Yesterday, the 5th grade class from Westminster school paid us a visit. After a tour of the studios, Phoebe and James taught the students how to screenprint and Carrie taught them how to make a folded book with pockets.

Alexandra, age 11 said
"it is especially fun learn how to screenprint, because my art class just finished studying the work of Andy Warhol, and now we can see how he did the prints."

Artist lecture by Megan Mueller tomorrow night!

Date and Time: Thursday, April 29, 7:30 pm

Place: Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, 8230 Georgia Avenue

Megan's recent body of work reflects her interest in playing with perspective and scale in spaces that surround the viewer and allow for interaction. Megan will be discussing her inspiration and motivation, while showing slides of her current work.

Megan Mueller holds a BA in Political Science from George Washington University and a BFA in Sculpture from Virginia Commonwealth University.
She has exhibited her work nationally at the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, the Lexington Art League, and the Axis Alley Project of Baltimore.

Peace Mural Installation and Dedication

What has come to be called the "Peace Mural" here at Pyramid Atlantic has been completed and installed on the front entrance side (or Ripley Street side) of our building. I've included some photos of the final leg of this race, run in good humor by our spring interns James, Carrie, and Phoebe, as well as Gretchen and myself. It's been fun to see how the project changes each time a new volunteer works on it, incorporating new ideas and new vision along the way. I've also included some photos of the installation and dedication of the mural, which took place on April 24th, 2010. Gustavo Torres, one of the advocates we featured in the mural, expressed interest in having some sort of event to celebrate the mural and bring out a wider audience to see it, so I'll keep you posted!

Girl Scouts

Civic Center Coming Along!

Venue for our upcoming Book Arts Fair event in November is coming along beautifully. It will be exciting to be in a brand new modern space, close to Art Spring, shops, restaurants, hotels, AFI and the Metro

The Corcoran College of Art + Design Comes to Pyramid!

On Tuesday, Georgia Deal and her students from The Corcoran  joined us in a workshop on large sheet formation. The visitors were both undergrad and graduate students who have previously studied disciplines such as Library Science, Graphic Design, and Photography.  Gretchen demonstrated how to form large sheets using gampi pulp and a western style mold and deckle.

The ol'  "Pulling Out The Tablecloth" Method... 

(Not your average parlor trick!)

Each sheet is mixed with its proper ingredients inside of the deckle to avoid using a vat:

Before any sheets can be formed, the gampi must be beaten either by machine or in this case, by hand! (An excellent form of therapy for spring semester angst!)

Artist Lecture Tomorrow Night

Please join us tomorrow night! Pyramid Atlantic will host an evening lecture and slide show with Alexis Granwell, former resident artist.

Date and Time: Thursday, April 15, 7 pm

Place: Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, 8230 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD

Artist Alexis Granwell hails from Philadelphia and is a member of Tiger Strikes Asteroid, an artist-run, artist-curated gallery in Philly. Alexis will be showing the paper sculpture work that she made here during her residency as well as discussing her current projects.

Alexis Granwell received an MFA from University of Pennsylvania and a BFA from Boston University. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, with solo exhibitions at The Arlington Center for the Arts, Arlington, VA; Europos Parkas Museum, Vilnius, Lithuania; and Space 327, Boston, MA.

Then and Now

Typesetter, 1947
When manual printing presses were the norm in newspaper offices and publishing houses, typesetters placed individual pieces of lead type into wooden frames to create the layout of each page. Typesetters still lay type on manual presses in high end printing shops that produce fine editions of books and broadsides.

photo from the Library of Congress

Typesetters, 2010
Steve Cole, volunteer and fine printer at Pyramid Atlantic.

Moira McCauley, Letterpress Associate at Pyramid Atlantic

I am making a box with super secret compartments. Only me and readers of this blog know about them.

Our first challenge:

Spring interns took part in spring cleaning this week at Pyramid Atlantic by printing fresh curtains for the studio. Bright and airy, these dividers were fun and easy to make, especially with a few helping hands!

You can print fabric like this of your own design by using hand-made stamps!

You will need:

pre-washed cotton or muslin

a few sheets of foam

plastic or wooden blocks (we used plastic box frames)

adhesive (PVA works well)

fabric ink or paint

brushes or spongey brayers

Cut your design out of foam using scissors or an Exacto, keeping in mind it will be reversed when printed. Mount to block.

Seal with a coat of PVA and allow to dry overnight.

Paint, roll, or stamp on ink, and print...

Don't be afraid to apply ample pressure!

Your stamps can be reused, just rinse and allow to air dry.

Happy printing!

Wanna learn how to Box?

Come get your box-making groove on! Help make steady progress on our goal of 50 clam shell boxes for the Moving Parts book edition. Learn new, or sharpen existing book arts and box building skills, and catch up with other artists.
First and third Tuesdays, 6-9pm, PA main classroom.
If you are interested in coming, or have questions, please contact Gretchen at gschermerhorn@pyramid-atlantic.org

Sometimes it Takes Two

To get the full detail, screenprint Associate Becca Katz pulls a print with Elliot Negin at Screenprint Society.

Pyramid Atlantic Book Arts Fair and Conference

Calling all book artists, printmakers, papermakers, publishers, collectors, art lovers, and all who are intrigued by the book as art–Save the date! The 11th Biennial Pyramid Atlantic Book Arts Fair and Conference will be on November 5-7 (Friday-Sunday).

It’s still some months away, but we are already in high gear with the preparations. We have been brainstorming and planning lots of exciting things for this weekend book arts bonanza.

Currently there is an open call for anyone interested in doing a demonstration or presentation as part of the fair. This year’s theme is “The Book (R)evolution,” but we welcome all great ideas! You can find the application on the Pyramid Atlantic Book Arts Fair website .