The Wells Book Arts Center is pleased to announce the selection of our 11th Victor Hammer Fellow: Leah Mackin. The Victor Hammer Fellowship was established in 1998 and honors Victor Hammer, who taught at Wells in the 1940’s. An internationally known and respected printer, book designer, artist and typographer, Hammer is perhaps best known for designing the  typeface American Uncial. The two-year Hammer Fellowship brings emerging book artists to Wells to teach, help in the various projects of the Book Arts Center, and develop their art.

Leah Mackin is a visual artist who explores themes of reflection, response, and re-creation. After years preserving archival materials as a conservation technician, Mackin utilizes the methods of library documentation and the aesthetics of research in her practice. She has received a number of awards, scholarships and honors, including an Archives Research Travel Fund grant from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation (New York, NY), both a Fall Residency Award and a LeRoy Neiman Scholarship to attend the Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists’ Residency (Saugatuck, MI), an Artist’s Book Residency Grant at the Women’s Studio Workshop (Rosendale, NY), and a solo show award as a Finalist in the The Print Center’s 90th Annual Competition (Philadelphia, PA). Mackin holds an MFA in Studio Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA in Printmaking and Book Arts from The University of the Arts.