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Steamroller printing in North Andover
Frank Romano
North Andover was host to the 6th Annual Printing Arts Fair at the Museum of Printing on Massachusetts Avenue. Over 500 people attended on Father’s Day to visit the 24 exhibitors, demonstrations of papermaking and printing, and a very special demonstration of printing by steamroller.
Andover residents carved creative letters in one-foot square linoleum tiles. Emily Trespas, Fran McCormick, Joan Ellis, Sarah Bardo, Jennie Cline, Katie Graber, Joanna Ho, and Sally Abugov of Andover, among others, then inked the tiles, placed paper over them, and 
Dan Abugov ran a steamroller provided by J.W.Watson Jr. Paving Company of Andover over them. The result was a 7-foot by 3-foot print, one of the largest ever printed.
Crowds cheered as the paper was lifted from the tiles. For over 550 years, printing was done with raised images, ink, and pressure in printing presses. Today, the letterpress craft is continued by hobbyists and artists, and the Museum of Printing is one of the last three museums that preserve this ancient art.
Photos by Gary Bemis.
Take a closer look at our steamroller print >
There’s a whole gallery of pictures of the Printing Arts Fair >
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