Beautiful Angle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1000 Flowers, Beautiful Angle's August 2006 letterpressed poster

Beautiful Angle is a guerrilla arts poster project in Tacoma, Washington.^[1]. Approximately once per month, graphic designer Lance Kagey and writer Tom Llewellyn create hand-crafted, letterpress posters and then distribute them around the city's downtown core via wheat paste and staples.^[2].

[edit] History

In the summer of 2002, Lance Kagey was introduced to the art of letterpress printing through a visit to a British Columbia studio and through a program at Seattle's School of Visual Concepts. Kagey purchased a circa-1950's Challenge proof press^[3] through eBay for $50. After paying more than 12 times that amount in shipping and after months of self-education and experimentation, Kagey and Llewellyn began producing posters.

The first poster, Swirl, was distributed on October 31, 2002, the anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. Beautiful Angle has used a variety of printing techniques, including split fountain color process, a two color double run, and a brayer over a printed image.^[1] A typical press run is 120 posters, of which 80 are posted in Tacoma, and 40 are sold.^[3] Beautiful Angle has a "strange, contradictory relationship with the city" ^[3]; even though the posters are posted perhaps illegally, the group has won a Chamber of Commerce award of merit.^[4]. Beautiful Angle has also worked with other artists such as Art Chantry.

Beautiful Angle has been featured in a City Arts Magazine cover story ^[3], as well as feature stories in the leading Tacoma newspaper, The News Tribune, as well as in the Weekly Volcano^[5], Toby Room, and many local and arts-related blogs. The City of Tacoma's outreach website, cityofdestiny.com, now links to the project. Gallery shows have been held at Handforth Gallery, School of Visual Concepts, Jazzbones, and Blackwater Cafe. A nearly complete collection of posters is always on display at King's Books in Tacoma.

In August 2007, a Beautiful Angle retrospective was included in the annual TypeCon exhibition, under the direction of the Society of Typographic Aficionados, shown in Seattle, Washington and Brighton, England. In November 2007, the City of Tacoma Arts Commission awarded Beautiful Angle their Amocat Award.