Season's News!

Left to right: Intern Sarah Smith; Printer Keigo Takahashi; and Artist Kate Shepherd with Printer Erik Hougen.


We are tremendously grateful to our supporters who participated in the March Benefit Sale! We raised important funds for artist residencies, caught up with longtime supporters, and welcomed so many new faces to the Printshop family.  

ARTISTS
Publishing collaborations are continuing with Alison Elizabeth Taylor, Hank Willis Thomas, Heide Fasnacht, and Kate Shepherd. And, Janaina Tschape, Nina Bovasso,  and Dasha Shishkin are just getting started in the studio exploring and experimenting with the medium. We are grateful to work with such innovative artists and look forward to sharing their projects with you.

Congratulations to the Special Editions Residents Joell Baxter, Steven Millar, and Jonggeon Lee! Their new print projects will be complete this spring (see below).

Publishing and Special Editions collaborations are keeping our Printer trio Erik Hougen, Keigo Takahashi, and Laura Charlton very busy in the studio. So are the contract jobs, such as the project with Wendy Nanan from Port of Spain, Trinidad who received a grant to travel and work with us on an edition for The Bocas Literary Festival. This winter we bid farewell and warm wishes to Printer James Miller who was with the Printshop for the past 8 years. We wish him all the best as his next journey unfolds.

Announcing the new Keyholder Residents: Sonya Blesofsky, Andrew Chan, Emily Noelle Lambert, and Heeseop Yoon. Congratulations!

Special thanks to the Keyholder selection panelists: Katherine D. Alcauskas, Collection Specialist, Prints & Illustrated Books, MoMA; Amy Kao, Artist and former Special Editions Resident; Rashaad Newsome, Artist; Lauren Rosati, Curatorial Assistant, National Academy Museum; and Benjamin Sutton, Art Critic and Writer.

Five artists ended their Keyholder Residencies: Firelei Báez, Florine Demosthene, Stella Ebner, Daniele Genadry, and Kymia Nawabi. It's been wonderful to have them as a part of the Printshop community and we plan to follow their journeys.
 
Studio rentals offer artists full access to the facilities to create new work independently. The program is open to all artists and allows you to stay as long as you need. Join us!


EXHIBITIONS
We had a fantastic turnout at the reception for Part of the Story, guest curated by artist and critic Julian Kreimer. The show is on view at the Printshop through May 12, so stop by for a visit.

Upcoming, Editions '13, will feature major new works by Joell Baxter, Sebastiaan Bremer, Jonggeon Lee, Steven Millar, and Alison Elizabeth Taylor all published by the Printshop in 2012/13. The exhibition and catalogue will launch in May, with an essay by Deborah Cullen, Director and Chief Curator of Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University.

We are so excited to welcome artist Jayson Keeling as the guest curator for the summer group exhibition.


EDUCATION
Look up our spring/summer printmaking class schedule and visit us for a studio tour before registration.

Our Salon program continues for Keyholders in residence and Mae Shore, Director of Cheymore Gallery will lead as guest speaker this month.

Stay tuned for our upcoming Career Development Workshop with critic, educator, and curator Sarah Schmerler on May 8, Writing for Artists.

This season visiting groups of students, collectors, and museum docents participated in special workshops. These can be tailored for demonstrations or hands-on activities in varied techniques and they are always fun!

Summer interns have been selected and the Fall Internship application deadline is fast approaching on April 15. Interns assist the printers with all aspects of collaborations with resident artists.


Thank you for reading. We look forward to seeing you often this season!

Daniele Genadry, In Lights of Time I-IV, 2013, digital and screenprint, 11" x 14" each, currently on view


Lower East Side Printshop's programs have been supported in part by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Private supporters have included: Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Greenwall Foundation, ICAP/John Nixon, Jerome Foundation, New York Community Trust, PECO Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and our generous patrons and members.

We thank our volunteers, friends, and members for their dedication, support, and generosity.

This Season at the Printshop!

Top to bottom: Master Printer Erik Hougen; Artist Shanti Grumbine with her artwork; Keyholder Kymia Nawabi rehearsing her elevator speech with guest speaker Ela Troyano.

Season's News

ARTISTS

We are so pleased to announce the publication of four new editions by the acclaimed artist Sebastiaan Bremer. The suite To Joy was inspired by Schiller's Ode To Joy. Bremer used his 1972 family vacation photographs, enhanced digitally, with hand painting and collage, to create an atmosphere of profound peace and optimism.

Publishing collaborations are continuing with Alison Elizabeth Taylor and Hank Willis Thomas. We are excited to announce that Heide Fasnacht and Dasha Shishkin have just begun residencies this summer. We are grateful to work with such innovative artists and look forward to sharing their projects with you.

Joell Baxter, Steven Millar, and Jonggeon Lee--our Special Editions Residents--have spent the spring and summer exploring printmaking and extending their artistic visions. Stay tuned, we will launch their new editions next Spring!

So many contract projects, large and small, are keeping our Master Printers and Studio Assistants very busy this season. So much so that Printer Keigo Takahashi has joined our team. Recent projects include two suites of etchings by Mark Bradford, to be featured in his show at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. this fall; a large series of screenprints by Thomas Dozol for his show at Jack Hanley Gallery; a suite of screenprints with carborundum by Hank Willis Thomas for his upcoming show at Jack Shainman Gallery; and single editions for Demetrius Oliver and Aaron Krach.

Announcing the new Keyholder Residents: Megan Berk, Rebecca Bird, Gisela Insuaste, and Charles Koegel will be welcomed to the studio this month!

Special thanks to the Keyholder selection panelists: Boshko Boskovic, Program Director, Residency Unlimited; Kalia Brooks, Independent Curator; Jayson Keeling, Artist; Lanka Tattersall, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Painting & Sculpture, MoMA; and Dan Walsh, Artist.

             

EXHIBITIONS

We had a fantastic turnout at the reception for Read Between the Lines, guest curated by Micaela Giovannotti, an independent art curator and critic. The show is on view at the Printshop through November 4, so stop by for a visit.

Join us at the opening reception of IPCNY's fall show on Tuesday, October 30, 6-8 pm, featuring two prints by Jennie C. Jones made during her Special Editions Residency last year.

Visit us at the Editions/Artists' Book Fair, November 1 - 4, at the former Dia and X building, 548 West 22nd Street. It's free and is the premiere showcase for the coolest contemporary artists, collectives, printers, and publishers! We will feature major new works all published by the Printshop in 2012, including Sebastiaan Bremer's To Joy.

Contemporary African American Printmakers at Nazareth College Art Center Gallery, Rochester, presented by Deborah Ronnen Fine Art, will be on view November 9 - December 21. It will feature our projects with Jennie C. Jones and Dread Scott, alongside Mickalene Thomas, Kara Walker, and Hank Willis Thomas, among others.

Upcoming this Spring, we are so excited to welcome artist and art critic Julian Kreimer as the guest curator for the group exhibition.

EDUCATION

Look up our fall/winter class schedule, and find the class for you! We welcome studio tours before registration.

The next Internship application deadline is November 15 for the spring semester (January - May). Interns assist the printers with all aspects of collaborations with resident artists.

 

We are continuing our Salon program for Keyholders in residence and Edwin Ramoran, Curator at Large, Bronx Council on the Arts, will lead as guest speaker this month.

Stay tuned for our upcoming Career Development Workshop series. We will welcome artist Sebastiaan Bremer in January to address How to Emerge. Later in the year we will have a discussion on prints in the market; and we will welcome critic, educator, and curator Sarah Schmerler for a workshop on Writing for Artists.

 

VERY NEW!

Find the Printshop on Art.sy! Art.sy is a cool new online platform where one can discover, learn about, and collect art. It features works from leading galleries, museums, private collections, and artist estates. We are excited to provide our artists with another great platform to promote their work. The site goes public next month and is for members only until then. If you are not an Art.sy member, email us at info@printshop.org and we can send you an invite!

Gift cards

The Printshop's gift cards can be used towards any purchase of our goods and services, including Gift Shop inventory, artwork, classes, studio time, and contract printing service. Gifts in the amounts of $50, $100, $250, and $500 are available from our website. Any and ALL other amounts can be purchased by visiting the Printshop. Funds can be used incrementally, and cards can be re-filled.

  
 
       Thank you for reading. We look forward to seeing you often this season!

Lower East Side Printshop's  programs have been supported in part by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Private supporters have included: Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Greenwall Foundation, Jerome Foundation, New York Community Trust - Edward and Sally Van Lier Fund, PECO Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and our generous patrons and members.     
   
Special thanks to our Sponsors and Patrons:
Akua Water-based Inks, Laura and Lloyd Blankfein, Lisa Pevaroff-Cohn and Gary Cohn, Deutsche Bank, Peter Ezersky, Susan and Eddie Falk, Courtney Finch Taylor, Michael and Laura Fisch, Charlotte Ford, Cheri Friedman, ICAP / John Nixon, Martin and Shelley Kaufman, John B. Koegel, Esq., Stacey and Curtis Lane, Stacy and John Louizos, Jill and Thomas Marino, Newmark Knight Frank/Jeffrey Gural, Jane Nixon, Andrew Charles Porter, Carla and Tim Porter, Jane Dresner Sadaka and Ned Sadaka, Mary and David Solomon, Cristin Tierney Gallery, and Volusion, Inc.
 
 
We thank our volunteers, friends, and members for their dedication, support, and generosity.

Season's News

       
Hong Seon Jang, Jennie C. Jones, and Alison Elizabeth Taylor in the studio this winter.




































We are tremendously grateful to all of our donors, artists, art enthusiasts, and collectors who participated in the Printshop Benefit on February 29th, supporting our artists and honoring Enoc Perez!

ARTISTS

Joell Baxter, Steven Millar, and Jonggeon Lee--our new Special Editions Residency recipients are at the start of a creative journey! With their initial sessions in the studio with our Master Printer duo Erik Hougen and James Miller, they begin to explore and experiment with printmaking. Stay tuned for updates on their progress.

The selection panel that awarded them did an amazing job: Petrushka Bazin, Program Manager, The Laundromat Project; Jennie C. Jones, Artist and former Special Editions Resident; Christopher Y. Lew, Assistant Curator, MoMA PS1; Kelly Pajek, Deputy Director, Percent for Art, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. 

Congratulations to the 2011 Special Editions Residents Jennie C. Jones, David Kramer, Darina Karpov, and Hong Seon Jang on successfully completing their projects! They are featured, hot off the press, in the current exhibition (more below).

We are continuing our Publishing collaborations with Sebastiaan Bremer, Kate Shepherd, and Alison Elizabeth Taylor, which are developing into exceptional projects. We are excited to announce that Hank Willis Thomas will be next to start a Publishing residency this year and we are thrilled to continue our relationship with this innovative artist. We look forward to sharing these artists' projects with you later in the year.

We are excited and grateful to be working on a large project for the amazing Mark Bradford,commissioned by Sikkema Jenkins & Co. Gallery. Other projects, large and small, are also keeping our Master Printers busy.

Announcing the Spring 2012 Keyholder Residents: Firelei Báez, Florine Demosthene, Stella Ebner, Daniele Genadry, and Kymia Nawabi are at the start of their residencies!

Special thanks to the selection panelists: Marina Anonca, 10 Grand Press; Bridget Donlon, Program Manager, Dieu Donné; Ethan Green, Artist and former Keyholder Resident; Shani Peters, Artist and former Keyholder Resident; and Megan Skidmore, Managing Director, Artelier, LLC.

               

EXHIBITION

Editions '12 features major new works by Enoc Perez, Jennie C. Jones, David Kramer, Darina Karpov, and Hong Seon Jang all published by the Printshop in 2011/12. The exhibition and catalogue, with an essay by Roberta Waddell, renowned print expert and  former curator at the New York Public Library, will be on view through July 8.

EDUCATION

Look up our spring/summer class schedule, and find the class for you!

Stay tuned for our upcoming Career Development Workshop on Tuesday, July 17 with Ela Troyano. A recent program highlight was the stimulating talk on copyright and fair usage with Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts.

Thank you for reading. We look forward to welcoming you often this season!

Priscila De Carvalho, When Moonlight Overwhelms the Stars, 2011, diptych, screenprint, acrylic, and hand painting, 20" x 58" each sheet

     

Season's News

Enoc Perez (right) in the studio this fall, with printers James Miller and Erik Hougen

ARTISTS

Jennie C. Jones,  David Kramer, Darina Karpov, and Hong Seon Jang--this year's Special Editions Residency recipients--are all working on very complex and exciting projects. In fact David Kramer just finalized his first three collage prints last week!  

We are excited to continue Kate Shepherd's Publishing Residency next month. The program is also currently hosting Alison Elizabeth Taylor, our first collaboration with this accomplished and highly innovative artist. Our latest publication with Enoc Perez--four large screenprints that are not to be missed--will be launched at the Editions/Artists' Book Fair, New York, November 3.

We are continuing our work with artist Michael Riedel and screenprinting his images on large-scale canvases. The latest canvases were shown at David Zwirner's booth at Frieze Art Fair, London, October 2011. Other recent contracted projects include Scott Hunt, Hank Willis Thomas and Kara Walker.  

Our fabulous printer duo, James Miller and Erik Hougen, have certainly had their hands full!  

Jennie C. Jones in the studio.

Artists Alex Gavryushenko, Shanti Grumbine, Fay Ku, Naomi Reis, Daniel Rich, and

David Rios Ferreira have all started their Keyholder Residencies this month. Congratulations on getting selected from the pool of 200 applicants!       

EXHIBITIONS

Visit us at the Editions/Artists' Book Fair, November 4 - 6, at the former Dia building, 548 West 22nd Street. It's free and features the most cutting edge exhibitors and artists!   

© LNY 2011, Parallax, woodcut, 26" x 26" image and sheet

Keyed, guest curated by Glen Baldridge will be on view at the Printshop through November 9 and features 17 of the artists currently in residence.

  

Upcoming, Enoc Perez's latest prints will be featured in our space beginning November 16 through late January. 

EDUCATION

Look up our fall/winter class schedule, there is something for everyone! 

 

The next Internship application deadline is November 15 for the spring semester. Interns assist the printers with all aspects of collaborations with resident artists.

  

Our next Career Development Workshop for artists on Monday, November 14, will feature a conversation with artist Jean Shin about making the most of your residency opportunity.  

  

And, drum roll please: the Printshop was recently awarded a grant from the Bloomberg Philanthropies' Art Advancement Initiative to work on its next long-range plan and expand its board! We are honored to be amongst the distinguished cultural organizations receiving their support.  

  

SAVE THE DATE!

The Printshop's annual benefit, which helps support our residencies for artists will be held on Wednesday, February 29, 2012.     

 

Thank you for reading. We look forward to welcoming you often this season at the Printshop!

Editions 10' Catalogue Launch and Exhibition

I know, I know, I know.... it has been a long time since we last blogged, but in our defense it is because there has been so much going on in the studio! The Printshop has been action packed the past couple of months and we have exciting things to show as a result!

Cammi Climaco working in the Collaborations Studio

Steve Lambert working on his print Out of Ideas

William Powhida working in the Collaborations Studio on a new suite of prints

We just finished hanging our newest exhibition, Editions 10',  where we are showing new projects by Special Editions Artists-in-Residence Karlos Carcamo, Cammi Climaco and Steve Lambert, alongside new work by Publishing Artists-in-Residence William Powhida and Enoc Perez. A lot of these pieces were printed, fabricated, and editioned in the past couple of months, so we have been busy flocking, silkscreening, collaging and even getting to hand paint butterflies. Hopefully this is reason enough for you to excuse our small "blogger" break. We promise to keep you updated on a regular basis of all things Printshop related from now on!

For instance come by the Printshop next Wednesday May 26, from 6 to 8 pm for our catalogue launch and exhibition reception!

And stay tuned for sneak peeks into our collaboration with new Publishing Artist-in-Residence Arturo Herrera, and more information on our current Special Editions artists!

Image on right: Cammi Climaco. This Time, 2010. Screenprint and hand additions on lasercut paper and silk, 19.75" x 15.25" image and sheet. Edition of 8. 

(Nearly) Everything You Wanted to Know About Photogravure...

Zana Briski. Sex Workers of Calcutta VI, 2001.  From a suite of 7 photogravure prints. Printed and published by the Lower East Side Printshop.

I'll be honest--photogravure is a challenging, time consuming, multi-step technique prone to many unique challenges. Factors such as humidity can make or break the success of coming out the other end of the process with a satisfactory plate, and the chances of one of many steps going slightly awry can result in less than stellar results for even the experienced.

So why bother? Because when it works (and despite everything, it can work) there's nothing that can match it. There is a reason photogravure has persisted beyond it's early beginnings in the development of modern photography.

Alvin Langdon Coburn (British, 1882-1966). St. Paul's from Ludgate Circus, 1907

Paul Strand, Camera Work XLIX/L, 1917

 There is an almost indescribable quality to the richness and tonal subtleties of photographic images printed using the photogravure technique. One gets a palpable sense of magic that early innovators of photography must have felt to see how an image can slowly emerge--a feeling of wonder that we are immune to nowadays with the immediacy of the instant digital photo.

 

What accounts for the high level of image quality is that photogravure is the only photoetching process that is truly continous tone. Above are 2 images of a photograph of Auguste Rodin taken in 1908 by Alvin Langdon Coburn. Left is the original continuous tone where values transition smoothly into one another--a multitude of whites, darks, and grays that can capture the smallest details and nuances of light. At right is the same image, this time in halftone. 

Halftone is the most common way mass produced photographs are commercially printed, from newspapers with a coarse, highly visible dot, to magazines and books with their much finer halftone pattern. Put simply, with halftone the entire image is rendered into many small black dots. Grays are created based on how many and how closely these dots are clustered, and relies on the ability of the human eye to "blend" these dots into a simulation of tone. Mechanically this makes the image much easier to mass produce. While superfine halftones can come close to the image quality found in continuous tone, it eliminates the nearly infinite range of values found in techniques like photogravure. 

Kara Walker. Testimony, 2005. Suite of 5 photogravure prints. Printed and published by the Lower East Side Printshop.


The added benefit is that photogravure is an intaglio process, where the image is etched into a copper plate and printed on an etching press. As a result, once you make a plate you have a multitude of options for how and what to print on. Fine art papers, handmade asian papers, and sepia or color tinted inks can greatly enhance the resulting prints and intensify the already velvety tones in the image.

The examples shown here are a pale simulacrum of the look and feel of photogravures seen in real life--they truly have to be seen in person to understand why this medium continues to attract artists and photographers to this day, despite the many and more immediately gratifying methods of creating and reproducing photographic imagery. The effect that the process can have on images is roughly akin to the level of intensity, detail, and focus that can be seen in daguerreotypes, but printed on paper. 

Lothar Osterburg. Flat Earth, 2006

How does all of this magic happen? Learn next month at the Printshop from Lothar Osterburg, an artist, teacher, and master printer who has extensive experience in the medium and has led photogravure workshops around the country. The 4 day intensive takes place over two weekends (April 17-18 and 24-25) at the Printshop's shared artists' studio and is suitable for everyone from beginners to experienced printmakers and photographers.

The first day of the class will cover creating film positives, photo-sensitizing gelatin, and preparing copper plates, and on the second day gelatin will be exposed, adhered, and developed. The second weekend will consist of etching and printing. 

Sign up for classes HERE


Additional information on the history of the process and and all around great resource is http://www.photogravure.com. Also, check out Lothar Osterburg's site at http://home.earthlink.net/~lotharosterburg/index.html

Special Editions Resident: Blane De St Croix

Blane De St. Croix is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in Brooklyn, NY. He received his BFA from Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA, and his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI. De St. Croix's work has centered around environmental concerns, often represented in site specific installations that address the rigid boundaries of human encroachment on the natural world. These large-scale installations utilize architectural space in a powerful and imposing manner and are based on extensive research of actual sites.

The piece pictured above is titled Mountain Strip. Created for his residency at the Black and White Project Space in Brooklyn, NY, Mountain Strip is literally a mountain built upside down, a painstakingly reconstructed topography of a section of the Kayford Mountain Ridge top in West Virginia. De St Croix's massive sculpture cut through the exterior exhibition space and spilled into the interior gallery. Referencing the strip mining process of mountain top removal Mountain Strip addresses the social and political implications of mining.

De St Croix also uses drawing as an integral part of his research practice. Working from satellite imagery, google earth, topographical mapping and even interviews he collects information to better understand the layered implications of specific areas before beginning a rendering.

As he begins his residency here at the Printshop De St. Croix will continue his ongoing investigation into the geopolitical landscape. I think he has a new site he wishes to investigate. When he came by to see the studio and meet everyone face to face, he seemed excited about how the notion of the multiple would factor into his working progress. I think that one of the most exciting parts of the Special Editions residency is seeing what it is about printmaking that pulls artists in. For some its the impression the plate makes in the paper, a relationship with the actual printing press, while for others its the notion of the edition and the idea of creating a sequence of images. In terms of the these artists we will just have to wait and see.

Courtenay