A piece of the New England’s printing history will be set up on the street in Tamworth this Saturday, with a working letterpress printing live in front of the crowd at A Winter’s Night.
Arts North West are supporting a live letterpress printmaking activation by Moveable Type Studio at the event on Saturday, 1 August, presented in partnership with the Museum of Printing at NERAM in Armidale.
Moveable Type Studio grew out of the belief that letterpress belongs in the places where people live and gather, not tucked away in a fixed studio. Led by Clint Harvey, the studio built a working print space into a 40-foot shipping container, complete with presses, wood and lead type, and printing ink and pigment kits, turning carparks, festival grounds and museum loading docks into places to print.
“Supporting Moveable Type Studio at A Winter’s Night lets us bring a living piece of the New England’s printing history straight onto the street, where people can see it and ask questions,” said Lauren Mackley, Executive Director of Arts North West.
“It’s exactly the kind of regional arts engagement we love to back.”
For A Winter’s Night, the studio will bring its newer, smaller Pop Up Press, a trailer-based rig with two presses built as a lighter, more affordable way to tour than hauling the full container. The Pop Up Press has already toured widely in 2026, including at the Queensland State Library, Queensland State Archives and the Toowoomba Art Society.
The team will be joined in Tamworth by Kelly Lye of Hopscotch Press, her home-based letterpress studio, and a long-standing member of the Museum of Printing’s executive committee. Her practice draws on backgrounds in graphic design, typography, photography and English literature, and through Black Gully Printmakers she has been exploring the combination of linocut and letterpress.
“This region has such a strong letterpress heritage, and it’s a privilege to celebrate that alongside the Museum of Printing at NERAM,” said Clint Harvey, Director and Founder of Moveable Type Studio.
The Museum of Printing is housed below NERAM in Armidale, and holds a collection of lead type, wood blocks, printing presses and typewriters, including items from F.T. Wimble & Co, Australia’s sole type foundry through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It is opened to the public by volunteers from Black Gully Printmakers, a community group of multidisciplinary artists and print enthusiasts who use the studio space to develop their own practice.
This weekend, the magic of old school printing is going down the hill to be part of the Winter’s Night festival, a free family event celebrating the magic of winter on Peel Street this Saturday August 1, from 5pm – 8pm
“We hope it encourages more people to discover the museum and the work being done there,” Mr Harvey said.
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