the printexpo 2021 conference took place on February 6. Recordings of the Conference sessions can be found here.
We also invite you to visit our YouTube channel for bonus printmaking demos and artist talks, and learn more about the lectures, panels, workshops, and demonstrations from the Conference below.
printexpo 2021 conference presents
Static-Dynamic
Artist Talk by Koichi Yamamoto
Well known for his meticulous copper engravings, large-scale monotypes, and elegant kite installations, printmaker Koichi Yamamoto investigates the dynamic quality of static objects through the symmetrical compositions of his works.
Meet the Speaker
Koichi Yamamoto (he/him/his) — Yamamoto merges the traditional and contemporary, creating unique and innovative approaches to the language of printmaking. His prints explore issues of the sublime, memory, and atmosphere, experimenting with scale, from small and meticulously engraved copper plates to large monotypes. He completed a BFA at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon and then moved to Krakow, Poland, later he studied engraving at the Bratislava Academy of Fine Arts in the Slovak Republic. Yamamoto also studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan, Poland and completed an MFA at the University of Alberta, Canada. In addition he has worked as a textile designer in Fredericia, Denmark. Yamamoto has exhibited internationally, and has taught at Utah State University and the University of Delaware. Currently, he serves as an Associate Professor at University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Wolfbat Blood
Demonstration by Dennis McNett of Wolfbat Studios
In this session, printmaking legend Dennis McNett will share tips and tricks for relief printmaking, as well as demonstrate how he created elaborate masks using print imagery in a recent collaborative project with Vans.
Meet the Speaker
Dennis McNett (he/him/his) — McNett graduated from Pratt institute with an MFA degree in 2004, where he taught until 2012. He has shown internationally including The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Me Collection Museum in Berlin, MOHS exhibit in Copenhagen, Galleria Patricia Armocida, Milano, Italy, and nationally including The Ft. Wayne Museum of Art, Museum of Print History, Houston, TX, Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, FL, and Jonathan LeVine Gallery, NYC, Known Gallery, LA. He has been interviewed and featured by the New York Times, Juxtapoz Magazine, NPR, the Houston Chronicle and other notable sources. McNett has also contributed as a visiting artist and lecturer at over thirty Universities, colleges and art centers such as RISD, Philadelphia Academy of Fine Art, Mexi-Arte Museum, Universidad De Monterrey Monterrey, Mexico, and the John Michelle Kohler Art Center. Aside from showing and contributing to fine art institutions, his work has filled the window displays of Barney’s in NYC, has been displayed on dozens of Antihero skateboards, can be found on murals/street in places such as NYC, Philadelphia and Richmond, VA.
Art As Activism: The Remix
Talk by Ann Johnson and Rabéa Ballin
“This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.” — Toni Morrison-1984.
The power of art in times of distress, resistance, and rebellion has reemerged. Ballin and Johnson will examine process, content and ultimately artists using their passion and creativity as a form of activism.
Meet the Speakers
Rabéa Ballin (she/her/hers), Professor or Art — Born in Germany, raised in Louisiana, Houston-based artist Rabéa Ballin earned her BFA in design at McNeese State University and her MFA in drawing and painting at the University of Houston. Her multi-disciplinary works explore the uniqueness of self-identity, hair politics, and social commentary. She documents these themes primarily through drawing, digital photography and various printmaking practices. In addition to working as an independent artist, she is a member of the all-female ROUX printmaking collective since 2011. Rabea has served as an artist board member at both Art League Houston and DiverseWorks, and has completed residencies at DiverseWorks, Tougaloo College and Project Row Houses. Rabea currently serves as department chair and assistant professor of art history and drawing at Lone Star College. She currently lives and works in Houston’s historical Third Ward community.
Ann Johnson (she/her/hers), Professor of Art — Born in London, England and raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Ann Johnson is a graduate of Prairie View A&M University in Texas, where she currently teaches. She earned an MFA from the Academy of Art University, in San Francisco. Primarily an interdisciplinary artist with an affinity for experimental printmaking. She has a passion for exploring issues particularly in the Black community. Her series It Is the Not Knowing That Burns My Soul, examining the “Black Indian, was included in Indivisible for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, and the International Review of African American Art. She has exhibited at The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, TX, Smack Mellon in Brooklyn, NY, Women and their work in Austin, TX, and the California African American Art Museum in Los Angeles, CA. Johnson is represented by Hooks Epstein Galleries, in Houston, TX, and Spillman Blackman in New Orleans, LA.
The History of Japanese Printmaking and Its Influence on French Impressionism
Lecture by Daryl Howard
Join Daryl Howard as she shares the development of the Japanese Print from its beginning to the current day. She will talk briefly about the technique itself and how it changed through history. She will relate how Impressionism rebelled against the French Academy and utilized many elements from the Japanese print to begin their new path.
Meet the Speaker
Dary Howard (she/her/hers) — After receiving her BFA from Sam Houston State University in 1970, Howard lived and taught art at an overseas school in Tokyo, Japan from 1971 to 1975. During this time Howard was introduced to a private collection of 18th and 19th century Ukiyo-e woodcuts. Feeling an immediate connection to the works of art and wanting to learn more about the woodblock printmaking process, she embarked on an apprenticeship with Master printmaker Hodaka Yoshida. By the time she left Japan, Howard had become proficient in the medium, well on her way to perfecting the painstaking demands of carving and printing. Returning to the states she entered graduate school in 1976 at the University of Texas at Austin.
Lego and Be
Demonstration by Martin Mazorra
In this 20-minute presentation, Brooklyn-based Artist Martin Mazorra will share how they came to terms with making art during quarantine without access to the tools and facilities traditionally used to make woodcuts and letterpress prints. By showing images of the steps and missteps, Mazorra will reveal how through mindful play they adapted toy Lego building blocks to stamp a richly layered multi-color series of Coney Island sideshow themed artworks. Following the presentation, there will be a 10-minute LIVE question and answer with the artist.
Meet the Speaker
Martin Mazorra (he/him/his or they/them/theirs) — Mazorra is a Brooklyn based artist originally from West Virginia. He works chiefly in the medium of woodcut and letterpress, in a range of scales from small books, prints on paper, prints on canvas, to site-specific print-based installations. He is the founder of Cannonball Press, formed in New York in 1999.
Born in Morgantown, WV, 1972. Martin has a BFA from West Virginia University 1994 and an MFA from The American University 1996. Currently, Martin teaches at Pratt Institute and Parson's School of Design in New York City. He has been invited to speak at distinguished institutions including the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and has been a visiting artist at numerous universities and colleges nationally and internationally. He has been the recipient of a NYFA Fellowship in Printmaking, Drawing and Artist Books, a United States Artists Ford Foundation Fellow, and the Marie Walsh Sharpe Studio grant. His work is in the collections of the Yale Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Taubman Museum, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, and others.
Re-Riding History: Matrix with Meaning
Panel by Emily Arthur, Marwin Begaye, and John Hitchcock
This panel discussion offers experience from contemporary Native printmakers who used the well known platform of the “print exchange” as a model for a curatorial project developed to introduce an indigenous perspective into museums, galleries and schools while acknowledging forgotten histories. The exhibition Re-Riding History is a contemporary response to a historical experience held intact within American Indian communities through oral history and art. Re-Riding History is an elucidation of contemporary works on paper that combine various printmaking methods with drawing, collage and photography, and include artists such as Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Mel Chin, Edgar Heap-of-Birds and Alison Saar.
Exhibition Book:
Dickinson College Bookstore "Re-Riding History: From the Southern Plains to the Matanzas Bay," Phillip Earenfight, Editor. Emily Arthur & Nancy Marie Mithlo.
Meet the Speakers
Emily Arthur (she/her/hers) — Arthur (Eastern Band Cherokee descent) is an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and chair of the printmaking area. Arthur received an MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and served as a Fellow at the Barnes Foundation for Advanced Theoretical and Critical Research. Additional education includes Rhode Island School of Design, University of Georgia and Tamarind Institute. Permanent collections include the Saint Louis Art Museum, Tweed Art Museum, Denver Art Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts. Curator Nancy Marie Mitho, PhD. writes “This attraction to the vulnerable and the traumatic is fueled by Arthur’s early exposure to artists such as Ana Mendieta and Janine Antoni, women who immerse their practice in natural materials, bodily engagement and social critique. Arthur frequently incorporates dirt into her prints, actively collecting what she terms “soil samples” from her travels throughout the American southeast, home to her Cherokee and European ancestors. Her family’s movement across this environment (North Carolina, Georgia and Florida) was an outcome of displacement – the government-forced relocation of east coast Cherokees to Indian Territories of Oklahoma. The multi-generational impact of these dislocations informs her attachment to the environment as a platform from which to speak.
Marwin Begaye (he/him/his) — Begaye is an Associate Professor of Printmaking and Painting. Begaye has received degrees in Illustration/Graphic Design (Art Institute of Pittsburgh, A.A., 1991), Painting (Institute of American Indian Arts, A.A., 1994, and University of Oklahoma, B.F.A., 2003) and Printmaking (University of Oklahoma, M.F.A., 2006). His research has been concentrated on the issues of cultural identity, especially the intersection of traditional American Indian culture and pop culture. He has also conducted research in the technical aspects of relief printing and the use of mixed-media. His work has been exhibited nationally across the U.S. and internationally in New Zealand, Argentina, Paraguay, and Estonia. He has received numerous awards, including the Oklahoma Visual Artists Coalition’s Visual Arts Fellowship (2007) and Red Earth (2009).
John Hitchcock (he/him,/his) — Hitchcock is a Professor and Associate Dean of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he has taught printmaking for twenty years. Hitchcock uses the print medium with its long history of commenting on social and political issues to explore his relationships to community, land, and culture. Hitchcock’s artwork consists of abstract representations, mythological hybrid creatures and military weaponry. His artworks are based on his childhood memories and stories of growing up in Oklahoma. Many of the images are interpretations of stories told by his Kiowa/Comanche grandparents and abstract representations influenced by beadwork, land, and culture. Hitchcock has made prints with MATRIX Press, Hannaher’s, Inc. Print Studio at Plains Art Museum and this summer with Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts.
DIY Rollers with Ross and Christina
Demonstration by Ross Mazzupappa and Christina Humble
Ross has worked to develop a DIY roller process that is affordable and accessible for most artists. He will be discussing the general process, and how the idea has developed over the past two years with the help of Christina assisting. This will primarily be an information session.
Meet the Speakers
Christina Humble (she/her/hers) — Humble received both her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Printmaking, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Education degree at Youngstown State University. She graduated from American University in Washington, DC with her Masters in Fine Arts in Studio Art. Christina is an interdisciplinary artist who works in drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, and video. The themes of her work are often based on self reflections and personal observations that she re-conveys into broader ideas about society. She has worked and shown nationally and internationally. Christina is currently an adjunct professor at Adrian College where she teaches foundations, 2D design, painting, and printmaking.
Ross Mazzupappa (he/him/his) — Mazzupappa is a multidisciplinary artist who incorporates printmaking, photography, and digital imaging. His work explores themes of labor, industry, place, memory, and history of the Rust Belt region. He attended Youngstown State University where he received a BFA in Studio Art Printmaking/Painting. Ross went on to receive a MA in Printmaking with a minor in Sculpture and an MFA in Printmaking with a minor in Photography from the University of Iowa. He is also a technical researcher and has developed several processes; including a photomechanical etching technique, affordable roller/brayer making, and various designs for specialized equipment. His work has been shown nationally and internationally in various juried exhibitions, portfolios, and collections. Ross is the Assistant Teaching Professor of Printmaking and Photography at BGSU since 2015.
Niche: Queer printmakers in dialogue
Panel Moderated by Veronica Ceci. Featuring Vanessa Adams, MC Carey, Ruben Castillo, Amy Cousins, and Mary Tremonte
Printmaking is a distinct community within the arts with its own lexicon, tools and character. Similarly, the Queer community also has its own vocabulary, equipment and spirit. When the two overlap, a remarkable niche is created. This panel discussion will explore that intersection as five Queer printmakers discuss how their unique identities have shaped their paths in art.
Meet the Speakers
Veronica Ceci (she/her) — Ceci is an intermedia artist based in Austin, TX, where she has been working as a Master Printer since 2004.
Vanessa Adams (they/them) — Adams is a queer printmaker from New Orleans, LA based in Pittsburgh, PA.
MC Carey (they/them) — Carey is a Fat, Black, Queer, and chronically ill printmaker, activist, and educator living and creating on Piscataway-Conoy stolen land, AKA Baltimore, MD.
Ruben Castillo (he/him) — Castillo is a visual artist based in Kansas City, MO working in print, drawing, installation, and video.
Amy Cousins (she/her) — Cousins is an artist and educator in Philadelphia making sculpture, prints, and installations that mine queer archives for liberatory and utopian potential.
Mary Tremonte (she/her) — Tremonte is an artist, educator, and DJ based in Pittsburgh.
Grab and Carve: Printing at Home with Styrofoam
Workshop by Ariel Spiegelman
In this workshop, you will create dynamic compositions by cutting and carving styrofoam plates, then printing them on paper. Get ready to explore, play, and learn the basics of printmaking. All ages welcome and no experience necessary.
Meet the Speaker
Ariel Spiegelman (she/her/hers) — Spiegelman is an artist, educator, and acts as the Art School Registration Coordinator at The Contemporary Austin. She aims to make art-making accessible to folks of all ages and backgrounds in the Austin area. As an Art School Faculty member, she teaches kids and adults classes from ages 4 to adult. Spiegelman makes prints in her home studio, where she has a small printing press.
How to set up a print shop
Talk by Carlos Hernandez, Liv Monique Johnson, and Tess Doyle of Burning Bones Press
The Burning Bones Press crew shares the ins and outs of setting up a print shop.
Meet the Speakers
Carlos Hernandez (he/him/his) — The work of Houston-based serigraphy artist, Carlos Hernandez, has been featured in the 2011 Communication Arts Typography annual, the 2011 & 2012 Communication Arts Illustration annual and was also recently published in the 2012 book Mexican Graphics by Korero Books-UK. He has designed and printed gig posters for such artists as Beck, U2, The Kills, Arcade Fire, Santana, and more. Most recently, he was selected as the official poster artist to design the commemorative poster for the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Carlos is a founding partner of Burning Bones Press, a full-service printmaking studio located in the Houston Heights, and has served as an instructor of Screen Printing at Rice University, Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts.
Corporate work has included Apple, Levis, American Express, Miller Brewing Company, Google, Lincoln Motor Company, Live Nation, New West Records, C3 Presents, Hohner USA, and more. One of his career highlights has been his work with childhood idol and hot rod legend, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth.
He has received awards from American Institute of Graphic Artists, American Advertising Federation, “Judges Favorite” from the Art Directors Club Houston, and “Best in Show” from the American Marketing Association.
Carlos was a featured speaker during the “Design Now – Houston” series at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston and has served as an instructor at Frogman’s. He is a member of the legendary “Outlaw Printmakers” and is a graduate of the Texas Tech Graphic Design Program.
Liv Monique Johnson (she/her/hers) — Born and raised in Pahoa, Hawaii, Liv Johnson spent her formative years in the rural areas of the island, surrounded by the active landscapes of thick rainforests, rocky coastlines and a live volcano. She earned her BA at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, where her position as Printmaking Studio Assistant allowed her the opportunity to work with artists such as Willie Cole, Crystal Wagner, and John Hitchcock. This included being a printer for the UH Hilo Visiting Artist Print Collection, editioning for artists such as Karen Kunc, Yuji Hiratsuka, and Khalid Kodi.
At Texas Tech University she earned her MFA in Studio Art with an emphasis in printmaking and sculpture. While her primary emphasis is in printmaking her portfolio has branched out into other mediums, developing works that explore sound, light, installation, and a wide variety of materials. She has also published the first scientific illustrations of four newly discovered species of Cyrtandra in the peer-reviewed journal Phytokeys. As an active member of the printmaking community she is regularly conducting workshops and demos, attending conferences, and is a board member of PrintMatters Houston.
She now lives in Houston where she continues to develop her studio work at Burning Bones Press and is an instructor for the Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Tess Doyle, Liv Monique Johnson, Sophia Hartl
Tess Doyle (she/her/hers) — Tess works primarily in printmaking, drawing and mixed media. Inspired by pop culture, personal idols, victims and everyday encounters, she creates an array of figurative and symbol heavy imagery. Her drawings and prints often contain bizarre narratives and pastiche. Tess is an artist consultant at Kinder HSPVA, instructing printmaking and drawing. Along with teaching, Tess belongs to Burning Bones Press, where she acts as Press Assistant, as well as leading workshops / events within the arts community. Her work has been shown throughout the Texas region and United States. She is an active member of PrintMatters Houston. You can find her getting inky as a Speedball Demo. Artist, enlightening the masses to the art of printmaking!
Screen the World
Talk and Demonstration by Screen the World
Operating within the traditional lands of the K’omoks First Nation on Vancouver Island, Canada, Andymac and Wachiay Studio crew will be demonstrating the screen printing process over the month of PrintAustin, working on some original prints to be finished live during this session. They will showcase the Screen the World kit presses and exposing unit that can be built to allow anyone to print anywhere.
Meet the Speakers
Andy MacDougall (he/him/his), Old Guy — Andymac helped found Wachiay Studio on Vancouver Island, where they specialize in screenprinting art, textiles, and teaching the process. His work has led to the creation of Screen The World. A member of the Academy of Screen and Digital Printing Technology (ASDPT). Andymac runs demo prints for the American Poster Institute (API) at Flatstock Shows in Seattle, Austin, Barcelona. Columnist and feature writer for Screenprinting Magazine, Wearables, SignMedia, and also published in UK, India, and Brazil. He’s the author of ‘Screenprinting Today, the Basics’, and helped publish the definitive ‘A History of Screenprinting'. He loves live music, fun, motorcycles and printers.
Alivia Veenstra (she/her/hers), Director — With a focus on ingenuity and creativity, a passion for wellness, and an enthusiasm for community development both locally and globally, Liv’s joy is to spark conversation, encourage collaboration, and grow a community of health-happy movers, makers, growers, thinkers, creators, and game-changers. Liv completed her BFAH at Queen’s University (2014) with a focus on printmaking before shifting gears to work in policy development, education, and social services. When not covered in ink, Liv teaches yoga and tries to grow vegetables in her garden.
Scott Henley (he/him/his), Video and Graphics — As an avid creator, Scott loves working with wood in the shop, and likewise, loves building and designing on the computer. A graduate of Vancouver Film School, he does all the video editing and animations used in Screen the World. He is learning the art of programming and likes to sneak in a computer game or two in his spare time. When not building or designing Scott can be found somewhere out in nature, working in his backyard, or practicing martial arts.
Adrian Granchelli (he/him/his), Education Coordinator — As a maker and educator, Adrian strives to inspire and empower others to make, collaborate, and be creative. It is no doubt that constructivism, learning through doing, is his guiding teaching philosophy. He is a Masters student of Educational Technology at University of British Columbia and has taught a broad range of topics from physics and math to sailing, woodworking, digital fabrication, and design. When not creating, Adrian is adventuring in the beautiful wilderness of Vancouver Island.
Gabe Moore (she/her/hers), Lead Printer — Gabe Moore is the lead printer at Wachiay Studio. She is currently studying Fine Arts at North Island College In Courtenay and balances school, work, and a growing print career. Gabe is an experimental printmaker primarily working with screen print, inspired by the obtuse, the abstract and the insane.
Gracie Peltonen (she/her/hers), Camera and Video — Gracie is a former summer student at the studio who demonstrated very quickly her knowledge of camera and video work and has been instrumental in assisting in producing the video instructional material for Screen the World. She graduated from Nala’atsi Alternative High School in Courtenay and is interested in new media and graphics.
Caster Printing Workshop
Demonstration by Sheila Goloborotko from the University of Florida
Aiming to find a substitute for an Etching Press that would provide quality printing for Intaglio plates, artist and professor Sheila Goloborotko discovered that printing with a caster resulted in similar results. During this session, she will share her findings and demonstrate this new-found technique.
Meet the Speaker
Sheila Goloborotko (she/her/hers) — Sheila Goloborotko, a multidisciplinary artist, has exhibited installations, works on paper, sculpture, videos, and interactive projects in more than 200 exhibitions in museums and galleries on four continents, and yet has remained firmly committed to community. Her research focuses on printmedia as the graphic science of democracy—a tool that fosters community building and information sharing to create new socio-political ecologies. She investigates ways that feasibility, sustainability, and venture creation are the natural outgrowths of an ethical printmaking, grassroots-run, people-powered society. Her efforts serve as a bridge between individual mastery and community activism, exploring the shifting boundaries of the information age as it relates to multiples and collective Consciousness.
Curating Fine Art Prints: Saving Prints and Money
Demonstration by Tracy Mayrello
Master Printer and Co-Founder of Creekside Studio ATX, Tracy Mayrello, will demonstrate different curating techniques such as cleaning off ink smudges, chine collé mishaps, as well as talking about what supplies to use to clean up fine art prints. This session is designed for printmakers and collectors looking to prepare their prints for framing or exhibiting.
Meet the Speaker
Tracy Mayrello (she/her/hers) — Mayrello has been collaborating with artists for 18 years making fine art prints. To quote one of her mentors, Jerry Manson, "Whatever works " the possibilities in printmaking are endless .... never stop learning, experimenting and creating.
Mayrello established Creekside Studio ATX in Austin in 2019, and currently publishes and editions fine art prints and invites creative collaborations with artists interested in the process of printmaking. Previously, Mayrello served as Master Printer at Flatbed Press and Gallery for over 15 years, working with artists such as Julie Speed, James Surls, and Liliana Porter. She has also collaborated with artists from around the world, including Samson Mnisi and Bob Schneider.
printexpo 2021 conference is free to attend
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