Meet The Jims - Jim, JimE, and James our pressmen

JimE, James, and Jim
With our three windmills....
Add Graig and you've got our production/pressmen team!

Tell me a little bit about yourself:

James: I am mainly from the Sioux Falls area. I have lived in Rapid City, Fort Wayne (ID), Minneapolis (MN), and Honolulu (HI). I was born in San Antonio, Texas. I am married to Shanna (for 20 years) and have two kids- Jared is 13 and Leah is 11. Have been into the drums and guitar a little bit. We love to ride motorcycles. I love connecting with things that add to life, not things that take away from it.

JimE: Born and raised in Faulkton, SD. Started working in printing in 1966 in Aberdeen, SD. Moved to Sioux Falls in 1971 and have run letterpresses for about 40 years. I am married with two children and one granddaughter.

Jim: I'm the lead pressman at Spark, Valerie's husband and dad of two little girls. I consider myself the head guy only in terms of photopolymer letterpress printing, as I am lucky to be working with three other guys with lots of offset, digital, and finishing experience between them. Here is how I found myself here.

I grew up in the Twin Cities, mainly in the suburb of Roseville, with my parents, older brother and younger sister. At various times I wanted to be a astronaut, scientist, or Air Force pilot. One constant was that I always loved reading, figuring out how things worked (by taking them apart) and drawing. I figured that visual things are what I was best at so I ended up going for an art major, first at St. Olaf and then refining it to graphic design at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. After working my way into the conventional corporate design world, Valerie and I met and married and within a year began moving ourselves sideways from graphic design into the world of printing.

Upon deciding we should look into letterpress printing, I set about figuring out how it was actually done. It so happened we had found a practical application for my mechanical interests and my tendency to research and retain tons of obscure information, previously honed as a longtime music fan. With some luck and a lot of reading I was able to learn enough to keep up with our increasing business, and we were fortunate to step up to Heidelberg platen and cylinder presses and have some time to get up to speed with them.


What do you like about Spark:

James: I deeply appreciate being included into the "Spark family". We have come a long way in the past year and I am glad I could be a small part of it. :)

JimE: The friendly people and the good equipment makes work easy. Also the pride that everyone has in their jobs.

Jim: All my technical talk means nothing without the people behind the machines, and I'm fortunate to work with a great bunch of people, all of whom work hard at doing the best job possible. After various "mainstream" jobs one also especially appreciates a flexible, low-drama workplace, and Valerie and I are thankful for everyone's willingness to go along with us as we try out new ideas.



Favorite Spark design/task to do with your job:

James: Lucinda, Valerie, Passports are cool as is "Top Secret"

JimE: Working on many different jobs each day makes it hard to have a favorite one. I enjoy working on the presses and putting out jobs you can have pride in.

Jim: I enjoy being charged with the operation and maintenance of these old machines - they are from a golden age of pre-electronic engineering. They truly "don't make 'em like they used to." The precise machining and solidity of each part and the way they synchronize is fascinating. Having the freedom to be hands-on at any stage of the process is another high point of my work. Going back to wearing my prepress, platemaking or finishing "hats" helps keep me in touch with our whole process and how each stage affects the others.