmingham, also in 1930. 

This is an important year in the lineage of print education in Birmingham; 2025 marks the hundredth-year anniversary of Leonard Jay’s tenure as the Head of School at the BSP. This exhibition is a way to celebrate the life and work of Jay.

Re/done is the culmination of work developed by drawing on the conceptual, philosophical, technical and thematic aspects of the work in individual and collaborative approaches. It is a very big experiment in typography and print processes.