I enjoyed learning about typesetting in the print workshop today. It’s always interesting to learn about the origin of phrases like “out of sorts.” After having seen and experienced how time-consuming the process can be, I understand how frustrating being out of sorts could actually be. The scriptorium workshop gave me a greater appreciation for the process of illumination – particularly for the amount of time it required to create such vivid details. Similarly, with the printing workshop I was given extra appreciation for how hard and time consuming typesetting is. When making an entire manuscript like a bible or a novel, it must take an incredible amount of time to create a single page, much less an entire book. It certainly makes sense that inventors target processes such as typesetting, which take inordinate amounts of time, and create devices that automate and speed up the process. It’s hard to believe that I could print an entire book today by pressing a few buttons on my computer and waiting at the printer in less time than it took me to figure out how to typeset a single sentence in our workshop!
In addition to thinking a lot about the process of typesetting, I also thought a lot about my collaborative project and therefore Goya in today’s workshop. We have discussed the style and themes in Goya’s work at length, but the printing workshop provided me with extra insight into his motivation and commitment to his work. It has been hard enough to come up with a clever way to construct a societal critique in our collaborative project, so Goya’s ability to not only integrate a clever narrative into his art, but also develop beautiful images using a very time-consuming technique is admirable. I’m glad that we have had the opportunity to supplement our classroom learning with hands-on exercises and videos that allow us to explore the techniques used by the authors and gain additional insights.
