Dynamic Demos

Ink made from crushed beetles. Shepard Fairey's secret weapon. Screenprints that look like paintings. Cold wax and oil paint "develop" a screenprint like a photograph. These techniques were revealed at Pyramid Atlantic's 2012 Book Arts Fair. Denise Bookwalter of Small Craft Advisory Press whipped up a cochineal concoction on a hotplate, and showed a variety of other naturally made screenprinted inks in her sampler book (top). Rubylith—an obsolete material in graphic arts—is front and center in Rebecca Katz's work. She showed her unique method and shared her sources for finding the stuff. (center, photo by Lisa Helfert.) Resident artist Allison Bianco's prints are a mix of traditional flat screenprinting and her "painterly flats"— a mono print method of applying ink. (above, left). And finally, Dennis O'Neil treated viewers to a collection of prints from his Handprint Workshop International, demonstrating that the screenprint medium is flexible, sculptural and truly dynamic.

SHOWTIME!

Resident screenprinter and Book Arts Fair demonstrator Allison Bianco on Fox5.

Helen Baribeau and Micah Beard print "Bite Me" pages.

Our Book Arts Fair is almost upon us. The studio has been buzzing with projects that will be sold, including a screen printed recipe book called "Bite Me" which features Bite Me First savory appetizers and Bite Me Later main courses. Each recipe was submitted and illustrated by a volunteer. Then, each page was screenprinted on various colors of Canson or Rives papers. The covers were foil embossed  and the section pages were blind embossed. Finally, the books were handbound and numbered on the handset letterpress colophon.

Bite Me books are $35.

The biggest excitement came on Wednesday with Fox5's Holly Morris and her TV crew which aired 3 segments advertising the fair, including a peak at Allison Bianco's screenprint demonstration, "Painterly Screenprinted Flats".

Hope to see you at the Book Arts Fair!

Pyramid Atlantic Book Arts Fair

Nov. 16-18, 2012

Postcard from Pepe

Dominican born Pepe Coronado discovered screenprinting at a "funky T-shirt shop". He had moved to Austin, Texas after meeting his wife Julie, an exchange student at the University of Santo Domingo. He soon found Sam Coronado (no relation) and The Serie Project: "a workshop where underrepresented artists benefit from collaboration and the serigraphy (screen printing) technique." Pepe was hooked. He went on to get his certificate in drawing at the Corcoran in DC, followed by his MFA at MICA. In 2004, he helped set up the digital lab and screenprinting studio at Pyramid's new Silver Spring studio. Sadly for us, Julie got a great job in New York, and the Coronado family headed north. But luckily for Pepe, they located in Hastings-on-Hudson, near the Dominican community. He set up his basement studio, and formed a collective of Dominican artists. This blogger visited Pepe in May to check things out.

Scherezade García

SS: Tell us about your Dominican printmaking collective. 

PC: I founded Dominican York Proyecto GRAFICA (DYPG) in 2010 after moving to New York and connecting with the Dominican community there. It is a printmaking collective of artists of Dominican descent. Our mission is to advance the state of contemporary Dominican-American arts through a rich and varied collaboration, creating prints using a variety of techniques from the traditional to the latest and most innovative, and to broaden the public’s knowledge of the Dominican-American culture through exhibitions, lectures, and workshops.

SS: Who are the screenprinters in your group?

PC: We have Alex Guerrero who is very experienced in the medium, and collaborating with many of the artists in the group. Reynaldo Garcia Pantaleon and the Garcias sisters Scherezade and Iliana that have made their own screenprints for the project.

SS: Who are some NY screenprint artists that you have discovered?

PC: I’m finding many great artists to work with, some have printed before and some are somewhat new to the process. I’m currently collaborating with Carlos Jesus Martinez Dominguez,

Carlos is a graffiti influenced visual artist, he draws inspiration from hip hop and the culture of his Dominican hood, Washington Heights. Also heavily influenced by comic art, political, social and religious issues, he mixes these topics as he mixes media in the works he creates.

SS: Do you have any good studio tips to pass along? We are always interested in troubleshooting.

PC: I’m using Jacquard screen printing inks, really like them so far, good pigments and the best part is they are odorless.  I’m impressed with the work created in smaller spaces in New York, look at my friend Alex Guerrero’s print table/studio, which is an exposure unit too, (lights not pictured).

SS: Thanks for the interview, and look forward to seeing you and your work in November.

_______________
Coronado Print Studio
Pepe Coronado
See Pepe's prints at the Pyramid Atlantic Book Arts Fair
Nov. 16-18, 2012

Sweet Stuff at Hemphill

A must-see screenprinted master work is now on view at Hemphill Fine Arts in downtown D.C. Conceived by art heavyweight William Christenberry and printed by Corcoran's masterprinter Dennis O'Neill, the print demonstrates the versatility of our medium. Alabama Wall is formed by a grid of 32 mini-prints, each a unique interpretation of Christenberry's trademark "Tops" snuff advertisements. O'Neill's genius lies in his processes. Experimentation within each image, along with the dustings of coffee and micro-beads on to wet ink, propels the print to magnificent.

        

Dennis O'Neill

Dennis lives, breathes and talks screenprinting: "The screenprint has long been associated with its commercial cousin for making imagery that is bold and graphic, flat and hard edged. When screenprinting began to switch from solvent based to water-based technology over two decades its very nature began to change and expand as well.The screenprint today is a chameleon, borrowing freely from sculpture, painting and digital imagery, to name just a few of its influences. It has a capacity to adapt and alter as well as replicate everything it sees and touches."

Alabama Wall, detail. Granular additions evoke the impression of rust.

See the print, discover the secrets!

_______________________

William Christenberry
Assembled Memory
Hemphill Fine Arts
September 8 – October 27, 2012Hemphill Fine Arts
1515 14th Street
Washington, DC

Dennis O'Neill
presents his unique screenprint processes at the
Pyramid Atlantic Book Arts Fair
Sunday, Nov. 18th, 2:00 - 2:45 pm
Pyramid Atlantic Art Center
8230 Georgia Ave.
Silver Spring, MD

Another Akman Achievement

The finished print.

Screenprint regular and art gym member Allan Akman has completed another one of his signature labor intensive prints; D.C. Blossoms. Allan keeps close tabs on his process, but is reluctant to state the number of colors, "because I re-printed some plates to change colors for shadows .... I didn't count reprints as additional colors in the plate counts."

Allan at work in the studio.

Hair splitting aside, word has it the count was somewhere between 30 and 38, including at least one split fountain, creating the gorgeous pastel sky gradation. Congratulations, Allan, and we look forward to the next masterpiece.

New T-shirt Printing Wheel

Jose Dominguez surveying Pyramid's newest resident.

Former intern Will Thomas has donated a 4-color t-shirt printing wheel to the screenprinting studio. The "Vidar" tabletop needs some elbow grease and TLC. A quick Google search shows this brand is no longer manufactured, so creativity is key. Any tinkerers  ready to get this gizmo going? We've got lots of t-shirt printers in the Society!

Aesthetic Apparatus at Play

Along the back wall of the Graphic Design: Now in Production show on Governors Island, NY, hangs a cascading array of glorious screened posters from the graphic design duo Aesthetic Apparatus.

Poster detail.

"Often considered Minneapolis' best totally unknown design super team, Aesthetic Apparatus was founded around 1999 in Madison, Wisconsin by Dan Ibarra and Michael Byzewski as a fun side project from their "real" jobs. Over the years their limited edition, screen printed concert posters have secretly snuck into the hearts and minds of a small, rather silent group of socially awkward music and design nerds."

Their genius idea: recycle and print on top of "make readies" (test prints). Not only a nod to green graphic design, their simple concept opens up our sometimes painstaking process to random juxtapositions. Give it a go, and see what happens!

Poster by Aesthetic Apparatus

________________________________
Graphic Design— Now in Production

On View: Saturday, May 26, 2012 to Monday, September 3, 2012

Open weekends and holiday Mondays, 10am to 6pm
Building 110, Governors Island, New York.
Free Admission.