CeLOUbrate Print

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Last September, I met with the Portland Museum to pitch CeLOUbrate Print, and they have extended enthusiastic support for me since that meeting. Katy Delahanty’s approval for the project and ongoing encouragement kickstarted the feat. Shannon Delahanty was an ongoing supporter and even offered to curate a local printmaking exhibition called Shop Talk, which opened on April 20th. 

In the months that followed, I primarily worked with William Smith of the museum as well as Printed zine without whom this project would not have been possible. William taught me so much about what it looks like to run a community-engaged project— applying to external grants, managing multiple schedules, advertising in various media, budgeting various funding sources, and reaching out to local collaborators. No matter what dead ends or setbacks we reached, William taught me to be adaptive and flexible instead of discouraged or stagnated, and that was perhaps the most meaningful takeaway from this experience. Our project was successful not because we did not see any challenges, but because we fluidly responded to them and pivoted when necessary. I am incredibly grateful for my experience working with everyone at the Portland Museum, not only for everything that I learned from all of them, but also for their kind reassurance throughout this process. 

Additionally, this project was brought to fruition with the help of local print shops who chose to collaborate with us, from hosting our woodcut workshops to attending the main event—namely, Hound Dog Press, Brad Vetter Design, and A Place to Print. In addition, we were also able to work with local organizations to host additional workshops around the city—Kyros Brewing Co., PORTAL + ART Portal, South Central Regional Library, Douglass Community Center, Louisville Visual Art, Louisville Tool Library, and Logan Street Market—with thanks as well to volunteers who helped to lead some of the workshops, such as Eden Wray. 

The University of Louisville was also an immense support through funding from the Graduate Student Council, Office of Community Engagement, and Department of Comparative Humanities. In addition, Professor Mary Carothers helped to order, pick up, and unload the wood used for the workshops, while Professor Rachel Singel offered the printshop for two woodcut workshops and drove the steamroller for us.

On April 20th, CeLOUbrate Print culminated into a day of print shared with community members because of our generous local artists and organizations who came together to share their knowledge and processes—cyanotypes and steamroller relief printing (UofL Hite Art students), zine-making (Printed, Junior Jr., Wildflower Collective, Newton Finnigan, Davis Wischer), introducing risograph methods (Grotesk Press), Lego relief printing (Louisville Visual Art), silkscreening free tote bags (Squallis Puppeteers), button-making (KMAC), stamping ceramics (Hand to Hand), hydrodripping as print (Eden Wray, Preston Arts Center), monotype printing (A Place to Print) and general discussion of print tools/materials (Eden Williams, Kayla Lewis, Al Sheets).

I would also like to extend a huge thank you to my family who traveled from out of state to help me with preparatory work in addition to themselves volunteering to help set up and run the steamroller station. 

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the Fund for the Arts who donated a generous amount of funding that allowed us to document this project in the amazing photography on this page, taken by Sergio Cabrera of Momentos Photography.