ARTS EXPOSURE

The Southwest Print Fiesta

Hybrid event still puts steamroller to work

Posted

Back with printmaking action, the Southwest Print Fiesta is up to its old tricks. With workshops and presentations coming to Zoom, there is still plenty of in-person action as the steamroller will be loaded with 36 inch by 36 inch linoleum sheets carved out by print artists. Five artists from Silver City to El Paso have created these carved pieces to be printed by steamroller on downtown Silver City ground.

Also happening downtown that week, Oct. 8-11, is the Knowledge Print Project, printmaking exhibitions, street printing and a printers’ market.

Silver City’s Power and Light Press took on the organization of the Print Fiesta last year so this is the first time they will be heading the project.

“This is the first year we are doing the programming,” said Kyle Durrie with Power and Light Press. “It’s really good and we are having a lot of fun. We love this event so much it feels good to get our hands on it this time. Doing the hybrid festival feels like a good way to approach the year.”

Durrie said the audience base for the event is out to a 5-hour drive radius but there are participants coming from as far away as Colorado, Las Angeles and Austin, Texas.

“I love printmaking and printmakers,” she said. “We get everyone together to share their work. It is fun and inspiring meeting of different artists. It has such a broad range (of printmakers); I love to learn from other printmakers how they make their work.”

All the workshops will be held online via Zoom and are open to all.

“It’s a little different this year’” she said. “In the past the Arts Council ran it, so we are making it up as we go. We are getting some donations from local and regional donors but didn’t approach sponsors this year.”

The Southwest Print Fiesta goal “is to build community among printmakers throughout the southwestern United States and Mexico, to foster connections and partnerships with printmakers outside of the region and to engage with our local community in Silver City, New Mexico through the diverse and accessible language of print.”

The event strives to promote and advance printmaking through public outreach, educational opportunities, collaborative projects, resource sharing, artist talks, exhibitions, print sales and community conversation, according to a press release.

“We believe in print as a democratic artform and we aim to serve and support printmakers of all kinds, from the traditional to the radical, formally-trained or self-taught. We offer opportunities for established artists interested in advancing their practices, as well as a platform for new, emerging voices to join in the conversation,” the release said.

A schedule of events, workshop registration and more information can be found at www.southwestprintfiesta.org.


X