Visit to Adeola Davies-Aiyeloja's Studio

Todd visited the studio of mixed media artist Adeola Davies-Aiyeloja this afternoon for the upcoming print exhibit he is curating for Chaffey Community Museum of Art (CCMA) set for summer 2015.  Todd found out about Adeola from CCMA coordinator Jenelle Lowry and was pleased and grateful to meet Adeola who graciously opened her studio up to Todd and his mother who came along for the ride.  Adeola showed Todd her SolarPlate etchings of train photographs she has taken over the years as well as some of her mixed media monotype prints.  Adeola told Todd about her trip to South Africa and how she is going to turn some of her train photographs into SolarPlate etchings.  Although they are of contemporary South Africa they have a look of the past with a train conductor stamping tickets in antique rail cars.  We can't wait to see her final prints.  These future prints combined with Adeola's large, colorful monotypes will present a powerful coalition on the museum walls.

Todd with artist Adeola Davies-Aiyeloja and some of her intaglio prints.

Some of Adeola's mixed media monotype prints.

Detail of one of Adeola's prints.

Adeola's first printing press.  It's not for sale!

Erin Morrison at Press Works

22"x30" Montoype by Erin Morrison.

Press Works is pleased to announce its latest collaboration with visual artist Erin Morrison. She stopped by the shop on Sunday and dove right in. Erin was exposed to printmaking while an MFA graduate student at UCLA under the direction of Jacob Samuel so she was not timid about approaching the process. Erin began by painting directly onto the paper with a set of watercolor and gouache paints. After creating a number of colorful gesture paintings, Erin subtracted flats of ink from a large acrylic sheet prepared by Press Works' printer Todd Smith.

Before coming to Press Works, Erin had experimented with creating monotypes by hand on panes of window glass. That material however precluded the use of a printing press. By using acrylic glass, we were able to utilize the press's pressure and squeeze more pigment into the paper fibers and allow a broader range of color saturation and layering.

Erin Morrison working on the plate. Behind her are the gouache paintings we will monotype over.

Erin subtracts ink from the acrylic sheet.

The final print with gouache under-painting and printed overlay. The subtle layering of tone and color is beautiful.

Erin and fellow painter and UCLA alum Jonathan Apgar

Erin finished seven 22" x 30" prints in one day at Press Works and lucky for us, she left two more unfinished prints. We are scheduling a follow up visit and will have all of Erin's prints available by the end of October. Our video editing department is working on a short of Erin working and we hope to have that up for viewing real soon. And after seeing the Japanese prints in Denver and how Erin works creating wonderful shapes and forms, we think a multiple woodblock print may be in order

Thank you for visiting Press Works and stay tuned for more featured artists, more workshops for the general public, and more artists printing.  Thank you Erin.