Screenprint, Naturally.

Screenprint Society regular Mary Ott has a new show of screenprints and etchings at the Touchstone Gallery, on view through May 1. Mary often arrives at Pyramid Atlantic with her portfolio bursting with dried ornamental grasses, which she transfers to her screens by placing them directly on the exposure unit. At left, Mary washes out her image.

Mary at work at Pyramid, with 

guests looking on. Above: Grass Bouquet VI, etching and screenprint

Grasses by Mary D. Ott on view through Sunday at Touchstone Gallery, 901 New York Ave. NW. Gallery hours are Wednesday-Thursday 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Friday 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday noon-5 p.m. Visit www.touchstonegallery.com or call 202-347-2787. Read the Washington Post review of Mary's show. Congratulations, Mary!

Along Came Johnny

Screenprint Society has become so popular lately that we were forced to require reservations. And so we didn't immediately recognize the name Johnny Carrera of Quercus Press, Waltham, Mass. Johnny, who arrived at SS on April 7, is the tour de force behind the glorious, immense volume of wood engravings and copper electrotypes Pictorial Webster's. Not merely a compendium, the images are grouped in subtle and synchronous ways. And that was just the beginning. He went on to create and print limited edition handbound books. Fortuntately there is also a mass produced version from Chronicle Books for smaller pockets. Peek in to his amazing process here.

"I believe a person instinctively tries to find the connection between things when they are grouped together, and so when confronted by combinations of two or more images the mind looks for a link to give their grouping meaning." 

Last night Johnny screenprinted his first shirt with one of his trademark couplets: the similar swords of the Kingfisher and the Unicorn. We look forward to more collaboration from the collection!

PULLED

New from favorite publisher Princeton Architectural Press: 

PULLED: A Catalog of Screen Printing. The fresh design 

of the book and inspiring examples of contemporary 

screenprinting make this a must have for the studio. 

Maybe we'll take up a collection.

 

3 Color Circus

A huge turnout kept Rebecca, Marty and Grant Dickie at their color stations for the entire 3 hours of the open house. The demo circus print generated lots of enthusiasm and queues to pull the 3 plates in succession, creating the magic of a finished piece of art.

Special shout out to board member Michael Pollack who rolled up his sleeves and dove in to help with the yellow plate, and Jose Dominguez for the great publicity. It was a fantastic and fun event.

< Marty, manning the red plate

A crowd of partygoers circled around the screenprinting demo. Especially rewarding was seeing the children proudly admiring their finished prints. Becca on board, helping the littlest screenprinter get her hands on a squeegee.

Screen in the Clowns

Our circus themed poster demo is at the ready for today's open

house and birthday party. Stop on by to pull your own 3 color 

circus poster. There will also be cake, a raffle, letterpressed birthday 

card sets and other demos.

Pyramid Atlantic Birthday Party
2-5 PM
Juried Member's Exhibition

Artist Reception

3-4 PM

Saturday, April 9, 2011

8230 Georgia Ave
Silver Spring MD 20910

Screenprint Society in the Gazette

Our own Becca Katz was quoted at length in the 4/6/11 Gazette Article "30 and Thriving" about Pyramid Atlantic's 30 Birthday Open House. Go Becca! And hey, isn't that SS regular Allan Akman in the photo?

Like Schermerhorn and Dominguez, screenprint associate Rebecca Katz feels Pyramid's connections to the community is the reason it has thrived.

"I think that other print shops that I've seen also have a lot of spirit to them, but are maybe more focused on advancing the people who are already artists or already printmakers, whereas Pyramid Atlantic is also more for exploration," Katz says.

Katz's function is to provide instruction for both beginning and advanced printmakers. She and fellow screenprint associate Marty Ittner also offer "Screenprint Society," an open studio on the first and third Thursday of every month. During Saturday's open house, she and Ittner will give three-color demonstrations of a print Ittner designed. After graduating from Duke University in 1994, Katz moved to New York City, when she was introduced to printmaking in a class. She proceeded to earn a master's degree in printmaking from the California School of the Arts in Oakland in 2004 before moving to Maryland three years later.

"I just the love the process, and screenprinting has a painterly aspect to it anyway, so I started with etching," she says. A Baltimore native, Katz moved back to the East Coast to be closer to her family. Pyramid Atlantic seemed to be the perfect match for her talents. "There's a real need for Pyramid Atlantic in this area of the Maryland-D.C. corridor," Katz says. "There's nothing really like it. Over in the Baltimore area, there are some facilities, but there's nothing like Pyramid Atlantic. If it weren't here for example, I don't know where I would be making art."— The Gazette, 4/6/2011

New Table Tops

Today we realized a long held vision of pristine tabletops for our screenprint tables. Becca, Marty and the invaluable LaGarrette spent most of Saturday, sanding, gluing and installing the white laminate on the tables. We hope it is the beginning of a more professional and cleaner workspace.