The Fifth Annual Craft Lake City LetterWest

As the only hand lettering conference in North America, LetterWest is both a celebration and a community event for artists working in lettering. Photo: Roberto Valdez

Image: Ben Trentelman, Brent Landes, Diego Andino, Ethan Clewell, Gilbert Cisneros, Lily Rutherford, Logan Sorenson, Roberto Valdez

Events

As the only hand lettering conference in North America, LetterWest is both a celebration and a community event for artists working in lettering ― calligraphers, tattoo artists, muralists, graphic designers and more! This year was the Fifth Annual Craft Lake City LetterWest, and it was a wonderful weekend of workshops, keynotes, pop-ups and more.

The conference lasted from the evening of April 9 to April 11, taking attendees around the Midvale Main Arts & Culture District. This year’s conference featured presenters Jessica Hische, Noel B. Weber, Aaron Draplin, Austin Namba, Letter Queen and Jessi Nucifora: artists specialized in various niches of hand-lettering such as gold leaf glass work, calligraphy, linocut, tattooing and graphic design.

The conference kicked off with a meetup at Old Towne Tavern, hosted by muralist The Letter Mermaid. The next day saw a sticker swap at Cactus & Tropicals hosted by Melissa Esplin. Workshops took place at The Pearl on Main, with Letter Queen teaching the “History of Script in Print” and Jessi Nucifora presenting “Traditional Tattoo Lettering.” The afternoon’s panel was moderated by Jordyn Gleason at the Midvale Performing Arts Center.

Each night ended with an open draw for attendees, hosted by Frances Gocuan and Christy Town, and the conference also held an open-to-the-public LetterWest lounge presented by COPIC, with free Tres Gatos Coffee and pop-up shops where attendees and visitors alike could relax and mingle throughout the weekend.

April 11 brought the next batch of workshops, with Aaron Draplin speaking on “Action, Affirmation and Awesomeness” and Austin Namba teaching “Intro to Sign Painting.” A food-truck-filled lunch break fueled the attendees before the next workshops: “Linocut Lettering” with Jessica Hische and Noel B. Weber’s “Sketch to Sign.” Aaron Draplin was the keynote speaker for the afternoon before the conference ended with the LetterWest After Party at Lucid Tattoo, complete with food, drinks, flash tattoos and high spirits of celebration.

Yet another successful LetterWest, and it couldn’t have happened without the Midvale Arts Council, Paper Ink & Arts, One App, The Pearl on Main, Lucid Tattoo, COPIC, Tres Gatos Coffee, Utah Shirt Company, KUER NPR Utah, PBS Utah, Avanza, Letterform Archive, Graphic Artists Guild, Bohemian Brewery, Paper Whisper and more. We’re already looking forward to next year! Follow @letter_west on Instagram to stay in the loop, and learn more at craftlakecity.com.