Contacting Wallflowers Press
Your comments about our website and questions about our products are very welcome. If you're interested in visiting our studio or taking a workshop, you'll find Newark, Delaware is conveniently located just off I-95 and about 20 minutes from Wilmington's Amtrak station. We encourage you to include us in your planning if you're interested in commissioning some TypeArt or if you just want to explore a make-us-an-offer project. Also be sure to drop us a line if you have a suggestion for new flower subjects for our silkscreen prints.
Both Jill and Ray have produced a variety of graphic design and advertising projects, as well as conducted workshops for non-profit organizations, including The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp; The Black Family Reunion of Newark, DE; American Heart Association; American Lung Association; A.I. Dupont Children’s Hospital, Hagley Museum and Library, and Winterthur Museum and Gardens among others.
Jill Cypher
Jill holds an MFA degree in Advertising Design from Louisiana Tech University. She was the graphic designer for the University of Delaware Publications Office from 1978 to 1984.
Then opening her own advertising and graphic design business, Jill operated Cypher + Nichols + Design through 1999. Some C+N+D clients included Esquire Magazine, Winterthur Museum, Hagley Museum & Library, Direct Radiography, Alanx Products, Omega Medical Center, and Delaware Manufacturing Alliance among others. The firm’s work received numerous awards from the Advertising Club of Delaware, Print, Graphis, CASE, and the University and College Designers Association.
Jill served as president of the Advertising Club of Delaware as well as several terms on its Board of Directors. She was a cofounder of Raven Press at the University of Delaware with interests in letterpress printing, paste paper designs and bookmaking. She is currently president of Wallflowers Press, a letterpress studio, producing creative design work, cards, posters, etc. related to flowers.
On the side, Jill is an avid gardener which is at least half of the reason for the existence of Wallflowers Press.
Ray Nichols
Ray holds an MFA degree in Advertising Design from Louisiana Tech University. He was coordinator of Visual Communications at the University of Delaware from 1978 to 2005 where he helped lead the program to an international reputation. His own design work has been honored in juried exhibitions by the Art Directors Club of New York, The One Club for Art & Copy, University and College Designers Association, along with inclusion in annuals by major design organizations such as Print Magazine and Graphis Posters. His graduates are regularly included in design and advertising competitions including the One Club for Art and Copy, D&AD (London), Art Directors Club of New York, Communication Arts, and Graphis.
As a co-director of Visual Communications, Ray fell in love with letterpress printing. He was the co-founder of Raven Press at the University of Delaware (letterpress studio).He holds memberships in the American Printing History Association, Fine Press Book Association, and the William Morris Society.
Ray was also a professor in the Center for Material Culture Studies where he designed and maintained their website and won numerous awards for the recruiting and publishing materials he helped produce. Through CMCS he has overseen the production of two books on the history of the New London Road Community (an African American Community in Newark, DE), including a cookbook. Ray is a past president of the Advertising Club of Delaware and has led five study abroad trips to London, UK for students in the Visual Communications program.
During the summer of 2006 Ray announced his retirement after 32 years at the University of Delaware.
Memberships
Amalgamated Printers' Association (APA) | website
American Printing History Association (APHA) | website
Ray is Vice President of the Chesapeake Chapter and Chair of the Program Committee.
Jill serves on the Chesapeake Chapter's Program Committee.
Fine Press Book Association | website
William Morris Society | website
Delaware Bibliophiles