Hannah has designs on country music capital
Published: 10 August 2016 at 12:03
Illustration student wins internship with famous American print workshop
BA (Hons) Illustration student Hannah Farthing is spending her summer break in Nashville, Tennessee - thanks to winning an internship with Hatch Show Print, one of the USA’s most prestigious letterpress print workshops.
Hannah, who enters the third year of her degree in September, was one of just four interns chosen from applicants across the world. Her experience of using the Cambridge School of Art’s letterpress facilities – as well as her own love of music – helped her secure the placement.
She told us:
“I found Hatch Show Print's posters through my interest in Nashville and music… They are an iconic, indelible part of the culture, and still regularly make posters for the top names in country music.
“After an induction to the letterpress facility at CSA, I decided it was time to apply for the internship. So, with encouragement and advice from my tutors, I assembled an A3 portfolio of my work and posted it off to Nashville... Just over a month before the internship began, I received an email saying that there was a place for me, and I was ecstatic!”
Hatch Show Print set up shop in 1879 and have produced handbills and posters for some of the great entertainers of the day, from Duke Ellington to Pearl Jam.
During her time with them, Hannah has already been setting and printing posters for the likes of Nissan, Bethel Woods, the Goo Goo Dolls, Lyle Lovett and the Bluebird Cafe. In the last two weeks of her internship, she will even have the chance to work on her personal project – creating a book cover design and images for Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus.
Being a talented singer/songwriter herself, Hannah also packed her guitar for the trip and is hoping to make the most of it while she's out there.
“I love music. I love travelling. I love art. The opportunity to combine these passions through this internship is impossible to take for granted. I have learnt so much for myself and from the other amazing printer-designers. I feel very fortunate and inspired by my experience at Hatch, and will take it with me into the future.”
We look forward to welcoming Hannah back next year, and finding out how her time in America has inspired her work.