Demonstrations and Print Events
Demonstrations/Print Events
For more information about the Demonstrations and Print events that will take place at MAPC 2024 please see the demonstrations descriptions below.
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1. Everything is Ink: Screen Printing with Organic Elements
Demonstrator(s):Al-Qawi Nanavati
Assistant(s): Heather Steckler
Al-Qawi Nanavati will show the viewer how to screen print using materials such as flowers, fabric, leaves and threads. The process of soaking and pulping will be explained and viewers will get a chance to try the process themselves.
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2. Coco Litho A Go Go!
Demonstrator(s):Ryan O'Malley. Professor of Art, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
Assistant(s): Kevin Gonzalez and Katelyn Girouard
Professor Ryan O'Malley will provide demonstrations of lithographic printing and xerox transfers using Estisol 242 and 150. Estisol, an eco-friendly, coconut-derived fatty ester offers a VOC-free alternative to the use of petroleum distillates in stone and plate lithography.
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3. Developing narrative through mokuhanga
Demonstrator(s): Andy Farkas
Assistant(s): tba
In this demonstration Farkas will discuss a narrative approach to image development and how printmaking is uniquely suited to this process and how narrative ties us to the world we live in.
Mokuhanga printing is a sustainable, nontoxic small space, press-free portable practice. Using a personal small carving/printing table Farkas will demonstrate my approach to carving the woodblock, as well as how posture and use of the tools relate to sustainable health, as well as mixing dry pigments for printing. Lastly if time remains or if there is interest, Farkas will discuss his philosophy on using text together with imagery.
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4. Ashes to Ink : Ink Making Demo
Demonstrator(s): Vanessa Jo Bahr
Assistant(s): tba
Learn how to make your very own oil-based intaglio & relief inks using natural pigments derived from plants, minerals and ashes collected from the remnants of burnt prints. The consumerism culture we exist within severely separates us from sourcing and harvesting elements used in the field of contemporary printmaking. Forming relationships with our ingredients is vital not only to deepen appreciation for the natural world, but to preserve its very existence. During this alarmingly over-extracted moment in time, the least we can do is attempt to restore our ecological bond through experimentation and the exploration of materials. Ink making is a radical reclaiming of an underrepresented and nuanced cornerstone within our print practice. Using ink personally crafted from intentionally chosen sources can significantly contribute to the meaning of your work and simultaneously strengthen connections to local landscapes. This demonstration is a rite of passage for anyone who’s ever bought a can of ink; an invitation to critically examine something we share such intimate moments with yet suffer such disconnect from.
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5. Book Folding: Resurrecting Old Prints with New Forms
Demonstrator(s): Virginia Green and Mervi Pakaste
Assistant(s): tba
Learn a variety of book folding techniques to breathe new life into old prints or misprints. This is a fun way to work with print using structures that can be both flat and sculptural, incorporate motion and play, stretch the potential of multiplicity, and create something intimate that influences the way viewers receive information. It is a playful, open-ended way to reimagine or combine prints. Demonstration will include: Pocket Accordion, Fishbone Fold, Flat Reverse Hinge, Woven Accordion
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6. Prairie Relief
Demonstrator(s): Kathy O'Connell & Nick Satinover
Assistant(s): tba
- Above all the weeds that surround you, You raise to the sun your bright head, Embroidering beautiful landscapes, Your absence would leave brown and dead. (Ed Blair – “An Ode to the Kansas Sunflower”)
The state of Kansas has a long history with the sunflower, considered at different points in time a weed, food, medicine, a nuisance and a source of brilliant beauty. What is consistent is it is a multifaceted symbol of the land and its continual resilience. Like the continual renewal of old processes with new technologies, the sunflower, like printmaking is given new life and use as it’s discovered and recontextualized by new generations of makers.
In consideration of this spirit of renewal and site specificity, this demonstration ties the flora of the prairie to the practice of plate making and traditional relief printing. This demonstration will showcase how to emboss locally gathered plant materials into wood for the easy creation of editionable relief matrices. Through simple means we will capture and collage the images and textures of the prairie onto wood sub-flooring material. With some background research we have learned that this modern plywood can utilize safer gluing materials and offer a more affordable and eco-conscious option. By collecting from the land and using the press to emboss material into our plates we will be building images truly made from the prairie.
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7. Isotype Printing: Experimental Letterpress
Demonstrator(s): David Wolske
Assistant(s): tba
Isotype Printing is a printmaking technique for Vandercook-style cylinder proofing presses that allows letterpress printers to safely mask wood type. The resulting deconstructivist shapes offer printers, designers, and artists a new way of using old type to create dynamic, contemporary compositions.
We’ll begin the workshop by looking at exemplars and discussing the methodology. Participants will then learn how to set up the presses with the necessary cylinder packing and mask. After demonstrating different possibilities for placement of the cylinder packing, we’ll survey the exciting variety of abstract shapes inherent to the alphabet. We’ll also begin to explore the infinite possibilities for unique and unexpected color and form combinations.
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8. Kitchen Sink Printing- the Basics of Anthotypes
Demonstrator(s): Morgan Barrie
Assistant(s): Tba
This demonstration will cover the basics of anthotypes, a type of sustainable photographic print created using the natural dyeing properties of vegetables and flowers. One of the oldest photographic processes, anthotyping can be done with objects or positives and produces subtle, semi-permanent images. In this demo, different approaches to making anthotype emulsions will be covered, as will exposure tips and strategies.
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9. Screenprint with Clay
Demonstrator(s): Nick Geankoplis & Kait Arndt
Assistant(s): Brook Denney
This demonstration is designed to be a crash course on the incorporation of image transfer on the ceramic surface. Demonstrated technique will include, screenprinting directly on clay and on transfer paper, mono printing on plaster and custom digital decals. Once applied, the ceramic pigment can be fully fired in a kiln and permanently adhered to the ceramic surface, allowing for the creation of original screenprinted tiles, functional pottery, and sculpture.
Image transfer is a practice historically aligned with industrial practices reproduction and manufacturing. By modifying these processes to function within ceramic materials, we are bringing image transfer down to earth—literally. In this way, the demonstration highlights how Image transfer tools and techniques can act as a bridge to other material applications and position printmaking within a wider world of creative and technological expression. We hope to inspire other practitioners and sow the seeds of a community of makers working in this hybrid print and ceramic technique. For participants interested in broadening their practice or are curious about an expanded application of image transfer, this introduction opens the door to a whole new material medium.
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10. Wandering Light: Free Money and Books By The In-Laws (Printmakers)
Demonstrator(s): Jenny Schmid, Michael Krueger & Tom Reed
Assistant(s): tbd
“Throw the presses in the river”, shouted the bushwhackers, “Burn the type, burn the books”.
Burn the town too, and they did, twice. Left in ashes, the people of Lawrence rebuilt, bought new presses, and continued to express their freedom of speech. Founded by abolitionists from Massachusetts, Lawrence became a bastion of liberal thinking. This tenor has remained, in an otherwise very conservative state; both of the great college towns of Kansas, Lawrence and Manhattan, persist in free thinking and compassionate action.
We will create a guide to keep the embers glowing, to nurture the flickering light; a book created by artists across the globe and constructed by participants, full of free ideas: A free edition for a free state. Participants will assemble pages and add ephemera as they wish, to take with them. The In-Laws will beam in publication collaborators, sharing the joy internationally via livestream as we gather in assembly, stamping, stickering and fun! Books will be spiral-bound and unique, using accessible, immediate processes, in shared space, with conversation, optimism, humor and love.
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11. Etching with Electricity!
Demonstrator(s): The K-State Prairie Fire Printmakers
Assistant(s): tba
Get amped up with the K-State Prairie Fire Printmakers! This electrifying demo will showcase all aspects of a safer, innovative printmaking process - electrolytic etching! Let the K-State prairie fire printmaker undergraduate and graduate researchers show you how to supercharge your practice, at home or in the studio. From how to build your own electro tank, to using specialty non-toxic materials, to examples of new and alternative electro processes, this event will be sure to transform your perception of safer printmaking. The processes demonstrated will be a culmination of over a decade of study and experimentation, developed with support from The National Endowment for the Arts, the Karen Griffith Award for printmaking, Visiting artist research fellows, and student researchers under the guidance of Professor Jason Scuilla and Dr. Stefan Bossmann.
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12. Dust and Ash: Printing the Rust Belt
Demonstrator(s): Dadisi Curtis
Assistant(s): Michelle Eisen, Jade Carson, Alex Dolleschal, Danicko Rivera, Nicole Malcolm
Faculty and graduate students from Kent State University will make watercolor screenprint monotypes with participants at the conference. The watercolor pigments will be made from natural and manmade pigments found in Northeast Ohio and the midwest - rust, ash, soil, charcoal, etc. The participants and facilitators will meditate on their own experiences of the interactions between people and the environment in order to generate the images drawn on the screens. The event will be equal parts demonstration and interactive event.
The rust belt includes parts of Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. In the early 20th century, industrial manufacturing flourished in this area due to its proximity to the Great Lakes and its rich natural resources such as coal and iron. Beginning in the late 20th century, the Rust Belt began experiencing the elimination or outsourcing of manufacturing jobs. The impact has been seen in the economic decline, population loss, and urban decay of the region. Northeast Ohio, where Kent State University is located, is a landscape rich with complex interactions between people and our environment. We will use this as inspiration for the images we produce with the pigments we create from the landscape.
The process will include applying the pigments to the screens, letting them dry, and then pulling extender base through the screens to transfer the pigments to the paper and make screen monotypes.
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13. Litho on the Go
Demonstrator(s): Nick Phan and Zoe Couvillion
Assistant(s): tba
While Lithography studios become more and more rare, we must find new ways to continue on producing stone lithographs and to make the medium more accessible. Litho on the Go will demonstrate how one can create the facilities needed to produce stone lithographs at home. This demo will show how you can produce gum Arabic from a powder, grain litho stones without a litho sink, build a portable litho press, and a way to process your litho stones so they may be printed immediately after. During the lecture people are encouraged to collaboratively doodle on 2 litho stones scattered throughout the audience and then print them on the homemade litho presses at the end.
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14. No Press? Don’t Stress!
Demonstrator(s): Morgan Price
Assistant(s): Alex Cox
No Press? Don’t Stress! demonstrates trace monotype, a technique which allows artists to explore the vocabulary of drawing and the illusion of frottage while making one-of-a-kind prints. It requires no press. Done most effectively on dry Asian paper, straightforward to set up and safe to clean up, trace monotype can stand on its own or be combined with other print techniques. It can also act as the beginning of collages, mixed media works, and printstallation. Perhaps the most unique characteristic of trace monotype is that it is portable and invites possibilities for collaboration with one’s surroundings. Generate printed images while walking in the woods, sitting on warm white sands, or looking out over the horizon; it’s printmaking en plein air.
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15. Collagraph: Using what you have
Demonstrator(s): Teresa Cole and Hannah March Sanders
Assistant(s): tbd
The print medium of collagraph has the possibility of being all things to different people. It enables one to work large with limited resources. Plates can be anything from scraps of mat board to stiffened clothing. Items in a traditional printshop such as carborundum can be used along with those rejected mixed screen-printing inks to create photographic based imagery. Plates can be printed relief, intaglio, or a combination of the tow processes. The ubiquity of this medium and its accessibility make it the perfect form of production for reuse, regeneration, and regrowth.
The demo will consist of showing how different types of plates can be created from clothing to carborundum using screens and stencils and then showing the best practice for inking and printing.
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16. Indigo: History, Resilience, and Renewal
Demonstrator(s): Anita Jung and Lilah Sheperd
Assistant(s): tbd
Indigo dyeing is interwoven with the historical tapestry of the United States and India. Indigo, with its deep cultural significance in imperialism, symbolizes a history of resistance, resilience and renewal, making it a poignant process to explore.
We will demonstrate the process of indigo dyeing, discussing its transformation from plant to pigment, tracing its roots in both the America’s and South Asia histories. From the colonial exploitation of indigo plantations in the American South to its forced farming in India to its revered status in today’s natural dye textiles, we will highlight the resilience and the transformative power of this art form to provide practical insights into the craft and a deeper understanding of indigo’s cultural and historical significance. The indigo dyeing demonstration serves as a metaphor for the preservation and renewal of craft traditions in a rapidly evolving world.
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17. Printing Out of the Pressroom
Demonstrator(s): Steve Garst
Assistant(s): tbd
This demonstration will lead participants through making non toxic and accessible prints that can be used for outreach events. We will talk about ways that artists can use the Provisional Press and other accessible presses, like the Open Press to print images with groups to make prints with non-traditional media like LEGO, stamp pads, and crafting materials. I will talk about the practical ways that people can build print-centric programming to engage folks young and old. This will also have a hands-on component where I will demonstrate the use of stamp pads, LEGO blocks, and other non-traditional media to make images in an engaging way. Participants will be invited to make their own print during the demonstration to show the accessibility of these techniques.
This demonstration focuses on non-toxic elements that allow an artist to make prints with modular, reusable elements that encourage creativity through the natural limitations of the media.
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18. Type Nerds: Designing, Making, and Printing with Wood Type
Demonstrator(s): Anthony Warnick
Assistant(s): tbd
New type, from the ashes of the old. Using CNC technology, we have been working to replace missing characters in existing sets of wood type. Many of the typefaces are unique or undocumented, and replacing missing characters required (re)designing them based on the rest of the set. In other cases, we created entire sets from just a few characters. This demonstration will explore experimental ways to recreate and print letterpress type.
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19. Woodcut Bicycle: Time Trials
Demonstrator(s): Lars Roeder
Assistant(s): tba
For this event, participants will be able to ride the woodcut bicycle through an obstacle course and the best recorded time will win a prize. The prints made from the components will be displayed along the course and as obstacles. Participation in the event will be open to all conference attendees for the duration of the event time slot.
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20. Handmade Ash Ink and Relief Printing from Salvaged Wood
Demonstrator(s): Johnny Plastini
Assistant(s): Andrew Meyer
Colorado State University Associate Professor Johnny Plastini will lead a handmade ash ink demonstration throughout the day with Instructor Andrew Meyer in assistance. Participants are encouraged and welcome to bring ash from their own home region to the conference and contribute to the communal ink-making process. Professor Plastini will be providing Colorado wildfire ash as the primary pigment for this demonstration and then we will be printing with this ink together from salvaged wooden stumps (in dialog with the deceased artist Bryan Nash Gill)
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22. Printing in the Infernal Method: William Blake's Illuminated Printing Process.
Demonstrator(s): Mark Crosby
Assistant(s): Matthew White
In this demonstration, Crosby will discuss William Blake’s career as an engraver and his development of the relief-etching technique he called Illuminated Printing. Inspired by a vision of his recently deceased brother, in 1788 Blake created a method of relief-etching that allowed the synthesis of text and image on the same matrix. Using this method, Blake created his most famous and enduring works of composite art: the Illuminated Books. We’ll have examples of Blake’s Illuminated Books on display, including Songs of Innocence and of Experience, and plates from his longest work, Jerusalem, along with a range of his original intaglio prints. There will also be an opportunity to print from a facsimile copperplate of Blake’s lyric poem, ‘London’.
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