ABOUt
MADELINE HELLAND is a Los Angeles based letterpress printer, bookbinder, and illustrator. She graduated from Scripps College in Claremont, CA where she received her BA in art conservation and studio art, with a concentration in book arts and digital design. Under the moniker Aviatrix Press, she releases artist books and zines featuring found ephemera and her illustrations.
When she’s not making her own work, Madeline works as a letterpress technician at Laboratory Press and an assistant at Studio Soprano. As an educator, she has taught bookbinding workshops at Otis College of Art & Design, the International Printing Museum, Hiromi Paper Inc., and Vroman’s Bookstore, in addition to various pop-ups at events across Los Angeles. She has also served on the board of Nova Community Arts since 2022.
Aviatrix Press
It all began with a leather pilot’s cap. This lumpy leather hat had materialized in my parent’s garage after years in storage. My dad fondly recalled wearing it as a kid, when he ran around the woods of Missouri with his siblings, pretending to be an adventuring pilot. After a series of lengthy phone calls with my grandparents, I learned about the origin of the hat and its owner. The hat belonged to my great great aunt, Urcela Wald, who had served as a WASP (Women’s Air Force Service Pilots) during WWII. Since she died fairly young and moved away from the rest of my family in the Midwest, she still remains something of a mystery. Ever since, I have grappled with the idea of this mysterious, powerful character of the aviatrix. The hat itself became an empowering object. The Aviatrix is simultaneously a real person and a fictitious character. Although Urcela Wald was real, my vision of the Aviatrix character is a highly idealized version of her that is based more in fact than fiction.
Aviatrix is a gendered term that is not diminutive or demeaning. Rather, it is symbolic of a strong, capable, feminine role connected to a legacy of empowered, independent women who commanded their own fate. This powerful, feminist origin is the foundation of Aviatrix Press.