Facility

KBAC is easy to find. Enter the door under the Park Trades Center brushstroke mural at 326 W. Kalamazoo Avenue. Turn right to enter our Gallery and meeting area. Exhibitions are on view here most of the year. Watch for monthly notices and openings during Art Hop events at the first of each month. We hold Poetry in Print reading series and other presentations here several times a year. The Gallery opens into our two large studios, one dedicated to papermaking, the other to letterpress and printmaking.

The papermaking area includes a pulp preparation room with two beaters, cold storage for materials, a sink and storage space for pulp and supplies. Adjacent is a large working area for making paper. It includes two large sinks, working surfaces, drying equipment for paper and storage for felts. We have a range of vats and molds for small to very large sheets.

The “dry” area includes equipment for letterpress, printmaking, hand typesetting, bookbinding and other finishing processes. The press area includes two Vandercook presses, a Chandler Price platen press with other equipment and work surfaces for typesetting, proofing, paper cutting and finishing.

Expansion

We are completing an expansion to our space. We now have a dedicated classroom for workshops and supply storage and a research library. The KBAC Book Arts Store connected to classroom and overlooking the gallery will stock book arts supplies and an assortment of book arts creations for sale. Watch for photos here soon.

Gallery

Our gallery has wall space and flexible display panels to accommodate large work and has just been upgraded with gallery quality  directional lighting. Pedestals and wall mounted shelving are available for dimensional work. The space doubles as a presentation area with seating for Poets in Print readings, presentations and other events.

Equipment

Our letterpress studio includes:

• Chandler Price new style platen press 8 x 12 (ca 1913)
• Vandercook sp15 (ca 1963)
• Vandercook Universal III (1964)
• Kelsey platen press 5 x 8
• Platen press 6 x 8.5
• Proofing press (galley height)
• Rule cutters/miter
• Chases/quoins etc
• Furniture/reglit
• 3 imposing surfaces

Typefaces including:

• Centaur
• Erhardt
• Helvetica
• Sabon
• 20th century
• and many others in various sizes including wood type, initial sets, display faces etc
• decorative blocks /rule

Printmaking:

• 2 Dickerson Combination presses with press beds: x
• litho press
• acid bath for etching with ferric chloride
• 2 30 x 48 paper baths
• papermaking
• brayers

Papermaking:

• 2 1.5 pound valley beaters
• hydraulic and pump paper presses
• drying press
• box molds
• multiple vats
• multiple sizes and shapes of molds and deckles
• blenders

Bookbinding:

• 6 smaller book presses
• 1 large book press
• many book clamps
• 4 sewing frames
• board shear
• book shear (small)

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