Drive By Press Returns To Kean

Drive By Press made a return visit to Kean University's Art Department this week. Tonight was the second day, and like last time, on this night there was a presentation on their history and about printmaking in general. Co-founder Greg Nanney showed a small sampling of the thousands of prints in their collection, all donated by printmaker friends from around the country.

The other part of the lecture is a demonstration of block printing. They brought in several blocks from the set they carry on their travels, and Steve (see below) showed how to ink a typical block with a large brayer.

The guys will print any of their blocks on paper, but by far the most popular destination for the designs is on t-shirts. The shirt below shows the block being inked above.

Students and faculty in attendance enjoyed the presentations, with many questions about the world of printmaking and the various processes employed to make the prints on display. Quite a few departed with woodcuts printed on shirts or other items of clothing. And I think that some of the printmaking students were really excited to apply some of what they saw to their own work. All in all, a fun way to take our minds off the miserable weather of the past few days.