Letter Press!

So, I'm learning letter press. That is printing, Gutenberg style. I had heard of letter press and even seen type but never understood why anyone would want to sift through minuscule lead blocks of type when a laser jet printer is always available. But, I've started working at Hot Iron Press three mornings a week and they are teaching me letter press so that I can help print posters for their gallery, The Front, and organize the hundreds of shelves of fonts.

Last week, Meg and I had a meeting to plan fall programming and protocol for people to propose their own classes to teach in the shop. We made a promotional calendar, a schedule that teachers have to follow to promote their classes to make sure they fill. All of the classes (except for mine, thanks Aunt Nancy) in June were not filled, mainly because teachers failed to market their classes. Hopefully they just weren't sure how to go about it, so this schedule will help them out. The schedule will insure that we can make really beautiful screen printed posters for each season that include all of the printshop's programming, and that someone makes Craig's List ads, Facebook events and posts flyers for every event.

I moved into our new apartment yesterday! It's a block from St. Charles Avenue, really close to downtown. I took the streetcar to work today, which was really strange, because it was full of tourists ooing and awing over the historic architecture and the Mardi Gras beads still stuck on the streets from February. I realized for the first time that I don't feel like one anymore.

I'm spending all of tomorrow morning working on designs for the class I'm teaching with Meg Wednesday. Its a private class for my aunts and mom and their friends, which is great because they did all of the recruiting for me. The materials for the class will cost $35 for paper, $70 for emulsion shots, and $50 for ink, so a total $155. Each student is paying $45, so we are taking in $450, meaning $295 of profit, which is awesome because the shop really needs it. We are also contemplating a fundraiser before July which will probably involve water ballons and a dance party!!!

These pictures are of the screen we were printing and out stand at the free market, notice the poster for summer classes I made (the blues on faded pink). Also, check out the work wardrobe, I get to wear tank tops and short to work every day.

The Really Really Free Market

Out of all the contenders for favorite thing about my internship, one just took a spectacular lead, the Reall Really Free Market at 1614 Esplanade Ave. I was just having a typical boring afternoon until my boss texted me that the shop was going to have an impromptu screen printing demo at the Art House. The Art House has gained a level of local notoriety for regular attempts to evict its residents and tear down the multi level tree house complex build in the backyard. Needless to say, I was ecstatic. By the time I got to the house, the party was in full swing, piles of free stuff everywhere, a dj and a huge turnout. The idea was that people could fish out shirts and we would show them how to print and have them sign up for our list serve. I spent the afternoon doing the messiest screen printing of my life and left splattered with ink. It was a great marketing idea and was basically free since all of the ink was was donated by one of the artists who live in the house. Plus I got to meet Scott Pterodactyl. Can't beat it, really.

http://www.nola.com/arts/index.ssf/2010/02/visiting_scott_pterodactyls_ne.html

High School Entrepreneurship

My cousin and her friends came in this week to print notecards for a fundraiser for their youth group (great example of a self-sustaining non-profit). They did such a good job; I am so proud! I really enjoyed getting to show them the shop. I am going over to her house tonight to finish folding and packaging the cards. I really hope I get a set of freebies...

Ken, one of the artists at the printshop, adapted an image he has been working on to make this poster.

Posters and Politics

The print shop has burst into a flurry of oil-spill related activities as people mobilize their graphic talents to print posters for protests and merchandise to raise revenue for cleanup efforts. While no amount of prints will halt the spill (the top-kill method didn't work) the outlet is doing something positive for New Orleans residents.

The Test?

My first project at work was to design and print an edition of 40 posters to advertise the printshop's summer class schedule. I got this assignment about 20 minutes in, with my boss not having seen any of my work. The biggest edition I've made up til now was 14, so I was a little intimidated. Plus I wasn't sure of the expectations for level of creativity (the people at my work are so talented!). Fortunately, my boss seemed to think I could handle it, which in turn made me think I could handle it.

After three days, a minor set back when a pipe in the building burst and there was no water for a few hours, I finished the posters, and they look good!

I also went to my first monitor bi-weekly meeting on Wednesday night. A group of 8 to 12 monitors who are really dedicated to the success of the shop get together every other Wednesday to discuss the budget, fundraising, policies and projects. We talked a lot about different ideas to implement during the summer. I will probably be making a ton of promotinal materials for fall classes. Our next meeting is a show and tell, followed by pizza and beer at Slice. Now that is corporate culture.

Update: I need to be a bit more disciplined about posting

I can't believe I have already been in New Orleans for two and a half weeks already, and I haven't posted anything on my internship blog...

My computer has decided never to connect to wireless internet again, and I am seriously thinking its time for me to trade in my UNC issued clunker for a Mac. But enough with the excuses, I will be better about posting.

My first day at work was an open studio night, which happens at the printshop every Tuesday from 6 to 10pm. After a week of traveling and trying to get oriented in a new city, it felt really good to be back in a studio. The smell of emulsion and the sound of squeegees gliding over silkscreen frames just make me feel at home somehow. Open studio nights generate most of the shop's revenue and draws a big crowd of new folks every week. People come in with designs ready to print and the shop monitors on duty coach them through the process of printing. I love it. The people who drop in range from total beginners to experienced artists.

Its the jam and definitely my favorite part of my internship so far.

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