Day 4

Poland – March 12, 2018

Northern Illinois University Study Abroad

The moment I’ve been waiting for ensued today—I got to see the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice which I have heard so many positive things about! This Academy is where all of our workshops will take place. Our first activity was working with metal type which is something I have not yet done. The objective was to pick a favorite quote and arrange the letters in a fun way which would then be coated with ink and transferred onto paper (same idea as a stamp). The staff was very helpful and kind which made this workshop fly by so quickly.

Dictionary definition of metal type: 
“In printing and typography, hot metal typesetting is a technology for typesetting text in letterpress printing. This method injects molten type metal into a mold that has the shape of one or more glyphs.”

Before the second workshop, I was given a tour of the Academy and all of the wonderful artwork created by its students. Colorful paintings and detailed sculptures were everywhere. I could tell that students put much time and thought into their planning. For the second workshop, I explored type. I got to experiment writing letters with different tools such as a comb and sponge. As a group, we came up with a single word to practice writing in a creative way—which was “przygoda” which means, “adventure.” As I practiced, my writing was starting to improve. When I return from Poland, I will create my own T-shirt using the Polish word using the sample I hand-wrote myself.

One of the Academy's buildings