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Event Information:

  • Tour of the Museum Of Printing History with Charles Criner

    May, 2009

    Museum of Printing History
    1324 W. Clay
    Houston, TX 77019

     

    Charles Criner is the kind of artist that likes to "exhaust" the medium. He "pulls" his prints in black and white, then in color, and on top of that he sometimes adds acrylic over the print to produce original paintings on paper.

    He, however, is also parsimonious, or rather, enjoys the limitations of using only three colors and no more to make his prints. He is furthermore the kind of artist / craftsman that prizes the concrete relationship between himself and his work. Criner always pulls prints himself, never letting other professional printers do this for him.

     

    The Museum of Printing History was founded in 1979 by Raoul Beasley, Vernon P. Hearn, Don Piercy, and J. V. Burnham, four printers with passions for preserving their vast collections and sharing them with the community. It was chartered in 1981 and had its official opening in 1982 with Dr. Hans Halaby, Director of the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, Germany, cutting the ribbon.

     

    The mission of the Museum is to promote, preserve, and share the knowledge of printed communication and art as the greatest contributors to the development of the civilized world and the continuing advancement of freedom and literacy.

     

    Featured in the July 2006 issue of Texas Highways, the Museum is described as “a honeycomb of intimate gallery spaces . . . with a stunning collection of objects and artifacts devoted to the history, science, and art of printing." The portrait of the Museum concludes with the observation that "printed text may be taken for granted these days, but a visit to the Museum of Printing History somehow makes it seem magical once again.”