Artists, community members mix at "live art" event at OU
By Anna Marie Finley
Athens NEWS Campus Reporter
May 5, 2008
It was hard to distinguish between artists and visitors in the crowd that gathered under the tent filled with paints, printing screens, t-shirts, poster boards and even hair dryers at Ohio University’s Howard Hall site on Friday. But that’s just what made the event so successful. Fresh, new and original prints came together before the eyes of both the artists who worked so hard to create them and the people who had come to support their creativity.
Inkahoots, for the second year in a row, was the result of a successful collaboration of many artists. The groups that were involved included the students and faculty of the OU printmaking program, the OU Print Guild and Undergraduate Art League, Athens High School art students, and Arts for Ohio, which brought three graduate students and an undergraduate student in printmaking from Indiana University in Bloomington.
“Delicious Design League,” a Chicago-based studio that creates band posters, also was also brought by Arts for Ohio to join in the collaboration. The prints they made as a group were brought to the event to be made into items they could sell, such as posters or T-shirts.
Each station underneath the tent was led by two or three students who worked diligently to either ink, dry or wash screens used to make the prints. Visitors were invited to roll the ink onto the poster board or T-shirt. The unique part of the event was the first-hand role that visitors played in deciding what they wanted their print to look like.
Athens High junior Alina Kordesch said the experience working with other artists was satisfying. Sitting at her sewing station on Friday where she added “flare” to t-shirts, she said, “I didn’t know much about printmaking before this. But I’ve learned a lot about it from working with the art students.”
Some students from other artistic disciplines participated, including Mikayla Pasquale, a sophomore theater major who has learned about screen printing through a dye class she is taking this quarter. She found that the event was a good way to intertwine students in various art forms.
The designs of the T-shirts and posters were made on the spot by layering the prints and creating a new look. The results were one-of-a-kind pieces of art that had the influence of more than one artist.
Sophomore Will Cooper said he was excited to see his T-shirt design come together as he gave the go-ahead to the art student who was going to be rolling his print.
His reason for participating in the event is simple: to support original art by wearing it.
“We have so much commercialism with clothes today that it’s cool to be able to support regular people, not corporations making clothes. People get a chance to create and express themselves here,” he said.
Melissa Haviland, assistant professor in the printmaking program, played a key role in organizing the event, along with the director of the program, Karla Hackenmiller.
“I wanted our students to have a chance to work with students from a top-notch printmaking school, and Indiana University is one of the top five,” she said. “Arts for Ohio really went beyond our wildest dreams in bringing the Indiana students here; they covered everything. They are the reason that the students were able to come.”
The collaboration to create the prints was a fun, but stressful experience, Haviland said. Through the collaboration, the printmaking community at OU was able to meet other printmakers.
“The printmaking community is a small community, so everyone here has definitely become friends,” she said. “It’s allowed us to meet people in our community.”
The goal of the event for Haviland and her students was two-fold:haviland
“We want to make it obvious that screen-making is everywhere and that we are surrounded by prints, and second, we of course want to promote the unique.”
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