Erin Morrison Review and Exhibit

Erin Morrison's exhibit of her plaster reliefs is coming to an end at the Samuel Freeman Gallery this month.  The exhibit garnered a positive review from David Pagel in the LA Times. Even if you were not able to make it to her show and see the one monotype she made with Todd you can always visit her gallery at Press Works to see her 22x30 inch monotypes she made at Press Works.  They have some of the same exploratory qualities of her plaster pieces.  Some subtle, others bold and colorful.

Erin Morrison

Erin Morrison is exhibiting a series of large scale plaster quilt casts at Samuel Freeman Gallery in Los Angeles through March. On display is also a large print that Todd helped Erin to print at her studio in December 2014. Erin and Todd hope to create a complete series of large monotypes, 4'x6' sometime this year at Press Works. A steamroller will be in order since Todd's back and knees are not up to the task of hand printing something that large.

Erin's studio. Getting ready to print.

Erin and Todd discuss the second image area and drop.

Two of Erin's amazing plaster quilt reliefs at Samuel Freeman Gallery on S. La Cienaga Blvd.

Erin adding fabric stencils to the inked plate.

The finished print hanging at Samuel Freeman Gallery through March 2015.

Mhiachnoiti Visits Press Works

Artist Mhiachnoiti has been visiting Press Works over the past few months to collaborate with Todd on printing a series of colorfully diverse monotypes using a variety of techniques and imagery. Mhiach is set for a couple more visits as he and Todd attempt to finish as many prints as possible for an upcoming exhibit Mhiach has slated for in May at Groundwork's downtown Los Angeles branch. Mhiachnoiti is a graduate of Layton School of Art and Design in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Now Milwaukee School of Art & Design or MIAD. Todd first met Mhiach when he took Todd's screenprinting course at Santa Monica College in 2009.

Mhiach working figuratively.

Mhiach subtracting the Akua ink before printing over one of his watercolor painted figures.

Working the red plate.

Working the blue plate.

Working the orange plate.

A detail of one of Mhiach's abstractions.

Mhiachnoiti 2015. "Live long and prosper."

Triple Roller Fabrication

I've seen photos of triple rollers for applying ink to litho plates but the cheapskate in me has kept me from purchasing one.  Several hundred dollars if I'm not mistaken.  They are supposed to eliminate lap marks on the litho plate. I have one that someone built for a past studio mate but it has never worked that well as an inking roller. When that same studio mate left for greener pastures they also left behind a bunch of used offset litho rollers. After countless times of taking the rollers out of their boxes to stare at them and try to figure a way to make them into brayers I finally hit upon the idea of using them to fabricate my own triple roller. I challenged myself to use only parts I could find laying around the shop.  Although I don't need much of an excuse to visit a hardware store of any size or brand I didn't want to spend all day shopping for parts that in the end may or may not have worked. The process would go faster if I stayed put and used what I had on hand.  The end result was very satisfying and was such a success that I made a second roller several weeks later.

Triple roller #1 under construction.

Roller #1 finished!

Triple Roller #2 completed.

Press Works Visit to Jan Harvey's Studio

Todd traveled out to Yucaipa in the San Bernardino foothills on Wednesday to visit with artist and printmaker Jan Harvey. Jan has been involved in teaching SolarPlate etching workshops for the past fourteen years after she learned the technique from Dan Welden, the founder and leading expert on SolarPlate. SolarPlate is a type of photopolymer etching process that allows you to use the sun to expose images onto the plate's surface. After developing it in water and curing the plate is inked, wiped, and put through a printing press transferring the image to paper. Jan works figuratively with photographic imagery and translates her them into richly printed etchings. The marriage between the paper and the printing ink gives a visually lush image. Jan will be participating in the upcoming exhibit at  Chaffey Community Museum of Art (CCMA) in summer 2015. Thank you Jan for showing us your studio and discussing your work and creative process.

Some of Jan's prints. The one above is a two-color print.

Larger rollers from Takech

Jan's press with one of her framed prints.