Hundreds of antique printing blocks are stored among vintage letterpress printers inside a one-story shop in Ayden, where an East Carolina University faculty member applies a 15th-century commercial printing process to create works of art.

His most recent project — 500 letterpress prints to commemorate the decommission and retirement of the USS Enterprise — was delivered on Dec. 18 to U.S. Navy officers, members of the U.S. Congress and President Barack Obama.

Craig Malmrose, a professor in the ECU School of Art and Design, spent two-and-a-half months working on the Enterprise project, initiated through a request by a former student who now works for the company that built the ship in 1961. The Enterprise was the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

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