Hebrew Typecasting Pilot Program at Bixler Letterfoundry: Recap!

Shani Avni and Richard Kegler

Evening tour of The Bixler Press & Letterfoundry.

The pilot program for the Hebrew Type Intensive was launched in the last week of July 2023, at The Press and Letterfoundry of Michael and Winifred Bixler, Skaneateles, New York. A four-day hands-on workshop, it provided an in-depth experience of historical aspects of Jewish printing: type casting, typesetting, and letterpress printing. As this was the inaugural event, we were curious to see where this adventure would take us. One thing that was clear from very early on: it was about to be truly intensive, just as the title promised. [Read more]

About the Author

Shani Avni and Richard Kegler

Shani Avni is the Ismar David Assistant Curator in RIT Cary Graphic Arts Collection since 2020. She designs, researches, teaches, consults, writes and lectures on Hebrew type design and typography. Avni holds a BA in Graphic Design from Shenkar College, Israel, and an MA in Typeface Design from the University of Reading, UK. For her MA thesis she researched the David Hebrew typeface family and, since receiving her degree, continues to do so. In 2017, she was chosen for The Cary Research Fellowship, where David's work is archived. Her work in The Cary includes facilitating the access, arrangement, description, preservation, and enhancement of the Ismar David papers, as well as processing and researching the printing realia collection of historic Hebrew and Yiddish wood type. In addition to her focus on Hebrew typography, she holds various classes on the history and practice of Latin typography and type design using the Cary Collection's rare holdings.

Richard Kegler formed the independent digital type house—P22 Type Foundry in 1994 and after co-founding the not-for-profit Western New York Book Arts Center in Buffalo, New York, became the director of the Wells College Book Arts Center in Aurora, NY. Richard has spent his career combining an interest in traditional printing crafts with entrepreneurial initiatives. His current project Dry Inc. focuses on pre-digital letterpress printing technologies, typography, and new printing tool development. Kegler is the co-author and designer of several books on typography and the producer of the documentary film: Making Faces, Metal Type in the 21st Century.