Within the walls of 4 Acre Press in Argyle, former college professor Syd Webb, 33, sits at her desk surrounded by a collection of machinery, artwork and typefaces that mean more a decade of hard work and culture. A printing press, purchased in her senior undergraduate year, rests directly in front of her. The machine has followed it from Indiana to Texas and around the metroplex and continues a tradition that began in the 15th century with the invention of the first printing press.
A typographic sign hangs in 4 Acre Press on April 14, 2022. Lillian Vest
She founded the printmaking studio when she moved to a four-acre property in Kaufman County after earning an MFA in Intermedia from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2014. She has since moved to Denton, but the name is a holdover. of “time and place,” she says.
Initially the studio was confined to a shed on the property, but in 2019 she moved to a space in Argyle with more room. The larger space allowed Webb to begin teaching private workshops in addition to his college classes.
“Teaching is one of my favorite professional joys,” Webb said. “Having people come into this space and teach them in this environment versus college has been really rewarding.”
Webb specializes in printmaking and letterpress which uses the printing press to transfer images or characters from one surface to another. She also does bookbinding.
After teaching screen printing for six years, Webb left college last spring to pursue his art full-time. Now she spends most of her days in the studio working on commercial projects, from wedding invitations to pieces for sale in markets around Denton and the DFW area.
The decision to fully commit to the business came as a surprise to Jalon Isabell, a 20-year-old graphic design student, who completed an internship at Webb in the summer of 2021.
The art of Syd Webb sits on a table in her studio on April 14, 2022. Lillian Vest
“She wants to make a living the way she wants to, so that was very inspiring,” Isabell said. “As a student, I was looking forward to seeing her in the fall [2021]but however I can support her, I have been.
As well as inspiring students, she also sets an example for other aspiring artists in the printmaking community, said former university printmaking professor Kazuko Goto, 52.
“We come from an educational background, so it’s great to give students hope,” Goto said. “Sometimes it’s hard to imagine the future with engraving and what you can do with it, but she uses it to the fullest.”
As a child, Webb was introduced to the printing business by her parents who owned a commercial printing business. She first considered a similar career path after being exposed to printmaking as an art form during her freshman year of college, she said.
At 4 Acre Press, Webb mainly deals with poster design, which she became familiar with during her graduate studies. In 2012, she completed an internship at the famous Nashville design boutique Hatch View Print where she started working with the largest format.
“When I got into graduate school and did this internship, I was like, ‘OK, this is my niche,'” Webb said. “A poster is a finished thing. You need to get your message across and it needs to be engaging and direct.
During the internship, she also faced impending parenthood as the birth of her daughter Willow approached.
“I was pregnant when I went to Hatch, so that was a really life-changing part of the experience,” Webb said. “I had to grow up a bit”
Early in her career, the artist focused on making a name for herself and finding work in galleries. Eventually, Webb said she realized she could make art and sell it in other ways.
A typography sits on a workbench inside 4 Acre Press on April 14, 2022. Lillian Vest
“It’s a different experience when someone buys a poster and takes it home compared to someone going to see art in a gallery,” Webb said. “I like the idea that someone is going to buy my poster and live with it.”
Ten years later, she’s focused on growing her business and creating a community resource for other artists who may not have access to their own equipment, Webb said. The move to Argyle allowed a greater population of people to access his studio.
“My dream would be to have regular students taking a course and wanting to come back and do their own thing,” Webb said. “It took me ten years to get all of this and not everyone can have space to put a giant press in their house.”
The featured image: Syd Webb poses in his studio on April 14, 2022. Photo by Lillian Vest