By appointment only. Email industries@as220.org to set up a time to visit. If you are already a member, please book time 48 hours in advance on Booked.
We are located on the 1st and 2nd floors of the Mercantile Building at 131 Washington St. in downtown Providence. Our main entrance is at the rear of the Mercantile, on Lucie Way, a pedestrian walkway accessed via Mathewson St. For elevator and handicapped access, use the front entrance of the Mercantile Building.
Michael Ezzell is an illustrator and printmaker from Elkhart, IN. He graduated with a B.F.A. from the Savannah College of Art & Design and currently resides in Providence, RI.
Michael is a key member at AS220, where he uses the community printshop and other resources to create various illustrations and products.
The concepts for his illustrations that evokes visual elements from history’s most fashionable and decadent periods. He strives to bring to paper all the characters and fantasies of his imagination, combining humor, nonsense, and attitude with fashion and beauty.
“Paper Shuttle was conceived with the intention of creating a line of beautifully crafted goods that tell obscure and strange stories. Inspired by mythology, folk lore and fairytales, our products interpret iconic stories and shed new light on lesser-known ones.”
Product packaging printed at the AS220 Community Printshop.
Lunar Calendar printed at the AS220 Community Printshop.
Screenprinting is a versatile process that can be used to transfer graphic images to paper, wood, and fabric. It is ideal for making t-shirts, posters, coasters, greeting cards/stationery, and more. The AS220 Printshop offers monthly classes in screenprinting. The next class is Thursday July 10th and 17th from 6-10pm.
This course provides a comprehensive introduction to screen printing in two sessions. (This class is also offered as a one-day intensive.) Participants will design, print, and exchange a two-color print with a maximum dimension of 8″ x 10″. The first class will be dedicated to designing and creating stencils by hand or with the laser copier. Participants spend the second class learning proper printing techniques and registration, and troubleshooting. The workshop will end with a print exchange.
On Wednesday, June 18th from 6-10pm, the AS220 Printshop is offering a course in Cyanotype. Cyanotype, a photographic printing process that results in a cyan-blue print, is the perfect place to start an education in alternative (non-silver) photographic processes. Not only is this alternative process low in cost and simple to master, but it creates beautiful and distinctive results. This class will be of interest to both photographers looking to broaden their printing options, and print based artists looking to add a photographic element to their work.
The class will begin with a discussion on sourcing, mixing and storing of the chemistry used in preparing the photographic emulsion. Then basic digital negative preparation and enlargement will be covered, along with available options for printing. This course will use a UV light source in the printshop, but printing with sunlight will also be discussed.
Once prints have been made, the techniques of bleaching and toning will be demonstrated and practiced. Finishing techniques will be discussed, touching upon the archival qualities of the prints, to conclude the class.
LindseyBeal is a photo-based artist living and working in Providence, Rhode Island. She has an M.F.A. in Photography from the University of Iowa and completed a Certificate in Book Arts at the University of Iowa’s Center for the Book.
Her work focuses on historical and contemporary women’s lives and feminism. She combines traditional photography (analogue, digital and historical processes) with installation and sculpture to create non-traditional photographic work, trying to find a balance between concept and craft. This work often includes papermaking, printmaking and artist books.
Her work can be found nationally in various public and private collections and she is represented by Boston’s Panopticon Gallery.
September 30, 2013
News: SIGN UP FOR INTRO TO SILKSCREEN!
Haven’t you always wanted to learn how to silkscreen? Print your own posters, shirts, books and zines, cards and stationary, and get them all out into the world!
Screenprinting is a versatile process that can be used to transfer graphic images to paper, wood, and fabric. It is ideal for making t-shirts, posters, coasters, greeting cards/stationery, and more. Bring an idea and something you want to print on and we’ll show you how it’s done.
This course provides a two-week comprehensive introduction to screen printing. Participants will design, print, and exchange a multiple color print with a maximum dimension of 8″ x 10″. The morning will be dedicated to creating hand-drawn or laser printed stencils focusing on the design of a multiple color print. Participants spend the afternoon learning proper printing techniques, troubleshooting, and tips for registration. The workshop will end with a print exchange.
Supplies you will need to purchase
imagery to work from – illustrations or computer files on a flash drive or in your email. Keep it simple at first: 2 colors, text should be at least 8pt, avoid very thin line work.
opaque drawing tools (your choice of oil-based paint marker, poster paint marker, rapidograph pens, fast drying ink for film)
acetate, frosted mylar for drawing designs (you may also print out or photocopy images onto acetate using our laser printer; see Supplies we provide below)
opaque drawing tools (your choice of paint marker, fast drying ink for film, rapidograph pens)
acrylic or textile printing ink, any color; Speedball brand recommended
paper (any type will work, Bristol pads, printmaking papers) and/or other materials to print on (t-shirts, fabric, pillowcases, etc.)
Supplies we provide:
to transfer images to acetate via laser printer/copier, we sell 8.5″ x 11″ acetates for $1 each
screens
squeegees
spatulas, spoons, ink mixing containers and implements
photo-emulsion
scoop coaters
stencil remover
degreaser
rags, sponges, brushes, etc.
May 22, 2013
News: Summer Silkscreen Classes for Kids and Teens
The AS220 Industries is expanding their course offerings to include classes for children. Printshop Keymember Kara Dunne will be teaching two silkscreen classes in the Printshop in July, one for children ages 8-12 and another for teens. In these classes, students will learn the basics of screen printining and be able to print their own artwork. AS220 Printshop Manager Lara Henderson sat down with Kara Dune to ask her some questions about her upcoming classes.
What can kids expect to learn in this class?
Students will learn the ins and outs of screen-printing, and how to apply the technique to what they want to make. Each student will have their own unique idea of what to print and what to print on; another reason why I love teaching screen-printing to kids and teens. First we will use ‘the old school’ way of printing so that they can use this method at home. Students will focus mainly on the photo-sensitive process of screen-printing- the beautiful and simple process that takes place in the AS220 Printshop. Utilizing the special facilities and materials supplied at the Printshop, the students will develop their drawings and designs onto light sensitive screens with the help of an exposure unit. After they’ve developed their screens, they will learn the proper printing techniques of screen-printing. And then it’s off to the races! And printing printing printing. What will they get to leave the class with?
They can expect to come home with a box of cool stuff, jam packed with awesome crazy colorful stationary and cards, as well as bright and bold t-shirts, hats, sweatshirts, you name it. For wearables, like t-shirts, they just have to bring that stuff in. They can bring in a few boring old white t-shirts they’ve had forever and go home with a brand new wardrobe. The best part is that they will be able to take what they’ve learned about screen-printing, and make their own t-shirts or cards at home. And teach their parents, friends and siblings!
Can you give a background on your experience teaching kids and teens about silkscreen?
I started teaching silk-screen at a summer camp when I was 18. I taught there for many summers. I’ve been teaching both middle school and high school art classes now at a school south of Providence for three years. We don’t have the kind of equipment AS220 has, but the great thing about screen-printing is that you don’t need fancy facilities to make t-shirts and simple prints, you just need patience and time. I love teaching both age groups because they come to their art instruction with such enthusiasm and love for making things they can take home. Both kids and teens desperately seek a way in which to express themselves, and screen-printing is an excellent way for young people to do just that.
In what ways will the two classes (children and teens) be different?
Both classes will make crazy cool t-shirts and stationary. The teen class will go a bit further and address multi-colored printing methods. They will learn how to make a fine art print that has multiple layers. This is of course for them to take home and give to their parents who may be jealous of their crazy cool t-shirts.
Why is screen-printing a great option for kids?
They love that their drawing or design can show up on a t-shirt, on a poster for their room, on a postcard they send out to their friends. There is so much artistic license that comes with screen-printing, and it’s an excellent way for kids to express themselves.
Alex Lukas is AS220?s Artist in Residence for March. Lukas hails from Cambridge, received a degree in Illustration from RISD, and is now based out of Philadelphia. His work has been featured in Juxtapoz Magazine, the Portland Mercury, the Boston Globe, and many other publications.
Alex will present a series of offset lithograph prints that he has produced on our offset press, this Thursday evening at 6pm in the 95 Empire Black Box Theater. He’ll also screen footage from a film documenting the abandoned East Side Railroad tunnel. He sat down with Printshop Manager Lara Henderson for this interview.
You’ve been at AS220 now for a little under a month. Can you talk about what you’ve been working on?
I’ve been working a lot on the offset press with Jacque, which has been really exciting for me. I’ve watched an offset press run, but never operated one myself. I’ve also been collaborating with my friend Ryan Sheapare, attempting to do a movie in the East Side Railway Tunnel, but it’s been a learning experience without many concrete results.
Talk about your experience here with offset printing, and what you’ve learned.
I’m really excited by the offset process. From a background making ‘zines, offset is this unobtainable medium, because commercially, you have minimums of a thousand, and it’s so expensive. But offset has the means to reproduce images in a way other mediums can’t replicate, and colors layer up in a way that I’m not used to thinking about with silkscreen. It’s really exciting for me to have access to a tool that I wouldn’t otherwise, and learning how to actually work the press, which I am by no means perfect at yet, has influenced the process. Actually doing it yourself is much more rewarding than just sending off a file. Continuing to figure out the technical intricacies is something I’m really excited for.
In Philadelphia you were involved with Space 1026. What are some ways that AS220 and Space 1026 are similar or different?
There seems to be a similarity in like-minded people, but the goals are different. I really buylevitra like that AS220 has it’s shit together. That isn’t to say 1026 doesn’t by any means, but the goals are very different, even if they start from a similar place. AS220 seems to be really striving to be out in the community and accessible to all. Space 1026 has always existed as an artist collective with studios, a collectively-run gallery, and a printshop, but we don’t really have the infrastructure to make our printshop accessible to the public or the space to really grow. It’s great to come here and see people teaching classes, sharing knowledge, and using an organized system to reserve time. And the sort of dialogue that happens when you aren’t just making stuff around people from the same background as you. Not to talk ill on 1026, which I’ve loved and had a long relationship with, but it’s so exciting to see a place realizing a lot of the ideas we’ve talked about at 1026 but never had materialize.
What’s next for you?
I have a gallery show in May in San Francisco. But more immediately, my plan for this week is to work on some pages for a ‘zine on the offset press. While in Providence I’ve been walking around a lot and taking pictures. The way I make a lot of my work is by alternating periods of making in the studio and periods of gathering. This has been a great month for gathering ideas. And certainly making stuff, but getting a lot of ideas for stuff to make in the future.
We hope to have you come back and use the offset press!
Yeah, I think that gets at what is so nice about AS220. At other places it seems like you take a class, and then you take another class, and then if you want, you take another class. I really like that the AS220 Printshop is geared towards taking a class to learn a skill, and then using it on your own. So yeah, I’ll be back.
March 14, 2013
News: Papermaking with artist May Babcock
Interview of May Babcock AS220 Printshop Instructor, by AS220 Printshop Intern Alison Nitkiewicz
After a successful, sold-out workshop in February, artist May Babcock is returning to the printshop this spring to teach another all-day papermaking workshop. Participants will learn a variety of hand-papermaking methods including basic sheet formation and pulp painting techniques. Students will be able to make as many sheets as possible over the course of the 8-hour class.
May Babcock is a fine artist specializing in printmaking, papermaking, book arts and video. Babcock graduated from the University of Connecticut in Storrs with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting and printmaking. Directly after, she joined the graduate printmaking program at the Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, earning her Masters of Fine Arts degree in 2011. She has taught courses in all forms of printmaking, papermaking, drawing and two-dimensional design. Babcock has exhibited work nationally and internationally, and also enjoys working collaboratively with her peers. She currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island.
What first got you interested in papermaking?
I went to graduate school at Louisiana State University for printmaking, which shares a space with fantastic large-format papermaking equipment. After working on a collaborative paper and woodcut print project with a fellow grad student (who specialized in sculptural papermaking), I was in love with handmade paper. From then on, I was making paper and pulp paintings together with my prints and book forms.
What are the advantages of printing on handmade paper?
Making your own paper is all about control over your substrate, visually and conceptually. Creating handmade papers for printmaking adds another variable that you can play with. Decide the size, color, shape, texture, surface, opacity, dimensionality, weight…the list of techniques and possibilities are limitless. Also, the fiber you choose for your paper can carry meaning, meaning that can expand and intensify the content in a print or artist book. For instance, paper can be made from recycled clothing, plant fibers from specific places, and reconstituted papers. Paper has the potential to be something more than a static surface, allowing a print to become a physical object for deeper contemplation.
Here are a few examples: Richard Long, Papers of River Muds Combat Paper Project John Risseeuw Megan Singleton
How accessible is papermaking? Will students be able to use these techniques at home?
Papermaking can be surprisingly simple! With just a few basic pieces of equipment, almost anyone can start making handmade paper in their kitchen, basement, or backyard. I make a point to include a “how to make paper at home” lecture in workshops that don’t take place in a paper studio. Most are items you might already have, or that you can inexpensively make yourself. Of course, with more specialized papermaking equipment, one can create higher quality papers, larger quantities, bigger sheets, and use a wider range of techniques with greater ease.
How does making your own paper tie into your own artistic process?
May Babcock Bagasse Pour, 2011 Papercast, Charcoal, 15′ x 4′
Much of my work begins with a specific site, where I collect materials and draw the surroundings to gain a psychological impression of a place, and poignant evidence of human activity. As a printmaker and papermaker, I like to see my work as an adventurous hybrid between the two processes, and experimentation in the studio invigorates my artistic process. The collected fibers turn into paper pulp, pulp used for casting carved woodcuts and forming irregular sheets for prints and book-forms. For instance, in South Louisiana I made bagasse fiber paper (bagasse is leftover from processing sugar cane) for large-scale woodcuts of abandoned sugar mills, and other rusting remnants of agriculture and commerce. Recently, I have been intrigued by Phragmites australis, an invasive aquatic plant in Rhode Island, found along shoreline sites disturbed by construction, ditching marshes, and other interruptions in the landscape.
The next Papermaking workshop will take place on May 25th from 10am to 6pm. Be sure to visit the AS220 Shop class description and reserve your spot today!
March 3, 2013
News: From Layout to Binding- Make 200 Books at the Printshop
Twice a year, the AS220 Community Printshop offers a unique course in Book Production for six participants. In the seven week course, students produce colorful ‘zines or artists’ books in an edition of 200. The first two classes are taught by Lara Henderson. Through bookbinding demonstrations, participants fold and bind paper in imaginative ways to create book structures perfect for editioning. Next, files are formatted for the press using Adobe Creative Suite. An example of this can be seen in the image on the left, a printer spread for a book designed by shop member Aaron DeMuth.
The next five weeks are spent on the press with Jacque Bidon, learning how to run the ABDick 9850 Offset Press, a commercial press capable of creating hundreds of prints in a matter of minutes. Each student gets six press runs during the class, enough to make a book up to 48 pages in length! After printing the content for a book or ‘zine, finishing processes are covered including folding using our pneumatic machine, binding using our saddle stitch stapler, and trimming on the guillotine. Also included in the cost of the class is a private 1:1 session with Jacque focused on the workings of the press – a $120 value. Participants leave this class with a stack of 200 finished books, collated, trimmed, and bound, ready to release into the world.
Jacque Bidon is a commercial printer who left the world cutthroat deadlines and designers to work with artists sharing his love of offset printing. Jacque believes in the power of printing to change just about anything.
Lara Henderson is a book artist based in Providence, RI. In 2010, she completed her MFA at the University of the Arts for their Book Arts/ Printmaking, focusing on book structures and offset lithography. Her books have been collected by libraries across the world. She is currently employed as the AS220 Community Printshop Manager, where she continues to publish her work.
Book Production runs on Wednesdays, April 17th, 24th, May 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th: 6pm-10pm. The cost is $225. Reserve your spot today on our online shop. If you are not familiar with the Adobe Suite, the Media Arts class in Adobe Illustrator will help you with Book Production.
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January 16, 2013
News: The AS220 Printshop is recruiting Monitor Members
The AS220 Printshop’s next Monitor Training is Friday, January 25th at 10am, and there are two offerings in February. The Shop Manager will walk you through the multiple areas of the shop and explain the various monitor tasks that happen in each area. Some printmaking experience is helpful. Monitor Members exchange volunteer hours for reduced monthly membership fees. Come learn more about the shop and see if a monitor membership is right for you!
Monitors “staff” the Printshop, providing guidance and support to new users and enabling access for regular monthly members. In addition to monthly dues, Monitors commit to two 4 hr volunteer shifts and participation at 2-3 meetings per month.
Monitor Memberships require a three month commitment.
Every month we schedule two 4 hour free Printshop Monitor trainings. You can find and register for these trainings via AS220′s online store, where they are listed alongside the Printshop’s workshop offerings. Simply select the one that works for you.
January 2, 2013
News: Intro to Offset Printing – Sign up today!
ATTN book artists, zine makers, poster designers, and anyone with schemes of mass production: our Intro to Offset class begins January 9th and there is still space available! Not only will you be able to produce hundreds of prints in mere minutes, you will klonopintabs also learn to fold on a pneumatic folding machine and use pre-press software. Think how much more efficient you could be in 2013! Register through the online shop: http://shop.as220.org/collections/workshops-printshop/products/intro-to-offset
Photo taken by Jason Freedman, student in the October Intro to Offset class.
November 15, 2012
News: Traditional meets High-Tech
The AS220 Industries provides affordable access to studio space, tools of the trade, varied training opportunities, and offers a diverse and dynamic environment for learning, creating, and sharing.
On one side is the Printshop, which offers access to traditional printmaking equipment. On the other side is the Labs, a high-tech fabrication and engineering studio which offers public access to a laser cutter, and other CNC machinery.
There is now crossover happening between the two spaces. Traditional printmaking techniques viagragen taking advantage of modern technology, using digital technologies to engrave designs into wood plates with the laser cutter.
Here are photos from our November session of Laser Cut Relief printing, a crossover workshop at the AS220 Industries. The class is running again in January!
If you have any questions about the workshop, please contact:
Printshop Manager – Lara Henderson – lara@as220.org
Labs Manager – James Rutter – james@as220.org
