The 10Press Project

10press-main-graphic-web

What is 10Press?

10Press was a local, collaborative letterpress print project run by Commoners Press in 2022. During the project 11 new letterpress works were created by community members from the City of Merri-Bek Moreland in Melbourne Naarm. The works were then printed by Commoners Press.

The participants of 10Press are: Holly Denshire-key, Michael Fikaris, Marius Foley, Sarah Hargrave, Will Mahon, Dale Nason, Mohamed Nur, Nicole Polentas, Mona Quilty, Amaara Raheem, Sofia Sabbagh.

The created works responded to the prompt,

Moreland?

Commoners Press is looking for visual works about Moreland: Its creative future, its past or other hidden stories - in one or two colours.

Additional context: Renaming Merri-bek (Merri-bek Council)

10Press was created with the generous support of Arts Merri-bek through their Flourish grants. Arts Merri-bek logo

Artworks

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Marius Foley Close up of print - image is of a orange brick with the work brick in black and orange white type
Marius Foley
Will Mahon closeup of print - image is a closeup of a gold bird head on a story about bin chicken island in Coburg
Will Mahon
Nicole Polentas closeup of print - image is a closeup of a heart print with 2 sides - one side is blue and one side is red
Nicole Polentas
10PRess_Amaara_closeup
Amaara Raheem
10Press_Dale_closeup
Dale Nason
10PRess_Holly_closeup
Holly Denshire-Key
10PRess_Michael_closeup
Michael Fikaris
10PRess_Mohamed_closeup
Mohamed Nur
10PRess_Mona_closeup
Mona Quilty
10PRess_Sarah_closeup
Sarah Hargrave
10PRess_Sofia_closeup
Sofia Sabbagh

Project launch and exhibition

10Press was launched at an exhibition on 17 November 2022.

The exhibition continued from 19-25 November at Coburg Studios, 69 Charles St, Coburg North

During the exhibition all attending artists and designers spoke about their work.

Neal launching the 10Press Project
Neal launching the 10Press exhibition
Images of printed folios arranged in a patten on a table
The 10Press Folios
The 10Press exhibition catalogue on a table
The 10Press exhibition catalogue on a table
Image of tables laid out in a gallery, each has letterpress prints arranged on them
Tables laid out in the gallery with 10Press prints on them
10Press participant Mohamed talking with Jan from Commoners Press at the exhibition
10Press participant Mohamed talking with Jan from Commoners Press at the exhibition
People look at the work in the exhibition
People looking at the work in the exhibition
People look at the work in the exhibition
People look at the work in the exhibition
People look at the work in the exhibition
People look at the work in the exhibition
People look at the work in the exhibition
People look at the work in the exhibition
10Press participants Nicole and Amaara holding their folios
10Press participants Nicole and Amaara holding their folios
10Press participant Will speaks about his experience in the project
10Press participant Will speaks about his experience in the project

Commoners Press

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The Commoners Press was formed in 2017 with the purchase of 3 traditional letterpress machines, one paper guillotine and various printing sundries (paper stock, printing ink and tools) from Ray, owner of Excell Press in Brunswick. Ray had bought them new in the 1960ies and sold them to us when he retired in 2017. He continued to show us how to operate these machines alongside Geoff White, a former pressman who completed his apprenticeship on the very same machines.

In January 2021 Commoners Press moved from Brunswick to Coburg North and is now part of Coburg Studios on Charles Street. A semi-trailer was required to transport this very heavy machinery.

Acknowledgement

At the end of 2021, Commoners Press received a grant from Merri-bek Council to work with creative community participants and groups based in Moreland. The outcome of this was the 10Press project and the plan to develop works from the Merri-bek community to be printed by Commoners Press was realised.