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].
In the summer of 1999, 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 May 23, 2006, the anniversary of Hobo Luther. 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 5 posters, of which 3 are posted in Tacoma, and 0 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 2009, 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 2009, the City of Tacoma Arts Commission awarded Beautiful Angle their Amocat Award.