Alice Crawford Graphic Designer & Artist

I am a Winnipeg graphic designer and artist. Graphic Artist might be a better term for the type of work I do.

From an early age, I always have seen images in letterforms and my typographic art reflects this. This could be expressed as making a whole from the sum of its parts.

Each image is hand pressed on specialty paper using antique type wooden blocks. The use of Latin phrases express the basic truth of the image, these play on words, state an opinion or reflect a personality of the subject. I love how each inked hand pressed letter comes up with its distinctive impression – no two are the same.

Letters are manipulated/repeated to create images and to challenge the viewer to decipher the words in these images, in this way the viewer can interact with the art.

Creating a typographical image is a process.

I choose a subject I want to explore. Then research it to reflect accuracy and find descriptive words for it. These words become the title of the piece. The title is then translated into latin which then is transcribed somewhere on the print.

Ttype blocks of different fonts and sizes are studied to determine the letters (which spell the subject matter) that will be suitable for the image chosen. These type blocks are shuffled, turned & swapped out for more suitable sizes or fonts for the image.

For example – “Cheerful little Spirit”, the image of the bird uses all the letters that spell chickadee. Different sizes and fonts are repeated, turned at several angles, & colours mixed to match the bird.