Crews Steamroll Art On The Street

The wind gusted. The temperature dropped. Snowflakes even fell. None of that diminished the smiles and cheers of printmakers and onlookers as a steamroller proceeded down a closed-off street and giant woodblock prints were peeled away from layers of padding to reveal freshly rolled relief images in all their black-and-white glory.

The action took place this weekend on Central Avenue between Fountain Street and Whalley Avenue at City Wide Open Studios XL’s Steam Roller relief printing event. The event, part of Artspace’s City Wide Open Studios’ Transported Weekend, was co-presented by Westville Village Renaissance Alliance and DaSilva Gallery and featured the work of over a dozen printmakers, students, and fine artists, many of whom referenced CWOS’s theme of dwelling in their work. Event sponsors enlisted the help of public works steamroller operators, who ​“printed” images by carefully driving over the sizable woodblocks and paper in the middle of the street, on a closed portion of Central Avenue. Saturday’s steamroller operator Robert Roberts, who usually operates a street sweeper, said he was amazed by the effort people put into the artworks and was glad to be part of the process.

Also impressed was the event’s facilitator and visual artist, Roxanne Faber Savage, a veteran of steamroller printmaking who lauded the work presented by participants.

“The whole event and the work of the artists was top quality,” she said. Savage said she liked the different approaches to image-making, including the use by a few artists of computerized numerical control, a system that facilitated the cutting process of some or all of the woodblocks. Local carpenter and furniture maker Willie Hoffman worked with three veteran printmakers to program code for the system.

Most images, however, were created using old-world methods of carving away areas where ink was not desired, with basic hand tools. Creative Arts Workshop printmaking instructor Barbara Harder, who collaborated on an image of Philadelphia row houses with artist Mary Lesser, said the first step in the process involves rolling out a slab of ink.

The ink is then rolled onto the woodblock before paper is applied to the incised, inked surface. With pressure, the ink transfers to the paper creating the corresponding image in reverse.

While the same block can produce an infinite number of prints, most images created during the event were printed in editions of three: one for each artist, and one for each of the sponsoring organizations that will auction the works as part of fundraising campaigns. The images are scheduled to be displayed at Artspace in Ninth Square on Nov. 6, when the first auction will take place.

One of the more detailed and haunting images created during the two-day event was by artist Michael Quirk based on a 1900s photograph depicting ​“the ugliest house in Australia.” Standing before a dilapidated structure was a row of indigenous slaves linked together by chains.

During Sunday’s print session, there was time for experimentation, as Yvonne Gordon, owner of the Branford Arts Center, swapped out print paper for canvas. While the canvas did not make for a great print, Gordon’s paper prints depicting a cardboard box among trees were layered with symbolism and metaphor.

“People sometimes put themselves in boxes, as well as live in boxes,” Gorden said. ​“People who live in houses built of trees are lucky enough to have homes and we hope that they reach out to help others.”

Gabriel DaSilva, who managed the printing ​“bed” and co-owns Westville Frame Shop and DaSilva Gallery, said he got the idea for the monumental printmaking event from Ed McIntire, a customer who came into his Guilford shop to frame giant ​“Day of the Dead” woodblock prints he had acquired during a visit to Mexico. DaSilva was so impressed with the notion of steamroller printing that he took the idea to the Westville Village Renaissance Alliance and then to Artspace, where they are ​“always looking for greater neighborhood participation.

“They loved the idea,” he said.

Among the printmakers at the event was Patrick Lawrence, an art instructor at Wilbur Cross High School, who said as many as 26 students, including special education students, had a hand in carving the block print depicting different types of dwellings, as well as a swooshing image of the space shuttle.

Advanced printmaker Allan Greenier, of Westville, preprinted a section of blue lettering on his large portrait of Françoise Dorléac (sister of actress Catherine Deneuve) …

… skulls and skeletons were popular themes as both ceramicist Violet Harlow …

… and Lotta Studio’s Luke Hanscom used the motifs to great effect.

Painter Michael Angelis, of Foundry Square’s 169 East Street studios, was last to print during Sunday’s run. Angelis said he had been working on his detailed block for several months. It included a self portrait and a night-time boat ride by groups of passengers. Part of a series, the long, horizontal block print used multiple pieces of assembled, reclaimed wood to best describe a boat’s composition, according to Angelis.

Liz Pagano, a well known multimedia artist and printmaker whose studio will be open for CWOS’s Erector Square weekend (October 24), said she was humbled and amazed by the talent of all of the artists participating in CWOS and the steamroller project.

“This was so much freaking fun,” she said.

Additional steamroller printmaking participants included artists Corina Alvarezdelugo, Karen Dow and students from Educational Center for the Arts, Sabrina Marques and Miguel Trelles, who is currently exhibiting his large-scale paintings at Manjares Café in Westville.