Who we are
Expedition Press is run by artist Myrna Keliher and a lot of other people are involved, from international residencies to late-night packaging and pizza delivery by dear neighbors. Our work is supported by a lively cadre of artists, authors, binders, clients, engineers, family, friends, interns, local businesses, poets, and printers for whom we are deeply grateful.
About Myrna
Myrna Keliher is an artist, typographer, editor and printer who lives and works in Kingston WA. She owns and operates Expedition Press, a letterpress printshop focused on poetry and type. Myrna studied literature and printing at the Evergreen State College and later apprenticed with Stern & Faye, Printers. She is passionate about language, spacing, letters, teaching, and getting people to read poetry. She volunteers for Letterpress Workers International and Letterpress United. Off press, she loves to hike in the Olympic Mountains and co-founded Wild Society, a wilderness education nonprofit.
Here are some interviews and articles about her work:
- Meet Myrna Keliher: Q&A with the artist, The On Being Project, Dec 2020
- Finding Wonder and Belonging in Nature and Poetry, Wreck Your Perfection podcast with Rachelle LaNae, Dec 2019
- The Economy of Language by Zoe Branch, South Sound Business Journal, Oct 2019
- Where Printed Words Transcend Time and Communicate What Can't Be Said by Dahr Jamail, Truth Out, May 2018
- "I think of them as propaganda for poets" by Paul Constant, Seattle Review of Books, Apr 2018
- Seattle Publisher and Printmaker Puts Her Diaries on Display by Rich Smith, The Stranger, Jun 2017
And organizations she's active with:
About Mabel
Mabel came to the shop with no previous experience but has grown quickly and adjusted well. She arrived in spring 2021 after a close shave with death at 8 weeks old and was rescued and revived by the wonderful folks at Saving Our Companion Animals in Fort Bend County, Texas. It's hard to imagine life without her.
Mabel sleeps a lot and knows to stay in her bed when the presses are running. For the most part she lays low, but lets Myrna know when it's time to take a break — be it lunch, a short excursion to the ball park, or her favorite, a beach walk at low tide. Mabel loves people and is working hard on polite greetings at the shop door. Friends and new folks alike are terribly exciting. She loves sticks, poop, and prizes the orange ball, especially when thrown by a blue stick. She's darn good with a frisbee too.
While sand drifts collect under the type cabinets from all she tracks in, her sweet face constantly reminds that there's more to life than work.
