I recently discovered this etching by Julie Mehretu on the Crown Point Press website, and I am overwhelmed by the beauty of all the little details. Mehretu has a gift for creating a cohesive image from millions of tiny parts. Having seen her work in person, I was delighted to study all the varied marks of her prints and drawings, and this print, called “The Residual,” fascinates me in the same way. The image was created using a variety of printmaking techniques: color sugar lift and spit bite aquatints, with hard ground etching, drypoint, and burnishing. I can only imagine the hours of work that went into creating this stunning piece.
printmaking
Print of the Week – Letterpress prints from Power and Light Press
Kyle Durrie is the proprietor of Power and Light Press, and an all around cool lady. Besides making these awesome letterpressed cards and prints, all of which make me chuckle, she also runs Movable Type, cross country adventures in printing. She’s the lady in charge of the Type Truck, a mobile print studio that she created by turning a 1982 Chevy step van into a fully functional letterpress print shop. Check her blog to see if she’s bringing her awesome mobile print shop to your area anytime soon*, it’s not to be missed.
*For those of you in Los Angeles, the Type Truck will be hosting an event at Poketo this Monday, October 29th called “Type or Treat!” It sounds like it’s going to be amazing: besides simply witnessing the art of letterpress printing via Moveable Type’s Letterpress truck, there will also be free limited-edition prints and Halloween masks using artwork from artists Kate Bingaman Burt, Michael Hsiung and Kim West. There is also talk of free donuts. RSVP here.
Print(shop) of the Week – YeeHaw Industries
The now defunct YeeHaw Industries was one of my all time favorite print studios. This duo of printers in Knoxville, Tennessee made amazing prints and posters, working entirely by hand using either hand carved blocks or hand set type. They created a wide range of work, from delightful posters honoring the greats of country music, to their stationery line, to a print (my personal favorite, which hangs over my press) which is best described as “A Printer’s Inside Joke.”
YeeHaw Press produced amazing work for 16 years. More than that, they were ambassadors to the world of printing, sharing detailed information about their processes, and opening up their studio for tours on a regular basis.
While the YeeHaw print shop is now closed, you can browse through their sold work on Etsy to get a sense of the range of work they once made.
Studio Tour – Pinball Publishing
I was lucky to get a small tour of the Pinball Publishing studios while I was in Portland a few weeks ago. They make tons of amazing work using both offset lithography and letterpress, including their famous Scout Books (my boyfriend loves the 33 Bottles of Beer Journal!)
I really admire this print shop, both for their awesome creative team, and their dedication to making awesome things in a sustainable way. A little about Pinball, in their own words:
Pinball is a Creative Publishing Company.
Our Portland, Oregon headquarters include an integrated printing plant, design studio, editorial offices, and a book manufacturing facility. Within its walls, we combine craft and ingenuity to produce results of the highest quality.
Fueled by a passion for ink, paper, and collaboration, Pinball powers a growing web of interconnected projects, including Scout Books, Print Pinball, and Bangback. With all of these endeavors, we use 100% recycled papers, vegetable-based inks, and renewable energy sources.
Even more awesome: they are super kind to animals! Some of the employees bring their pets to work, like this awesome pup who was acting as shop mascot the day I visited.
I have been dreaming about their insane ink storage area ever since my visit… can you imagine having so much ink?! I wish my studio was even a fraction as awesome as the one at Pinball.
*All photos borrowed from the Pinball Publishing website, except the final two photos, which are my own.
Print of the Week – Linotype: The Film
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/15032988 w=500&h=281]
For fans of printmaking, this may be old news (like, a year after it’s initial release old news…) but I thought it would still be fun to feature here. Linotype: The Film is a feature-length documentary about one of the coolest printing machines ever invented, and it’s about to be released to DVD and digital download (on October 16th!). The Linotype type casting machine was called the “Eighth Wonder of the World” by Thomas Edison, and it revolutionized printing and society. Watch the trailer above to see how this cool, old machine works!
Print of the Week – Etching by Tara Donovan
This print astounds me. Tara Donovan’s softly patterned etching was created using a ferric chloride solution (an etching corrosive), combined with liquid bubble soap. According to Greg Kucera gallery, which represents Donovan:
“[she] used a straw to blow air into this mixture, making different size bubbles that she carefully picked up with a plastic spoon and laid on the aquatinted plates. The bubbles were left on the plates until they popped or dissolved, allowing the ferric chloride to etch the surface of the plate.When Tara completed the process of applying bubbles to each plate, the acid residue and rosin were cleaned off the plate and then printed. The variety of dark to light bubble images was achieved by controlling the saturation of liquid in each bubble.”
Donovan’s process blows my mind, and I find the imagery to be very appealing as well. Learn more about her work at Pace Prints, or Greg Kucera Gallery.