Copper Plates Ready to Print

One of the interesting moments in intaglio printing is how beautiful and luminous copper plates are when they are inked up and ready to print. Warm and reflecting, with black incised lines, ready to have the ink pulled out of the lines - it's always tempting to simply leave them inked up and beautiful.

 But then I remember that after I've printed them, I will always be inking them up again anyways. And now I have prints to colour and cut and fold too!

Letterpress Demos

Concordia University has a hidden letterpress room. Squeezed in a small room, tucked away between intaglio and lithography, 2 Vandercook Universals and drawers of metal and wood type are just waiting to be found. It's amazingly satisfying to see your own writing set in type and then printed over and over again. The above galley has one of my own poems, 'Retroactive Love', set out in several different fonts and sizes.

 

Over the last year, I've had the opportunity to teach letterpress to design students and print students, often with the assistance of fellow printmaker and writer Alexis Williams, who wrote the 'Alligator' text above.

 One of the most satisfying parts of teaching demonstrations is happening to walk by the room and have someone come out and show you where they've taken their new letterpress skills. It also means I always have cool new letterpress samples to put on my fridge!

Copper Plate in Progress

A city is growing between my ribs at the studio these days...

NYC Maker Faire

 On September 21 & 22, my paper Montreal and I went to visit the New York Hall of Science as an exhibitor and pop-up demonstrator at the MYC Maker Faire 2013!

In addition to exhibiting my own artwork, I gave a series of free demonstrations, where people could sit and create their own pop-up cards with me. People of all ages got to take home their own fearsome shark, or their own cityscape - and some umbrellas too!

Showing my lifesize pop-up people and their surrounding neighbourhoods was an amazing way to connect with other makers, especially papercraft artists! One beautiful origami piece was by a fellow Canadian named Jonas Lobo. He had a beautiful round folded piece of paper that slowly breathed:
(http://makerfaire.com/makers/giant-dynamic-interactive-origami-sculpture/)

And a tiny city-builder, by the name of Wurlington Press!

 As well as the Life-Size MouseTrap performance troupe all the way from San Francisco!

There was an amazing kids-only Robot Foundry, with the ROBOT of FREE HUGS!

And the Texas Bike Zoo's 2-person butterfly bikes - which I could seriously have ridden all the way back to Canada in!

And of course - delicious food trucks!

The NYC Maker Faire was a pretty magical weekend to spend in NYC - and I hope the people who learned how to make their own pop-ups make some magic of their own!

Finished a version of 'Inner Cities' and I've uploaded it on Vimeo.

https://vimeo.com/72005553

Enjoy!

Inner City Stop Animation in progress

A preview of what I've been working on in my studio!

A Merit Badge-Making Machine!

The side project of merit badges has brought a lot of colour and happiness to my down-time. Sewing away on the metro, cutting badges out during slow moments at work, and seeing badges go home with people really brightens my day. And gives me the PERFECT EXCUSE to go to art supply stores!!