We exhibited those small prints in modest venues -- as documented on the BUCKET EXHIBITIONS blog:
Framed prints look better. Thus the backbone of the concept was the $2 frames from Walmart, 13 of which fit in a 12 quart Igloo cooler/bucket from Target:
fit in the Igloo bucket from Target
Takach Press cut down linoleum sheets into 6x6 inch squares, which I handed out to the artists. We then carved and printed a lot of those linocuts with a Tortilla Press on 8x8 inch paper (Rives Lightweight White) during the drawing sessions in Albuquerque:
Three plastic boxes contain all the material I need to make 8x8 inch prints with the Tortilla Press:
Mobile Studio Fit --
three boxes of printmaking materials
fit nicely in my Honda Fit
so I can print anywhere
P R I N T
PRODUCTION
I approached a lot of artists and asked them to carve 6x6 inch squares of linoleum, to print on 8x8 inch paper, and the rest unfolded from there:
Marcus Robiason carving expanded PVC foam at the Cartel Coffee house in downtown Tucson:
at the Cartel Coffee house in Tucson
I supported the previous 8x8 inch print project -- the AMBOS LADOS International Print Exchange -- which was organized between El Paso and Oaxaca. The BUCKET EXHIBITIONS project is really the sequel to Ambos Lados. We exhibited the 158 prints from Ambos Lados at the Outpost Performance Space in Albuquerque:
We printed some of our first BUCKET PRINTS during the opening of Ambos Lados at the Outpost Performance Space, on February 6, 2022:
Henry Morales was our resident print expert, and often printed linocuts with the Tortilla Press during model breaks at the North Fourth Art Center drawing sessions on Thursday nights:
Henry Morales
printing with a modified Tortilla Press
Printing one of Rich's figure drawings at North Fourth Art Center:
Rich's linocut of a figure drawing
came out quite nicely
We also had pop-up print shows during the drawing sessions at the North Fourth Art Center in Albuquerque:
Pop-up of 8x8 inch prints,
with a larger print by Mario Perez of El Paso
(and a framed color print by Krrrl)
Dennis Liberty carved his figure drawing at Slow Burn Coffee in Albuquerque:
Rich and Krrrl printed on the Tortilla Press during the Grand Opening of Hecho Gallery in Santa Fe on April 1st, and handed out free prints of linocuts carved by Tres Gatos Press of Guadalajara. (Previously in August 2021 we made free prints in front of Hecho A Mano gallery on Canyon Road):
Rich printing on a Tortilla Press
during the Grand Opening of Hecho Gallery in Santa Fe
It was always a godsend when Henry Morales worked the the Tortilla Press during the drawings sessions at North Fourth Art Center:
John Tollett of Santa Fe, showing off his plates to make two-color 8x8 inch relief prints:
Robert Atkinson carving a linocut at Tractor Brewery:
We printed live for the wedding of Eric and Meg in Albuquerque on April 16th:
Ken Romig creates a masterpiece during the drawing session at the North Fourth Art Center:
Mark Woody got into carving and printing linocuts at the North Fourth Art Center:
The idea was to be quick and portable, so that we could carve at coffee houses for instance:
We also printed for Greta Young and other Santa Fe printmakers:
I took the Tortilla Press and made prints with the visitors to the Open House at Remarque Print Workshop in Albuquerque on April 30th:
Mark Woody and Rich printing during the drawing session at North Fourth Art Center:
Kevin Cochran carved this linoleum square during the second-to-last pose of the drawing session, and printed it before the last pose began -- it was a great print:
Tim encouraged us to exhibit the 8x8 inch prints we produced during the drawing sessions, and gave us our first big show at the North Fourth Art Center, May and June 2022:
Ethan broke in the Skateboard Press at the Quelab table during the Sunday Rail Yards Market in Albuquerque. Robert Atkinson made the Skateboard Press at Quelab:
Juliana Coles prints during the drawing session at North Fourth Art Center:
We had a pop-up exhibition of 8x8 inch Mexican prints during the drawing session at the North Fourth Art Center in Albuquerque:
Julianna Kirwin created an 8x8 inch print for us in her studio in Albuquerque:
We printed live in Santa Fe during the PRINTED MATTERS Festival in Santa Fe on July 10th. Tim Torres demonstrated the Skateboard Press and Rich printed with the Tortilla Press:
Printing with a Tortilla Press again, during the drawing session at the North Fourth Art Center:
Taking full advantage of the 21st Century, I bought a portable laser cutter -- Laserpecker 2 -- to engrave one of Ken Romig's drawings into linoleum and make prints.
Kirsten painted on the linoleum with ink during the drawing session at her house, and then carved out the dark lines to make a nice print:
We also had pop-up print shows during the drawing sessions at the North Fourth Art Center, of the prints made by North Fourth artists:
The print on the right
Virgil Velasco made an 8x8 print and to contribute to our bucket:
We then exhibited the prints created at the North Fourth Art Center at the Los Griegos library in Albuquerque, in August and September 2022:
Holly Grimm of Santa Fe sent me this image created with AI, which I engraved into linoleum with the laser cutter at Quelab, and made a print with the Tortilla Press:
Cody Kamrowski creates a print on the Skateboard Press during the model break at the drawing session at the North Fourth Art Center:
creating a print with the Skateboard Press
I created more fake AI prints, pushing into the 21st Century:
Henry Morales carved a portrait of the model into expanded PVC foam, printed it, and gave it to the model at the end of the session:
The model holding a portrait of himself
carved and printed by Henry Morales
Henry Morales would also have drawing sessions in his printmaking studio in Albuquerque, and printed before and after the sessions.
printing on Henry Morale's press
Rich experiments and draws on a 6x6 inch square of expanded PVC foam, gouging it deep enough with a ball point pen to ink and print. This is an alternative way of making a relief print without using knives:
Rogo from Tucson has been creating 8x8 inch prints up in Phoenix on the Tortilla Press which he built:
Henry Morales pulls off another miracle at the North Fourth Art Center, scratching into expanded PVC foam and printing the plate before the end of the session. The model returned to Santa Fe that night with a nice print of herself:
Continuing to experiment, Adric of Quelab tried to etch an aluminum business card with Gallium (element 31), after I laser etched off the black coating. There is probably a way to make this work, but we were not successful on the first try:
I used AI to correct and improve my bad prints, and then laser engraved the result into linoleum to make a physical print:
I also continued to experiment by drawing with a ball point pen into expanded PVC foam at Henry Morales' studio:
I drew the model with a ball point pen
into expanded PVC foam
and printed at Henry Morales' studio
It was easier to draw into Styrofoam, so at Quelab we drew into Styrofoam plates and printed them on copy paper. The results were pretty good, and I was DELIGHTED by the quick turnaround:
made a beautiful print at Quelab
from drawing into a Styrofoam plate
The next night we drew the model into Styrofoam at the North Fourth Art Center and produced a lot of prints:
THOUGHTS
Looking back we had a big year generating small prints for pop-up exhibitions. I packed all the necessary printmaking supplies in three boxes, which fit nicely in my car. Thus it was easy to drive them to locations in Albuquerque and Santa Fe and make prints anywhere we could set up a table.
Moreover we are fortunate to have Takach Press in Albuquerque, where we can buy printmaking supplies in person. Considering this tremendous resource, Albuquerque should should be a bigger printmaking town, and we are doing our part to make that happen.
We have also been pushing into the 21st Century by experimenting with other materials, . I bought a portable Laserpecker 2 laser cutter to burn surfaces for relief printmaking. We have been making images with the AI art programs, then laser engraving them into linoleum for printing. I bought expanded PVC foam at Port Plastics in Albuquerque, and we have also experimented with print from Styrofoam plates. Each material has it's advantages and disadvantages. The strangest attempt so far was trying to etch aluminum with Gallium after laser engraving away the black coating -- this has not worked, yet.
Not all the prints were made in New Mexico. Manuel Guerra also solicited a lot of 8x8 inch prints down in El Paso, and we received many 8x8 inch prints from Mexico. Part of the goal is to stir up the Southwest printmakers and spark some dialogue in our Mountain Time region. Exhibition and dialogue are feasible since the smaller prints fit snuggly in a bucket, and travel nicely in the regular mail, even to and from Mexico.
Larger prints are more impressive, but they are harder to exhibit, which we know from showing the Desert Triangle Print Carpeta. However the smaller prints can also function as a window into the printmaker's oeuvre when the labeling leads viewers to the artist's blog, Instagram or Etsy websites. T
Tanya suggested that the framed 8x8 pop-up exhibitions are like tapas -- and maybe we should serve tapas and mezcal for the openings.
Smaller and quick printmaking workshops (say using Styrofoam plates) might be a kind of visual karaoke, warming the artists up and leading to bigger ideas and prints.
The Open Print Exchange of Germany may be besting us. They solicit even smaller prints -- 7x7 cm (2.7 x 2.7 inches) -- and ship them to exhibitions around the world. As they are moving more prints worldwide, they may be sparking more dialogue than we are with the BUCKET EXHIBITIONS. I have to commend them for that (and even submitted my own prints):
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