Due Process at Gallery 5

It was a busy weekend! Thanks everyone who came out Friday night to Gallery 5 and gave screen printing a try. And I do mean everyone. We brought over 300 sheets of paper for folks to print on and we ran out by the end of the night. We didn't even have any samples left over. So thanks and I hope you all learned a little bit about what a silk screen is.

For those of you who didn't make it out, here's a recap. Kevin Orlosky of Art on Wheels curated the show Due Process which opened last friday night at Gallery 5. He asked us create an original piece for the show as well as conduct a screen printing demonstration for the crowds that inevitably pour in on a First Friday on the Artwalk. Here's our print, "Cross-Corporate Synergetics" by Matt Deans, Spencer Hansen, James Callahan, Rawn Gandy, and Kelly Alder, displayed alongside the transparencies, a few of the layers, and the actual squeegee and screen we used:



For the demonstration we thought we'd keep it simple. We took a character from each artists' section of the print and enlarged them and threw each on a screen. Passersby were invited to choose one of the five characters to lay down over the first silver layer that had already been swiped. It was a hit. People got real excited to pull that squeegee and then lift the screen and see the results right there on the paper. Pure magic! We're definitely planning to incorporate demonstrations like this wherever possible.

Our setup at Gallery 5:


Professor Rawn instructs an eager participant:


The eager participant registers his paper:


The Magic happens!


Here are the prints all those lucky participants printed themselves and took home to hang over their fireplaces:

artist Matt Deans:


artist Spencer Hansen:


artist Jim Callahan:


artist Kelly Alder:


artist Rawn Gandy:


Special thanks to Rawn Gandy and Barf Callahan for manning the tables and offering their expertise to all those inquisitive and adventurous minds.

Upcoming Show: Due Process at Gallery 5

Friday, April 3rd
First Friday Opening Reception

Due Process: An educational exhibit about the many processes of printmaking
Curated by: Kevin Orlosky
First Friday Opening Reception April 3rd 7-11pm
Gallery 5 RVA

Exhibit runs through April 28th

Printmaking is one of the most versatile forms of art making. It has been used by artists for thousands of years. It has had tremendous advancements over the years while the traditional techniques are still being used. Artists are usually drawn to its methodology, intimacy, and subtlety. One advantage to printmaking is that prints can be editioned so that multiples of the same image may be sold. Because of this, printmaking has been used in the reproduction market. Unfortunately outside of the fine art and collector world, a reproduction is what is generally thought of when someone mentions the word "print." This is mostly due to the size of the greedy art reproduction industry. "Due Process" aims to end this stigma that has hindered the reputation of fine art prints to the general public. Fine art prints are original artwork that has been produced by the artist's hand.
Due Process will showcase not only the end result of the artist's works, but will exhibit and explain the steps, tools and materials involved in each print process.

- Gallery5arts.org

We worked very hard on our submission for this show and it turned out pretty well. I didn't have time to photograph the final print properly, so here's the digital version. You'll have to come to the show to see it in person. It's a whopping 40in x 26in! Way too big. Never again! Come to the show this friday anyway and you can swipe you're own exclusive Team Eight Press print during our live print tutorial. Five designs to choose from, each one from a different artists involved in the following piece. I'll post how they turned out after the show.

So here's the skinny on this big-ass poster. Five of us contributed to the illustration, Matt Deans, Spencer Hansen, Jim Callahan, Kelly Alder, Rawn Gandy, and some consultation by Russ Guatier. It should be self explanatory the chaos that ensued.

This poster is titled "Cross-Corporate Synergetics"


Details, clockwise:

Matt Deans:


Spencer Hansen:


Jim Callahan:


Kelly Alder:


And Rawn Gandy:


It was epic, so come out and see it in person.

Protect unique, original, and handmade

Matt Deans has been working on designing some screen printed toys for Team Eight and through his research he stumbled across the following:

http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/

Remember the lead paint and choking hazard toy fiasco of last year? You know, the ones where all these large american toy companies imported toys that weren't exactly healthy for kids. Well, our legislators have come up with the CPSIA, which does a good job of setting high standards for toy manufacturing, but effectively makes it insanely expensive or illegal to sell original, small run, or unique handmade toys. Read about it at the link above. If you at all feel that its important to keep unique, original and handmade products, legal please notify your legislator. The Handmade Toy Alliance makes it very easy to do at their site.

Here's some of my favorite handmade toys I ran into in Baltimore this past year. They are all 100% unique and handmade with love from recycled clothes and linens. Check them out at cottonmonster.com

Russ Gautier and Matt Deans Print!!

We promised you Horn would make a comeback, but don't worry. It's okay though!
Matt pitched in and we resurrected Russ from the dead to print this Team Eight classic, which they designed together as one of our first t-shirts way back in ot three. Check it out, it's our second shirt printed in the new t-shirt studio, but the first we were able to sneak any footage of. We'll be posting it on the site for sale soon, but in the mean time, check out the pics of these two doofs printing like they were born to it.

MATT PRINTS!!

"As per Spencer's request, I'm bloggin about my screenprint experience. It ain't no new thing to me. We've been fooling around with screenprinting since we were young pubescent college nerds at VCU. Spencer built his first DIY table using a shop vac, a bathroom stall door and some duct tape. Soon after he installed a foot switch for the vacuum, so our neighbors heard a loud "VWOOOOOOOOM" every ten seconds for hours on end.

After a brief "9-5 job" related hiatus, getting back into the dig has been a lot of fun, and it feels easier than ever since we're not working in a tiny closet-sized space anymore. So fun that i've moved my drawing desk right next to the screenprinting table. Hopefully I can quit my job soon and Spencer will hire me to wash out screens for minimum wage.

Keep an eye out, we should have another poster coming soon. We'll at least try to crank out a second run of "Daibutsu" for those who weren't able to pick one up the first time around. A big thank you goes out to Spencer for getting Team 8 Press going, to the participating artists, and to all of our friends in the Richmond community who encourage these great projects."

-Matt

MATT ATTACK!

Matt Deans is back! Above is a rough of Matt's new illustration with the color done by Spencer Hansen. The color is still awaiting Matt's final approval and inevitable tweaking before we go to print, but I couldn't wait to post this one. It's loosely based in a series with an older Team 8 print by Matt and Spencer called Daibutsu (view below) which is out of print, but we're thinking about doing a second edition in honor of the new robo-automaton-baby above. SWEET!