Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. (born 1948) is an American printer, book artist and papermaker best known for social and political commentary, particularly in printed posters.[2] One critic noted that Kennedy is "...unafraid of asking uncomfortable questions about race and artistic pretension."[3]
Biography
From an early age, Kennedy was interested in letters and books and studied calligraphy for several years.[4] At the age of 40, Kennedy visited
Colonial Williamsburg, a Virginia living history museum, and was mesmerized by an 18th-century print shop and book bindery demonstration. The incident so influenced that he studied printing at a community-based letterpress shop in Chicago[5] and, within a year quit his AT&T systems analyst job, which he had held for nearly two decades, to continue printmaking studies.[6]
Kennedy articulated his fascination with letterpress printing in one interview: "... I believe it was the capability of making multiples. Multiples of text are important to me. They allow for distribution."[6]
He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studied under legendary book designer
Walter Hamady, and earned an MFA in 1997. He later taught graphic design at the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts at
Indiana University.[7][8] His letterpress poster shop, Kennedy Prints, is located in
Detroit, Michigan.[9]
Technique
Kennedy creates prints, posters and postcards from handset wood and metal type, oil-based inks, and eco-friendly and affordable chipboard. Many of the posters are inspired by proverbs, sayings, and quotes Kennedy locates or potential clients provide.[8]
Using hand presses, he "produces large editions of wildly colourful, typographically-driven posters on inexpensive chipboard stock, posters which are often so riotously layered with vibrant colours of ink as to retain a wet iridescence and tackiness years after they were printed. His working method often involves overprinting multiple layers of text ...resulting in no two prints being truly identical."[10]
Amos Kennedy Print Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. Collection of posters and prints cover social subjects of Civil Rights, presidential campaigns, voting, performing arts (music, film, theater), art, books, handcrafts etc. 286 items.[25]
Kennedy & Sons Collection, Emory University, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Atlanta, GA.[26] Collection from Kennedy & Sons, Fine Printers (African American commercial printing business), 1990–2015, 6.5 linear ft. (11 boxes) and oversized papers.
Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. collection Printers, UC Santa Barbara Library, Special Collection, Santa Barbara, CA.[27] Letterpress posters, broadsides, postcards, fans, publications and clippings, 1997–2013, 50.62 linear feet.
Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. collection, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL.[28] Letterpress prints including posters, business cards, broadsides, fans, and maps as well as publications and clippings, 2000–2019, 17 boxes.
Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. ephemera collection, Modern Manuscripts and Archives, the Newberry Library. Letterpress posters, paper fans, broadsides, greetings cards, and other ephemera dating from 1990 through approximately 2012. 2.7 linear feet, 2 boxes.[29]
Selected bibliography
Kennedy Jr., Amos Paul (1992), How Wisdom Came to the World, Jubilee Press (Oak Park, Illinois),
OCLC29590990
Kennedy Jr., Amos Paul (1994), Strange Fruit: Words Protesting Lynchings and Burnings, Jubilee Press (Oak Park, Illinois),
OCLC30697930
Kennedy Jr., Amos Paul (1995), 67 children murdered in Chicagoland in 1994,
OCLC56896180
Kennedy Jr., Amos Paul (1996), Juneteenth day 1996 : freedom,
OCLC55081932
Kennedy Jr., Amos Paul (1997), Generosity, Jubilee Press (Oak Park, Illinois),
OCLC37211424
Kennedy Jr., Amos Paul (2000), Kwanzaa is a way of life that we celebrate! (miniature book),
OCLC47211040