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Where art meets engineering: Interdisciplinary collaboration helps revive printing presses

Although engineering and printmaking seem to exist in entirely different worlds, an ongoing collaboration between the Chaddock + Morrow College of Fine Arts and the Russ College of Engineering and Technology is an example of those worlds colliding.

Sophia Rooksberry | May 7, 2025

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Thomas 鈥淛oey鈥 Boyle has been a technician at the Russ College for 11 years and has worked in tandem with the College of Fine Arts for many of those years. His involvement began with a request from Don Adleta, a current emeritus professor and the founder of the School of Art + Design鈥檚 typeshop.

鈥淭here was a piece missing from a printing press that he bought, and he needed someone to make that part,鈥 Boyle said. 鈥淚 developed a relationship with Don, I made the part he needed for this 1800s press that he had, and then Matt messaged me a couple months ago.鈥

Matthew Presutti is finishing up his first full year as OHIO faculty, serving as an assistant professor of instruction in the Printmaking and Graphic Design departments. Presutti鈥檚 responsibilities include instructing oil-based printmaking classes and managing the typeshop Adleta founded. However, the typeshop, as Adleta created it, looks a bit different as the college undergoes its facilities renewal strategy.

When the College of Fine Arts moved from Seigfred Hall to the Research and Technology Center (RTEC) as Seigfred undergoes renovations, the once expansive space which held Vandercook and Heidelberg presses, as well as bookbinding and letterpress equipment, was pared down to include only the essentials for the time being. Presutti referrers to this type of shop, located in the basement of RTEC, as a 鈥渃urricular typeshop.鈥

鈥淲e had to acquire a couple new presses,鈥 Presutti said. 鈥淥ne of the presses we bought was in pieces and we had to hire somebody to put it together. We found it in a warehouse in Cincinnati and it probably hadn鈥檛 been used in over 40 years and had been in pieces for a long time.鈥

Integral pieces of this press began to fall apart after a few months working and teaching with it, causing Presutti to call on Adleta鈥檚 old collaborator. 

Printmaking
Printmaking

鈥淭his was almost a disaster situation with how the press broke right before spring break, and luckily for us (Boyle) was able to fashion us a new part and have it fixed by the time the students came back after break鈥e鈥檙e pretty lucky to have that collaboration and interdepartmental relationship,鈥 Presutti said.

This relationship not only allows the School of Art + Design to function, but it also gives Boyle a chance to exercise creativity from an engineer鈥檚 perspective.

鈥淧eople need things repaired and fixed and reimagined in ways,鈥 Boyle said. 鈥淚 love working on this printing press because somebody is going to use it to make some cool stuff. Most of the work I do in the engineering school goes in the trash immediately, so this is a much more rewarding situation.鈥

On the other hand, Presutti enjoys the collaboration as it allows him to practice engineering from a creative鈥檚 perspective.

鈥淎rtists are makers, we鈥檙e fabricators in a lot of ways too,鈥 Presutti said. 鈥淵ou have to have the same skill sets in order to be able to make something that鈥檚 going to be structurally sound, that could be archival鈥ou need to understand how things go together and how things are engineered鈥e naturally can bond and get along with the way engineers think about putting things together, we just do it in a different way for different purposes.鈥

Presutti also appreciates more than these abstract benefits of the collaboration; he also sees immense value in what Boyle can provide the College of Fine Arts from a geographic and financial perspective.

鈥淭hey are simple machines, but they are relatively expensive, which makes it really difficult to find replacement parts,鈥 Presutti said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e in a rural place; it鈥檚 not like there鈥檚 machine shops on every corner鈥e just don鈥檛 have that kind of environment here, so these kinds of collaborations for us as artists are super important.鈥 

鈥淭his was almost a disaster situation with how the press broke right before spring break, and luckily for us (Boyle) was able to fashion us a new part and have it fixed by the time the students came back after break鈥e鈥檙e pretty lucky to have that collaboration and interdepartmental relationship,鈥 Presutti said.    This relationship not only allows the School of Art + Design to function, but it also gives Boyle a chance to exercise creativity from an engineer鈥檚 perspective.   鈥淧eople need things repaired an