Old North State
This letterpress print is handmade wall art. It is a 12”x18” letterpress poster. The text features “The Old North State” poem, the official North Carolina State Toast. The imagery is hand drawn botanical art, hand-drawn landscape art, and hand-lettered poetry.
North Carolina is the only of the fifty states to have an official State Toast. "The Old North State," both the title of the poem, and our traditional nickname was written and first delivered by Mrs. Leonora Monteiro in 1904. It is not and never was affiliated with the Confederate States of America, having been written more than 40 years after Appomattox. It was officially adopted as The State Toast by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1957. The text "Esse Quam Videri" is at the bottom of the print. This is the North Carolina State Motto. It translates roughly as "to [authentically] be not merely to appear," or put more simply, the distinction between essence and appearance.
This poem mentions native plants of North Carolina: longleaf pine, cotton bloom, scuppernong, southern moss, jessamine, galax, rhododendron. It mentions Mount Mitchell, the highest Appalachian peak - located just Northwest of Asheville in Pisgah National Forest. All of these are represented in the hand-drawn botanical art surrounding the poem.
This print has a tactile texture from the letterpress impression on cotton paper. It is suitable for framing and makes great wall art. Fits any standard 12"x18" frame.
The Cotton Blossom Press home studio is located in the mountains of Western North Carolina. This print was inspired by the joy of living in Appalachia and appreciation of all the life that flourishes here.
PRINT: Letterpress
PAPER: 100% cotton Crane Lettra
PAPER SIZE: 18” x 12” | 46cm x 30cm
EDITION SIZE: Signed and unnumbered open edition
Printed by hand using original artwork and traditional printmaking techniques in Hendersonville, NC
Owing to the traditional handcrafted printmaking processes used, each print is unique and will exhibit some subtle variations.
