I recently had the pleasure of digitally designing a broadside poster to promote Press Here: Atlanta Printmakers’ Process 2020, which is an exhibition showing in the Dalton Gallery at Agnes Scott College. Press Here centers artists’ responses to the events of 2020, in particular the personal and cultural effects of the pandemic, as well as the collective revolt against police brutality and the oppression of folks who are BIPoC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) in this country and across the world. Here is a link to the gallery’s description of the show.
As I looked through the Press Here exhibition catalogue, I noticed some recurring themes emerging in the artists’ work. 2020 was a year of speaking out, of making change, of voicing discontent with the injustices of the status quo. I realized that beyond its initial reference to printmaking, the phrase Press Here can also mean to confront, to agitate, to draw attention to things that are hurting – like pressing on a bruise. Press Here can mean to push back against, to resist.
Printmaking is a revolutionary medium. Because of its utilitarianism, printmaking has held a key role as a tool for both public and underground communication in social movements throughout history. It allows for ideas to be clearly represented in a fast, relatively inexpensive way that can be accessed by people of differing education levels, geographic locations, and socio-economic classes. It naturally lends itself to reproduction, which facilitates the spreading of information. In contrast to art forms which might appeal to the wallets (and thus the worldviews) of wealthy art collectors and gallery owners, printmaking considers the many; it often values the collective experience over that of the individual.
Especially when creating work to distribute to the masses, printmaking is a labor-intensive process. Large-scale printmaking benefits from cooperation and collaboration; print studios are places where people with varying abilities and perspectives can join together to make their voices heard. I am interested in the ways that printmaking spaces can function as sites of community organizing, and I decided to explore these notions in my broadside design.
When setting intentions for the content and aesthetic of my image, my main priority was to create appeal. Since the poster’s design parameters required the inclusion of only the words “Press Here” and a QR code leading to more information about the show, I needed to make it intriguing enough to pique a passerby’s curiosity enough for them to want to pause and investigate it further. I wanted to make the image warm and inviting, and create a space that looks like it would welcome the viewer in. Throughout my research process, I gathered a collection of reference images including storybook illustrations, folk art, historical depictions of printers’ studios, and numerous hand-cut relief prints. In composing my image, I attempted to balance whimsy with realism and invoke the magic of the print shop. I referenced lino- and woodcut rendering styles and let my hand show in my markmaking as my way of paying homage to traditional printmaking methods.
Below is an accelerated time lapse video which shows my development of the image in Procreate (before I adjusted the white balance in a photo editing application as a final touch to make the end result slightly warmer).
Here is a link to the main collection of images which I used to inform my process.
Here is a link to my process log post which shows more detail on the development of this project.
