showmeyourprintshop

posted by Emily Gosling December 18, 2020

If you’re yet to discover the Instagram account showmeyourprintshop, get over there, pronto. The account presents, as you’ve likely guessed from its name, print shops. They range from the pro to the hobbyist to the neat to the realistically all-over-the-shop, and there’s a great smattering of dog shots too, if you’re into that sort of thing (who isn’t?). The account also dabbles in the sort of memes that anyone who’s ever used a squeegee will howl at; and which will leave most other people a bit confused.

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The feed great for inspiration in a few ways: in the prints themselves, in the processes, and in the nitty gritty stuff no one ever really explains but which is incredibly helpful—like how to make the most of tiny spaces by hammering some nails into a bit of wood, getting some clothes pegs and creating a very simple, very cheap, very small-room-happy solution to drying out fresh prints.

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Chavez, a multi-disciplinary artist, lithographer and educator based in San Antonio, Texas, initially started the project when she finished graduate school at the University of Arizona and found herself bereft as a printmaker with no print equipment. “No access to a print studio was one of the most difficult situations I faced as a postgraduate,” she says. She decided to take matters into her own hands and create her own art home, but found the internet sorely lacking when it came to visual resources and inspiration in how to do so. Frustrated, she got in touch with her printmaking chums to start that first Facebook group, which has since snowballed into the Instagram today which boasts 7,800 followers worldwide.

“On the feed you’ll find innovators, preservers, avid learners and doers,” says Chavez. “Printmakers who work in small spaces and educators with limited resources. My hope is that printmakers realise we have unique and innovative ideas, and together, we can help one another within our communities.”

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One of the most joyful things she’s found with the project is that despite the featured studios hailing from all over the world and founded by people of all ages and walks of life, “we have so much in common,” she says. “We love printmaking and community. I’m always inspired by people’s creativity and their ability to work with what they have on site.”

One of the most memorable printmakers she’s featured is Janika Matjaana thanks to her ingenious solution to soaking oversized sheets of printmaking paper: a paddling pool. She’s also a meme-fan, name-checking the accounts @shit_print_posting and @greasylithomemes. “A lot of printmakers have a great sense of humour,” she says. “Many of my educator friends make print shop signage with meme generators, the students love them!”

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Thanks to the frequently very DIY nature of the featured presses, there’s a tonne here for those who are looking to create and build their own equipment and materials. Chavez recommends press-builders @tresgatospress and @happycamperpress; roller-whizzes @rossmazzupappa and @sukhaworob and @ydnaklop, who’ve created homemade grease pencils. I know when I was first setting up my own print shop at home, a lot of this equipment could get pretty costly, it’s nice to know that there are alternatives,” she says.

Alongside the nuts and bolts stuff, something that’s stood out is an increasing focus on sustainability: Chavez notes that “recycling and using more non-toxic materials seems to be pretty important for many printmakers.” Something else that’s stood out is print shops going mobile: @Bibliographia, for instance, is attached to a bike so that its founders can easily go on-site to teach printmaking.

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But how’s seeing all these other print studios informed Chavez’s own work? “Since most of the shops I feature are so customised, I’ve started to really customise some of my own equipment which is relevant to the Catholic imagery and death related content found in my work,” she says. “Holy Press looks very church-like these days. I recently designed a roller cabinet that looks like something you’d find on the altar of a Catholic church. The handles to the cabinet are made from vintage crucifixes used to decorate funeral caskets. I absolutely love it, it’s functional and it makes my own space unique.”