During our visit to Nashville a while back, I went by the gallery/workshop of Hatch Show Prints. It’s next to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Hatch Show Prints is kinda the visual equivalent of country music. They’ve been around since 1875 and continue to put out 500-600 posters a year using pretty much the same technology as when they started.

The place looks like a museum but it’s a working print shop.

Hatch Show Prints Workshop

One of the best classes I took in public school was 9th grade Print Shop. We were taught to use much the same kinds of antique equipment still used here. Technology has a lot to do with style. Over the decades, Hatch’s mastery of hand carved wood block cuts and hand-set wood and foundry cast type has set the standard. Crisp, clean communication is made fun and intriguing by an imaginative use of type and graphic elements. Colors range from bright and garish to surprisingly sophisticated. The Hatch gallery and their vast catalog holds a dizzying variety of handbills and posters for everything from small local events to ads for major stars in country music, jazz, and blues. After almost 150 years, their craftsman are still creatively expanding the visual opportunities the technology provides.

Here’s some posters I picked up in their shop.

Maymester Fair, 2014, 14″x22″, Hatch Show Prints

Baja Burrito, 2014, 14″x22″, Hatch Show Prints

Father Ryan, 2014, 14″x22″, Hatch Show Prints

Wirtgen America, 2014, 14″x22″, Hatch Show Prints