Flood

Description

Flood was designed, cut, written, and printed in February of 2012. The poster is part of the Myth/Mystery series, funded by the Tacoma Arts Commission. The poster was also created to commemorate the 120th anniversary of Trinity Presbyterian Church.

Backstory: This was a nightmare of a print job. The image on the poster was cut from chipboard (the thin cardboard that cereal boxes are made from). As the image became more and more soaked in ink during the printing process, the chipboard began to fall apart. In some of the later prints, there are no longer any panes in the windows. In addition, the type was set in a wave shape by bending the leading (the lead strips that separate rows of type). For some reason, this caused some of the letters—particularly n’s and e’s—to get crushed by the printing press.

The words on the poster read:

If the water jars of heaven tip and overfill Commencement Bay
and the oily waters of the Thea Foss overflow the waterway,
then I choose this sturdy vessel to ride the flooding waves.
Come in saints. Come in sinners. Shut the door and sit together.
Let’s run the gates until the flooding waters fall away.
We’ll come and rest upon this hilltop for one thousand thousand days.