Worth Keeping

The Key to the End and Professor began with giant wooden letters imported from Italy. Once, they printed massive posters. Then time divided the set, and technology moved on without them.

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By the time they reached me, the type was warped, scratched, and dinged — exactly what I look for. Wear like that means someone stood at a press and used these letters again and again.

© Sarah Z Short, 2026, The Professor

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I printed the collage papers with these letters. The shapes they left behind became the ground for everything that followed.

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More history was added with a letter — its signature still faintly visible — and words from a book page, worn to near-abstraction.

© Sarah Z Short, 2026, The Key to the End

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All these materials were worth keeping, weren't they?

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Both pieces have sold. More current work is available here.