Pulling Prints and Sharing Perspectives: My upcoming week as a SU Visiting Artist

I'm excited to be traveling to Syracuse, New York on the 7th of November for the Syracuse Department of Art Visiting Artist Lecture Series. I'll be working with my good friend and Printmaking professor, Dusty Herbig to create 4 editions of screen prints inspired my my recent mask drawings for the Sandzen Exhibition. 

From the 9th to the 13th we'll be working in the printmaking studio from 9am to 5pm. On the 12th, I'll be giving a lecture starting at 6:30 pm about my lifelong journey and unique perspective on becoming a full-time artist. The lecture will be approximately 45 minutes and will be open to questions after. It is also open to the public, so if you're in the area, please stop by for the lecture and/or to say Hi. 

My passion for printmaking

In art school, my major was Art with a focus on Graphic Design, but I gravitated toward painting and printmaking, so ended up spending my "spare time" in those studios. The instructors tended to like me because of my work ethic and dedication so I was given a bit of preferential treatment and allowed to use the facilities and materials. Some of my best friends (Including Dusty) were printmakers, so the printmaking studio became a haven for me where I worked primarily in Intaglio and Lithography. It wasn't until later in my life that I had a screen printing press in my garage and began experimenting with the medium in evenings after my primary job as an art director and designer. I eventually sold my printmaking equipment as I couldn't make the time to give it the focus it needed, and the press was just taking up space and gathering dust. I've always wanted to revisit the medium, and am excited by the opportunity to work in the amazing studio at Syruacuse University with my old friend, Dusty at the helm of the process. 

For the editions we're printing in Syracuse, I'm about finished with the prep work. I have four designs that I've evolved from my recent mask drawings for the Sandzen exhibition. We will be printing 4 editions of 8 prints. Each will be 4 color prints, so will require 4 screens. I'll be cutting the films for each color out of rubylith by hand. If you're not familiar with the process, there's a little summary below.

A bit about Art Professor Dusty Herbig

No, Dusty is not my alter ego. We are two separate people with the same name who grew up in the same town of Hays, Kansas, had similar experiences as kids, and share pretty similar perspectives on more than not. Dusty and I knew each other as kids, were on the same wrestling team, though I quit around 10 yrs old, and he went on to be a high school state champ. In art school we reconnected and were great friends in and out of the studio. After undergrad, Dusty continued into academia, and I went into the world of commercial design.

Here's his brief bio. Dusty Herbig is an artist, living & working in Syracuse, NY. Working primarily in print media, Herbig comments on many subjects in the socio-political landscape, constitutional chaos, invasions of privacy, our conundrums with power and our insatiable media diets.

Herbig earned an MFA – Graphics, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2002, and a BFA – Art, from Fort Hays State University, in Hays, KS in 1996 and is currently a professor in the School of Art at Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY.

The screen printing process in a nutshell

Yupo is a 100% synthetic, tree-free paper made from extruded polypropylene plastic film. It has a smooth, slick surface that repels water instead of absorbing it. Unlike traditional pulp paper, it will not easily buckle, warp, or tear when exposed to wet media. Yupo is archival, pH-neutral, acid-free, and fully recyclable.

When will these prints be available?

Once I return from New York, the prints will be shipped to me. I'll likely frame a set of them, photograph them and create listings on my website. I'm loosely planning a timed drop around February 1st, and will send out an email to my mailing list with info and a link. I'm sure I'll also be sharing content about the visit, the process, and the work itself via Instagram. So stay tuned to those channels if you're interested in following along, and/or in purchasing a print. I'm still thinking through what the price will be, but these are not "prints" like many artists today sell. They are not created with Ai, and they don't end with "Command P" and being spit out of a color printer. As you can see by what I've written above, each is created by hand with multiple people and their time invested in the process. So, while they will be less expensive than a painting, they are still original hand-made works of art... actual fine art prints, not reproductions. Below is a work in progress of the designs I'll be printing. 

Thank you and please stay tuned. More to come!!!