Screenprinting

Nick and Sara recently graduated from the University of South Carolina with BFA (or MFA...I wasn't paying that much attention) degrees from the art department. They had enough guts to open their own business just out of college and have done some amazing work...including the Indie Grits Film Festival poster and two skateboards for the recent charity event at Gallery 80808 (which I sponsored). They print cool T-shirts too. The website site is: http://www.thehalfandhalf.com

It can't last for long, but currently they are teaching classes at a mere $100 per person for three sessions (6 - 9 PM over three weeks)...including the cost of all supplies and editions of about 10-20 prints per person. Classes consist of 2 - 4 people. Thus, I signed up Alex, Mathias, and I. We started this evening. We have homework and everything. It was great!


This evening we got an introduction to screen printing...which hardly phased Alex and me. Mathias caught on fairly quickly...he just doesn't have the constant exposure to the visual arts community that we do. Each step was demonstrated and then we were given opportunities for "hands-on" exposure.



We had to create a join "test" piece...some sort of image to use for the demonstrations. Quickly, I based the idea on my "In Box" series and, together, we had it done in a snap. Then, we each had to pull the ink across the screen with a squeezy.



We followed up the class with take-out pizza from Mellow Mushroom and enjoyed "So You Think You Can Dance" on television. One of the contestants is Danny Tidwell, one of Mathias' former schoolmates....okay, okay, Danny was graduating the year Mathias was twelve...but they did live on the same dormitory floor during that year!