Karen Arp-Sandel and Suzi Banks Baum, aka Fe-Mail, brought their incredible energy, laughter and easy-going attitudes to PRESS! It was a great day for me, Melanie, to watch and work with these two wonderful artists and friends. They go with the flow, encourage happy accidents, and are really easy to please. I love working with … Continue reading
Many of you have read past entries about Fran and Bert, two lovely North Adams ladies. Bert’s husband owned and operated Lamb Printing over on Protection Avenue. If you are a North Adams reader, maybe you remember it? It had been a family print shop for many decades, and closed after Bert’s husband passed away. … Continue reading
I’ve been working on this really fun print all week. I’m making it for Fran, one of two sisters who are very generous North Adams residents. Their family had a print shop here many years ago and are letting us borrow some really fun cuts, wood type and other things. I’m making a couple of … Continue reading
Mary Tasillo, is a book, print, text, and paper artist based in Philadelphia, PA. She is also a teacher, writer, and independent scholar. She balances limited edition work with the democratic multiple to ensure the broadest possible audience. She visited PRESS this past week to print the cover of her latest Book Bomb Horizontalidad. The colophon … Continue reading
So William Heirens, a man convicted of some brutal murders in the fifties, is the subject of a new plate that we are borrowing at PRESS. The plate and another one tout the evils of alcohol, somewhat gruesomely, but also quite beautifully. They were made by the American Business Men’s Research Foundation sometime in the … Continue reading
What a fabulous day at PRESS! Jason and I scurried back and forth between hanging work and finishing work, all the while anticipating the arrival of Emily Cohane-Mann with her 200 sheets of Rives Lightweight. Today was the day to print her large wood cuts. These were the largest images that have ever been printed … Continue reading
It seems that the amount of work getting done on the press has increased exponentially as we near the end of the summer. And as every new print sits with fresh ink on the red table still in the grabbers, more and more inspiration flies like newly released electricity within the space. New ideas have … Continue reading
We had NO IDEA what the Downtown Celebration would bring to PRESS. It became apparent around 4:30 when the fried dough truck, gymnastic mats and pop-up tents began to line the streets. And then people, lots of people, started to come out. Most of them stayed on the street, but some wandered into the gallery … Continue reading
The creation process of paper making and letterpress printing is truly an alchemical and magical process as our associate gallery manager Jason Peabody has learned this summer. Learning the craft of printmaking through working on the Vandercook Universal III Jason has begun his involvement in a new form of creating. PRESS & Co., consisting of … Continue reading
Karen worked with me at PRESS again today. What great fun I have when she comes! We talk and share creative ideas and get all excited about making cool stuff. And inevitably we both come away with learning something. Today I taught her how to set type. She learned that upper and lower case letters … Continue reading
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