It's all in the Details

Shepard Fairey, Station to Station 1, Silkscreen and mixed media collage

Station to Station, detail

"Recent Editions", the current collection now on view at Pace Prints in the gallery-centric Chelsea neighborhood of New York includes three intricate large scale screen prints. The favorite of this blogger is bad boy, erstwhile graffiti artist Shepard Fairey, who deftly demonstrates his design chops and craftsmanship. His prints are layered with newspapers, icons, ephemera and ticket imagery, and then topped with his trademark red and black screen printing. While his Obama Hope poster is his most controversial and famous work, he shows to be a versatile and extraordinary printmaker.

Ryan McGinness, Dark Energy, Silkscreen

Dark Energy, detail

Ryan McGinness's spyrograph-inspired Dark Energy is certainly energetic, but definitely not dark. The extra large work (60" x 40") is a feat of precision and stitching—a kaleidoscope of multicolored whorled spirals and flourishes. We can't help wondering how many different screens were burned and pulls necessary to make this colossal work.

Kenny Scharf, FaceFacts yellow #1, Silkscreen with cast paper, hand-painting and Swarovski crystal

FaceFacts, detail

And finally, Kenny Scharf's buoyant piece— complete with 3D goofy kitsch—follows suit. His large print is replete with layered details of iconography of the 50s and 60s. A nice list of printmaking methods is included on Pace's website.

____________________________

PACE PRINTS

521 W. 26th Street

New York, NY

paceprints.com

Animal Sightings

"Ting", excavated screenprint by Rebecca Katz

Our Screenprint Associate Becca Katz will be having her first solo exhibition in Baltimore this month. She says of the theme: "The world would be a kinder place if people had more respect for the animals with whom we share this earth. I want my artwork to convey thier capacity for intelligence and a full range of emotions and complex experiences."

Becca has been busy in the studio experimenting with new techniques, which she describes this way: "Remember "scratchboards", which entailed scraping black paint to reveal crayon colors beneath? I recently learned a similar concept—applying many layers of ink to paper coated with clear base, and then sanding the top layers to reveal the colors below. The final images are screened on the top layer. The result is a print that resembles a painting more than the flat graphic look associated with screen printing. I find this excavation process to be liberating because you don't know what you are going to get—so there's less pressure to aim for a specific result.

I am very excited for my first solo show which  resulted from participating in School 33 Art Center's Lotta Art fundraiser. Each year three artists from the event are selected to have a solo exhibit. It is also a fun evening—lottery style—every ticket holder goes home with a work of art. I have been lucky to work with Exhibitions Coordinator Rene Trevino who is also a terrific artist and screen printer." 

Congratulations, Becca! And thanks for your tireless service to Pyramid Atlantic by sharing your artistic wisdom at Screenprint Society.

Becca (center) and friends at the opening

_________

Animal Sightings
Screen Prints by Rebecca Katz

School 33 Art Center

January 17 - March 8, 2014

Opening Reception: January 17, 6-9 pm

1427 Light Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21230
443.263.4350 

Laura's Aurora

The eery green ink changes color with the light and paper angle.

It's holiday card season in the screen print studio, when special treatments such as metallics, sparkly paper and that extra something are called for. When Laura Kinneberg was commissioned to design and print a greeting card featuring the aurora borealis, she knew she wanted to capture its iridescence. Enter Interference, a special paint by Golden, whose website states: Interference acrylic colors offer a unique "interference flip." When viewed from different perspectives, the colors flip between a bright opalescent color and its complement. Laura adds "It works best on dark paper." The pigment must be mixed with, what else? Golden's silkscreen medium, which can also be the vehicle for other paints when the regular line of screen print colors does not fit the bill. We know the client will be thrilled with Laura's beautiful and unique card.

Golden's "Interference" + silkscreen medium produces magical effects

Laura Kinneberg

Denbo Debut

Torukpa Agbegha describes her process on Oct. 30

In October, Pyramid Atlantic rolled out the Denbo Fellowship Program, a new artistic scholarship founded by Beverly Denbo. Artistic director Gretchen Schermerhorn tailored the program for artists seeking to branch out into a new discipline by offering instruction as part of the package. Furthermore, "this one month fellowship is shorter than our 3 month residencies, appealing to people who may not be able to make that time commitment."

Textile artist and self-proclaimed "doodler" Torukpa Agbegha began the program with a bang in the screenprint studio. She applied herself completely to transforming her drawings and collages with screenprinting. We love the energy and inventiveness of her work, and look forward to seeing more of her in the studio.

Gretchen Schermerhorn and one of Torukpa's pieces.

Denbo Fellowship Program

The Denbo Fellowship is designed to offer artists, from a range of artistic disciplines, an environment conducive to individual and collaborative creative practice. This Fellowship provides a unique opportunity to complete a new body of work at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center.

Selected artists will receive:

• Up to one month of access to a state-of-the-art printshop, paper studio or bindery (specify amount of time & studio(s) needed in application)
• Key to studios and 24 hour access
• Ten hours of one-on-one technical assistance or one workshop
• Storage space and flat file for tools and materials
• Use of standard shop supplies
• $500 stipend to be used for travel, housing, materials, etc.

Technically Terrific

"C&O Canal"

"Caught (Bad Romance)"

Mike Hagan

Just 2 more days to see "Tessalations, Tentacles and Tattoo", Mike Hagan's excellently reviewed show at Washington Printmakers Gallery. Mike devotes himself exclusively to screenprinting his often Japanese-inspired intricate prints. If you love dead-on registration, don't miss this!

Show closes Sunday, October 27.

Washington Printmakers Gallery
8230 Georgia Ave.
Silver Spring, MD

301-273-3660

Re-fuel at Re-Strike

Althea Murphy-Price demonstrates a screenprinted watercolor mono print 

Chelsea Blackman (right), printing her coaster design.

The screen print studio was center stage at Pyramid's print symposium Re-Strike/Re-purpose. Althea Murphy-Price wowed the crowd with an array of applying and drawing methods using water based paint, crayons and charcoal. All produced distinctly non "screen print" results. The event concluded with cold beers and interactive coaster creation by graphic designer Chelsea Blackman.

Re-Purpose, Re-Strike