Works from Nashville’s iconic Hatch Show Print arrive in Baton Rouge

SEE THE EXHIBIT

“Carved & Crafted: The Art of Letterpress” will be on display at LSU Museum of Art from June 12 to Sept. 21. Find more info at lsumoa.org.

You can hardly go anywhere in Nashville without seeing a Hatch Show Print poster.

The historic letterpress shop’s name is synonymous with the city’s music and arts culture. It has created thousands of handmade posters for the likes of Elvis Presley, Beyoncé and Johnny Cash.

But soon, you won’t have to travel to Tennessee to see them. Works from the historic shop and artists like Jim Sherraden and Jon Langford, who are keeping its legacy alive, will be on display at the LSU Museum of Art’s “Carved & Crafted: The Art of Letterpress” exhibit starting June 12.

Created by the Hatch brothers in the 1800s and later passing through the hands of several different owners, the shop is now owned by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

Over the decades, it has maintained a reputation of creative excellence and adherence to tradition. It’s known for its distinct typography and bold designs, pressed onto paper using wooden blocks, movable type and printing presses.

Today, it receives over 600 poster commissions per year, many of them from musicians.

“Hatch was very iconic for their style,” says LSU MOA Chief Curator Michelle Schulte. “They were combining text with these fancy and fun drawings that they were making through the wood blocks, and their style just really set them apart from everybody else.”

But by the ’80s, the traditional handmade print shop was confronted with evolving technologies and was in need of modernization. It found it with Sherraden, an apprentice at the time, who experimented with archived print blocks and new techniques.

“He was really part of the revitalization,” Schulte explains. “He decides, ‘Well, I’m going to start making art on my own … so I can give these ancient blocks a new context in a contemporary time.’”

Sherraden created a process of cutting up prints and piecing them together in quilt-like patterns. His intricate works, including his more recent collaborations with artist and musician Langford, will be on display at the “Carved & Crafted” exhibit.

“The show is really about how Hatch has inspired Jim Sherraden,” Schulte says. “But it’s also this beautiful story of this print shop that has just endured.”

Expect a variety of original works on display, from archival pieces like 1920s tour posters commissioned by Hank Williams to more current pieces like a Raising Cane’s poster.

While the exhibit will feature the art and history that have defined the print shop, visitors can also learn the detailed process of making the prints.

“I’d like for visitors to have an appreciation of the handmade,” Schulte says. “I’d love for people to see the handmade quality and that adherence to tradition that the Hatch brothers started.”

This article was originally published in the June 2025 issue of 225 Magazine.