I've been busy making prints on the Tortilla Press -- mostly to fill my bucket with "8 x 8 inch" prints to have pop-up print shows -- BUCKET EXHIBITIONS.
8 x 8 inch Prints
Robert Atkinson and I
carved linoleum at Tractor Brewery in Albuquerque (on 4th St)
on March 4, 2022
Pop-up Exhibitions
I hung a print pop-up show, of "8 x 8 inch" prints, for three hours during the Albuquerque figure drawing group at North 4th Arts Center on April 7, 2022:
Prints by Elaine Bolz and Rich Hasler
Prints by Rich Hasler (first one)
and Russ Riekeman (three)
Prints by Russ Riekeman (first three)
and Robert Atkinson (one)
Prints by me (Krrrl) and Greta Young (last)
Entering the drawing studio
I previously put on an "8 x 8 inch" pop-up show on March 17th, 2022, at the North 4th Arts Center.
EL PASO Pop-up
Plus Manuel Guerra put on an "8 x 8 inch" pop-up show in El Paso the night before, of Albuquerque artists:
Santa Fe Printmakers
I have been giving out "6 x 6 inch" linoleums squares (to print on "8 x 8 inch" paper) to the artists in the Albuquerque drawing group, encouraging them to carve linoleum squares that we can print on the Tortilla Press. However I have also given linoleum squares to the Santa Fe drawing group, either in person or in the mail. We went up to Santa Fe last August 2021, and printed some earlier linocuts by the Santa Fe figure artists at the top of Canyon Road, at Hecho A Mano gallery.
John Tollett from Santa Fe
with the linoleum squares
to make a two color relief print
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Greta Young gave me three carved linoleums while I was in Santa Fe, and I took them back to Albuquerque to print on the Tortilla Press:
I even mailed "6 x 6 inch" linoleum squares to Taos and Denver. We can send small prints and printmaking materials all over the world in the regular mail. And I can buy these materials right here in Albuquerque at Takach Press.
More Printmakers
The downtown Albuquerque Art Walk the following Friday (April 8, 2022), and I went looking to recruit Amy Maestas, and to hand her some "8 x 8 inch" linoleum squares and encourage her to make a print for our bucket. I had seen her on previous Art Walks, and also for the Southwest Print Fiesta 2021 in Silver City last October.
selling prints at the Albuquerque downtown Art Walk
on March 8, 2022
Amy Maestas also bought a metal Tortilla Press to make prints, after seeing Manuel Guerra and Horned Toad Prints making prints on the Tortilla Press at the Southwest Print Fiesta 2021:
Printing on a commercial metal tortilla press
Cut images ready to print
Tortilla Press printing
at the Hecho Gallery opening
Rich Hasler and I printed for two hours on the Tortilla Press for the grand opening of Hecho Gallery in Santa Fe, on April 1st, 2022, handing out free "8 x 8 inch" prints from 3GatosPress of Guadalajara. Thank you Rich!
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Julianna Kirwin of Albuquerque has contributed an "8 x 8 inch" print for our bucket. But hey, we aren't trying to hold her down to small sizes. She went up to Denver to make a huge print with Big Ink on April 3, 2022. Pictures on Instagram of the prints from Arvada/Denver.
Again, the goal is to show small "8 x 8 inch" prints and show them over long distances, as far as Guadalajara and Oaxaca. We can create small linoleum prints on the Tortilla Press, though any "8 x 8 inch" prints are more than welcome -- for our BUCKET EXHIBITIONS concept.
Prints to Come in July
Santa Fe
Axle Contemporary
Mobile Art Van
We will be showing our "8 x 8 inch" prints in the Axle Contemporary mobile art van in Santa Fe during the first half of July 2022. Currently the Axel art van is showing Julianna Kirwin's HerHistory paste-up prints:
We will be showing "8 x 8 inch" prints in Santa Fe
in the first half of July 2022
Julianna and Axle will have a live printing event on Sunday, May 8th, 11 AM - 3 PM at the Farmer's Market in the Santa Fe Rail Yard.
PRINT MATTERS FESTIVAL
in Santa Fe
The Axle Contemporary mobile art van will be parked next to the Print Matters Festival on July 10th, showing our print exhibition. We will be doing live Tortilla Press printing during the print market.
Skateboard Printing
In fact, I want to order a Skateboard Press from Joseph Velasquez to do live skateboard printing during the print market as well.
Joseph Velasquez's first live Skateboard Press event was back in 2018, when we hired him to make prints at our Desert Triangle Print Carpeta opening:
Other Print Activity
OPEN HOUSE
Remarque Print Workshop
Remarque Print Workshop in Albuquerque will be having an Open House on Saturday, April 30th, 2022 -- from 2 - 4 PM. They are inviting the public to see the wonderful world of printmaking and encourage artists to join the studio. We are very fortunate to have such a printmaking studio in Albuquerque as they don't exist in all cities:
Pavel Acevedo
Interview
Also Pavel Acevedo is interviewed on Hello Print Friend (Instagram link). Pavel connected us with the Oaxaca artists, which lead to a lot of print interaction, culminating so far in the Ambos Lados International Print Exchange between Mexican and US printmakers.
Pavel also has a show in Los Angeles at Espacio 1839 -- Chaneque -- on April 15th, 2022. He is always exhibiting.
Mike Kimball
Silk Screening Workshops
Mike Kimball is giving several silk screen classes at Santa Fe Community College starting on April 14th, 2022 -- more information at Santa Fe Hand Prints.
EXPERIMENTS
Laserpecker
The linoleum that I buy at Takach Press is safe to cut on the laser cutter, as it does not create any poisonous chlorine gas. I have been using the big laser cutter at Quelab to cut linoleum squares which I later printed.
However I wanted to see if I could use the Laserpecker portable pocket laser cutter to make relief linoleum plates to print on the laser cutter. Tim made a quick laser cut on a coffee holder at VM Coffee back in 2021. So I asked him if we could try that again on his Laserpecker, on a linoleum square.
We took a picture of Tim and reduced that to black-and-white on hit smart phone. The smart phone then sends the image to the Laserpecker via Bluetooth.
We laser cut this photograph
into a piece of linoleum
The pocket Laserpecker
cutting into linoleum
After an hour the Laserpecker had only cut half the image into the linoleum square. Moreover the cut wasn't deep enough to ink and print -- therefore I intended to hand cut the white areas out, and make a relief print that way:
Only half the image was cut/etched
an hour later on the Laserpecker
Stained with red acrylic paint
and begun cutting by hand
Printed on the Tortilla Press
inside a $2 Walmart frame
I believe that we translated the image into a vector file, which is why the beard is outlined. However the dark fill was cut like a raster file, going back and forth, line by line, taking forever.
Printfoam
Russ teaches elementary school and recommended using Printfoam by Inovart to make quick relief prints -- Dick Blick sells twelve sheets of 12" x 18" for $20, which we can cut down to 72 "six by six inch" squares. Artists would just draw directly into the foam to make the image, the process is pretty quick and simple as seen in this video. We might be able to use Styrofoam plates to do the same thing. This would be a way to make almost instant prints on the Tortilla Press for the Print Matters Festival in Santa Fe in July.
Pull Knives for Linocuts
Speedball makes some knives one can pull, instead of push, to make linocuts -- Linozips.
Musing: Could I paint the linoleum with "water soluble graphite," erase and manipulate that before cutting? That might work better than painting with gouache.
I am a Troublemaker,
not a Printmaker
Again, I am not a printmaker. Real printmakers have skills, I'm just trying to agitate the artists. My interest is to exhibit, especially over long distances, and spark art dialog.
This packet of seven prints
is going to Monterrey, Mexico
in the regular mail
Some of that print stimulus could lead to bigger prints or paintings. The small "8 x 8 inch" prints aim to spark bigger things -- Jorge Perez (Yorch) made a print of this image first, before painting it huge on the banks of the Rio Grande, getting the attention of pedestrians walking between El Paso to Juarez:
More, more, more...
Rogo making prints in Tucson
on the Tortilla Press
Rogo printing
Wedding
Eric Koenig and his step daughter Ella carved the linoleum squares I sent to Denver, and we printed them on the Tortilla Press during Eric and Meg's wedding, on April 16th in Albuquerque:
Even my friend Eric Koenig up in Denver
is getting into linocut prints
Eric Tortilla Printing his linocut
Eric carved this linocut
Siobhan making one of Eric's prints
Ella's brother
holding up the print that she carved
Ella carved this linocut
Galeria Cinco Puntos in El Paso is showing prints from Coatepec, Mexico -- opening on Thursday, April 28th, 2022, 6 PM, 822 N Piedras:
Coatepec is where La Ceiba Grafica lithography studio complex is, where Manuel Guerra made his lithograph for the Desert Triangle Print Carpeta.
- Registration open for the Southwest Print Fiesta, October 7 - 10, 2022. The SWPF print exchange of "8 x 8 inch" prints costs $35 to participate, and the sign up deadline is June 30th, 2022.
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