continued from page 19
S PRIGGS B OOT & S ADDLE
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608 1/2 E Holland Ave. • Alpine
(432) 837-5000
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You
W. Jay Fielder, D.D.S.
for over 25 years of service
to our community
115 N 2nd St • Alpine
432.837.5581
800 W US Highway 90
Sanderson, Texas
8 8 8 . 4 6 6 . 8 8 2 2
www.outbackoasismotel.com
Ruth & Roy Engeldorf, Owners
Famous Burro restaurant in
Marathon, she combined dif-
ferent colored stock with hip
illustrations – cowboys, burros
and bucking broncs – that
tread the fine line of elegance
just this side of kitsch, embla-
zoned with the tongue-in-
cheek slogan “a burro is not a
horse.”
Stedman has a particular
interest in creating books –
from beginning to end. Her
2008 book project, Why
Terlingua: Adventure on the Edge of
Texas, combines character
sketches of local residents and
memoirs of Terlingua old-
timers along with travel tips,
photos and a guide to the area.
Though the book project
was
digitally
designed,
Stedman says the art of good
typography is “imperative,”
whether set by hand in a com-
posing stick or designed on a
computer screen.
Stedman has deep roots in
the Big Bend region. Her
maternal grandfather, Roe
Miller, came to Fort Davis at
continued from page 19
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friend here in Terlingua. Even
though this is computer work, it is
something I would enjoy doing more
of.
The art of good typography is
imperative whether setting type in a
composing stick or digitally on the
computer.
Many type designers have influ-
enced my thinking and approach to
printing. Beatrice and Frederic
Warde, both typographers, did
much to type design and typography
in the 1920s and 30s. Frederic
Warde designed the italic typeface
Arrighi to compliment Bruce
Rogers’ Centaur, a graceful Roman
typeface based on a 1470 Roman
face designed by Nicolas Jensen.
These typefaces have been
adopted as my house faces. A few of
my other heroes are Eric Gill,
Oscar Ogg, Frederic Goudy,
Suzanna Liko (a pioneer in digital
type design) and Herman and
Third Quarter 2009
the age of 12, eventually mar-
ried her grandmother, Pearl,
and became a well-known
area cattle rancher. An aunt,
Gene Miller, still lives in Fort
Davis.
In earlier days, Stedman
says, the area was remote and
insular, with few newcomers to
add variety to the firmly
entrenched population of
ranchers. “Fort Davis was a
cow town,” she says, and it
held little interest for an artistic
young girl hungry for inspira-
tion and the chance to express
her talents.
Even so, she was always
homesick for the wide open
spaces of her West Texas
childhood, and when it
became possible to return to
West Texas, Stedman leaped
at the chance.
Having come full-circle,
back to the Big Bend,
Stedman reflects on the
changes in the area since she
knew it as a young child. The
main difference she sees is the
influx of outsiders, which is
adding
diversity
and
opportunity to a county once
dominated by ranching.
Gundrun Zapf.
Two favorites in particular are
El Lissitzky, a Russian who fell
under the era of Russian
Constructivism from 1917-1935
and Herbert Bayer whose design
style was included in the Bauhaus
school of design of the 1920s and
1930s in Germany.
Jan Tschichold must certainly
be mentioned as one of the foremost
type designers and calligraphers of
the 20th Century. He got all the
details right – with elegance.
My private press in Terlingua is
as a print shop would have been
during the mining heyday. It is
housed in the rectory next to the
church and renovated by myself,
George Womack, Butch Fisher and
many, many other friends.
All my equipment is vintage, no
reproductions. I have many cases of
type of various faces, wood type
and a decent collection of original
Stedman’s outlook for the
art and craft of letter-press
printing is sunny: In the past
five years or so, she says, art
schools and universities have
taken up the gauntlet, teaching
typography and printing as a
legitimate and valued part of
an art education.
Her own future is equally
exciting. She’s putting down
roots – building a house in
Terlingua and looking to
expand her clientele to cover
Fort Davis and Alpine and
planning collaborative projects
with local artists and writers.
She hopes to expand her
work into posters, broadsides,
chapbooks and larger print
jobs. Like a hardy desert
bloom, Menagerie Press adds
color and texture to the peren-
nially fascinating palette of the
Big Bend.
Why Terlingua: Adventure on
the Edge of Texas is available at
Terlingua Trading Co., Front
Street Books and other area
bookshops. Menagerie Press
is located in the Terlingua
Ghostown. 432.371.3131, or
menageriep@bigbend.net.
printers’ ornaments and dingbats.
My paper cutter is the same vin-
tage and make as my main press is,
Chandler&Price, around 1920. I
also have a smaller C&P which I
use only for embossing. This press
is slightly older, 1900.
Just last year I purchased a
Vandercook flatbed press, vintage
1961, which allows me to print
larger format pieces. I hope to do
posters and broadsides.
Most of my jobs are business
cards, letterheads, invitations and
announcements. I also do chap-
books, handbills and greeting cards.
Handmade and lettered books are a
sideline when time allows.