Mar 232012
 

Our last Prints & Inks profile is not on an artist but the Montreal-based creative print shop and studio Station 16. The shop + studio offers limited edition prints from some of the best street and graffiti artists in North America and Europe (including Prints & Inks exhibiting artists Antoine Tavaglione, whatisadam, En Masse, Martine Frossard, Labrona and Niko). Originally just a family textile screenprinting business, owner Carlo De Luca decided 18 months ago to offer free screenprinting space to artists in the city to create and print their works, uniquely partnering his family business with his love of art.

Here’s Carlo’s story on setting up a screenprinting studio, having silkscreening in his blood, and being inspired by the artists who work at and collaborate with Station16.

1. Telll us a bit about Station16. What was your motivation to start this print shop/studio? How did you get started?

Station16 was/is primarily a textile screen print business. I’ve been doing this for twenty years (the last 10 on my own). About 18 months ago I wanted to diversify my business and since I love art, the natural progression was to start up a fine art studio within my shop. I reached out to artists in the city and offered them the opportunity of free space within my shop to see how we can take their art and combine it with my medium. This is when I met whatisadam. He was screen printing these amazing and awesome edition prints at home using a light bulb and one screen that he kept reclaiming. I was so impressed with his skill and passion that I immediately knew that we would produce a wonderful product together. His passion for art with my resources and equipment produced his first successful solo art exhibit in Montreal, April 2011. Later in the year, I realized that I could offer this to other artists and give them an opportunity as well. This is when www.station16shop.com was created.

2. How did you become interested in silkscreening?

My family has always been in the textile (needle trade) Growing up, my summer jobs were in the print shop. At the age of 21, I decided to work full time and I started managing a print shop. By age 31, I started up my own business. I guess you can say it’s in my blood.

3. How are you influenced by other artists, specifically, other silkscreeners/printers?

My influence whether printing on paper, fabric or wood has always quality. I look at master printers and compare my work to theirs. I am constantly looking to improve, invent and explore. I often ask myself, if Andy Warhol would walk into my shop and view my quality of work…would he choose Station16 as his print house ? He’d better!

4. How many artists are involved with Station16? How do you go about selecting whose work you will feature?

Presently we have 9 artists onboard. I love street , graffiti, pop , modern and contemporary art. I love wheat paste artist and muralists as well. Artists selected would definitely fall into these categories.

5. Is there a collaborative aspect to your studio and your enterprise? Do you see silkscreening as being particularly suited to collaboration?

Station16 fine art department is based on collaborations between printer and artist. Station16 absorbs all the development costs and remits a fair percentage to the artist based on the sells of their works. We provide them an online shop platform and take care of all the shipping.

Working with different artists and collectively showcasing their works on one online screen print shop enables the magic of strength in numbers to work. Emerging and established artists directing their fans to our shop, enables people to view their works and introduces them to the works of other artists they were unfamiliar with.

Recently we collaborated with Montreal art collective En Masse, and produced for them their first ever serigraph print . En Masse is a collective of artists that produce these large scale handpainted murals with black/white imagery. This original drawing was a collaborative of six different artists. The edition is signed and numbered by all six artists involved. En Masse is gaining much deserved recognition for their works. Recently they were part of the Bing Bang exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

6. What are some of the challenges of running your own print shop/studio? What are the opportunities?

The textile screen print challenges are competition with overseas production.

Surround yourself with good people. Get the employees involved with the process. Make them understand that whether they are printing a t-shirt or fine art print, the impression once on the medium is there forever. Be proud of what you put out there!

My textile screen print business has given me the opportunity to explore other interests and to feed my soul with the fine art program I have developed.

7. What’s next for Station16 in terms of creative projects?

We recently completed a collaboration with CEASE for ArtTV at Montreal Nuit Blanche.

We were also at Armory Week in New York City from March 9-11. We also had a booth at Fountain Fair, where we showcased prints produced at Station16.

8. Anything else we should know about?

Station 16 is named after my MHM screen print machine that has 16 stations…small editions made at station16 are sometimes developed in editions of 16.

Surround yourself with things that make you happy ! Hang up some art !

Thanks Carlo! To see some of the work from artists at Station16, and to find out more about the print studio/shop, check out Station 16′s website. You can also visit the studio in Montreal at 111 Avenue de Louvaine West.

Jun 122010
 

Ville de Montreal - June 2010
Ville de Montreal street signs incorporated into festival gates

One thing I love about walking around Montreal is how many design ideas you can get from all the large posters and street art in different areas of the city.

STM Bus

Ville de Montreal and Le Husky

Les Amours Imaginaires - Montreal June 2010

IMG_8928

We got lots of inspiration last weekend by walking streets that are undergoing construction (Ste-Catherine, Boulevard de Maisonneuve, St-Laurent). It turns out that much of the graffiti on St-Laurent and between Ste-Catherine and Rene-Levesque was part of Bombe sur la Main, which happened the weekend before last, presented by le Quartier des Spectacles de Montreal. Thirty-six well-known and emerging artists descended upon the Main with spray paint, brushes and ink, and attacked 365 feet of boarded up facade. Artists involved included:

Collectif Crazy apes crew
Collectif En masse
La Paria
Péru et Cabin
Chris Dyer
Zilon et Seaz
Collectif K6A crew
Oneton
Arpi, DKae, Fleo et Tom Sydor
Zeck et Herezy

Here’s some higlights:

IMG_8929
Poutine and street art on Ste-Catherine: the best kind of combo (Artists: En Masse)

Roch Voisine Graffiti Street Art - Montreal June 2010
Roch Rocking It (Artists: Zeck et Herezy)


Graffiti Street Art - Montreal June 2010
Artists: Péru et Cabin


Notorius BIG Graffiti Street Art - Montreal June 2010

Apparently the works will be up until the end of summer, when the facades of buildings on the street are dismantled. If you’re in Montreal, definitely try to get to this area to take a look. You can find out En Masse’s, one of the artists collectives who participated,  take on the event here. Le Quartier des Spectacles photoset here.

Feb 242010
 

Magda Sayeg: Mexico City Bus Project
Magda Sayeg stitching for the Mexico City Bus Project, 2008

Fittingly, the seventh and final artist profile features who many would consider is the poster-lady for urban knit graffiti: Magda Sayeg of Knittaplease fame.

Currently based in Austin, Texas, Magda began Knittaplease in 2005 as a response to the dehumanizing qualities of an urban environment. As her website says: “The simple juxtaposition of this woven material placed within an urban environment has inspired a new generation of knitters who no longer view function as the sole purpose for knitting. This new approach to knitting questions the assumptions of a traditional craft while adding a previously unused material to the world of street art.”

We were able to nab Magda before Winterlude opening weekend for an hour-long conversation over Skype. Here’s what she had to say about urban knit and street art movements, her creative background, how the city has influenced her work and where she sees this whole movement going.

KnittaPlease at National Gallery of Australia
KnittaPlease graffiti at National Gallery of Australia, 2009

S&N: How long have you been making things, in particular knitting? Are there other ways you get creative e.g. music, design other ways?

I’ve been making things my entire life. I’ve never been the kind of kid to be bored and demand instant entertainment. I’m 36 now and if I were bored I’d even cut up newspapers and make hats.

I come from a family where creativity and being an artist wasn’t considered a legitimate profession. As I got older, there was less concern for my parents’ approval so I explored food. That was back in the 90s, when coffeehouses were the cool thing. When I started making food I had such a creative time doing it. I did it for 10 years but then the work load became too intensive. I decided one day to get into craft and making clothes and making things and did a craft market and that just filled me with a newfound interest. I picked up on stuff that I liked as a pre-teen, which led me to opening a shop where I carried good design like from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) graduates, which perhaps was too cutting edge for Houston. I found myself really frustrated. That’s where Knitta was born. I was looking at the ceiling and then just picked up knitting needles for the first time in 20 years. I would spend hours and hours knitting – there was an instant satisfaction. So when I made that knit graffiti piece for the door handle, I was thrilled with it. I never expected other people to enjoy it as I did. But people who walked by would ask about it. I decided to call up my friend and explained this whacky idea of putting material on steel or signposts. At the time I didn’t call myself an artist or graffiti artist. But people loved it – they got out of their car and took pictures. I decided then I wanted to do every STOP sign in the city.

KnittaPlease at Mexico City Bus Project
Mexico City Bus Project, 2007

S&N: You’ve travelled around the world with Knitta. What’s been your favourite piece that you’ve installed? In what city?

The bus in Mexico City is my all time favourite. (S&N: The project took a week for the six yarnbombers to complete, using repurposed knitted and crocheted blankets. The bus was hollowed out and used as a workshop space for the community arts. The bus is still parked at Plaza San Luis). It’s like I left my child there. I went there with a bunch of material and secretly didn’t know what I was going to do with it. But with the good support of some local people, we got it done in 4 days. It brought a whole new attention to my work – it was like a springboard to my career. I had the Guiness Book of World Records calling. Normally this kind of thing only responded to people who were into craft and the DIY movement.

With travelling you get to meet people all around the world. I’ve never experienced anything like this in my professional career, nothing has every warmed my heart like this. I never had this feeling with retail. I get to connect with other people around the world, who are still friends. Knitting brings such a powerful connection.

Magda Sayeg Knit Graffiti in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas, 2009

S&N: How does your city of Austin inspire you creatively? How has travelling to different cities inspired you?

Knitta was born in Houston. Houston is inspiring for its food, international flair, but has no appreciation for history or urban planning. Everything is new, little that is old. Freeways, cement, but a lot of trees. Austin has civic pride and it’s changed my attitude. Austin is so beautiful in terms of art but still has a struggling arts scene because it’s a music and film town. But the energy is so great and positive.

In terms of my inspiration, I’m a blog addict for sure. I’ll give a nod to a handful of artists who inspired me when Knitta was a sparkle in my eye, everything from graffiti artists to museums to children. Barry McGee, Jeff Koonz, Tom Freidman. I also absolutely love graphic design. Mike Perry’s blog. I’m constantly inspired by different things from Turner classics to fashion.

Travelling to different cities helps me explore my work. I do approach every project differently. There have been times where I’ve been asked to do something the same as the last project but I like to do different things, to progress. I have a dream list of projects I’d like to do.

It’s interesting, a city like Venice you can’t think of as being the same urban context as other cities. It’s not urban, it’s ancient but it’s beautiful. It was the only city in the world that was made with the intention of not using cars. I’ve asked myself, do I even invade this city with relics? Though because it’s so ancient, I think the young people yearned for something different. I do see myself going back. I’ve been invited to Italy five times in the last year and a half. Juxtaposing urban contexts in all sorts of ways creates a dialogue with someone because it engages the person unexpectedly.

Knit Graffiti by Magda Sayeg, Venice Italy
Venice, Italy, 2009

S&N: What’s up next for Knitta and your other creative endeavours?

As far as projects go, I’m doing large-scale projects in Austin and then Rome and then Estonia. I’m doing a lot of work with corporations. It’s actually worked out quite fun and I think it’s fine working with sponsors. The bus for example wouldn’t have happened it wasn’t for Aboslut Vodka. I am working on the Knitta book and now gatheirng all submissions. It’s kind of unknown territory putting it all together. I’ve got a new website for myself as an artist. I do feel I want to use my name more than Knitta. It was a little bit of collective that I started with Knitta but I am doing more solo-oriented projects so I feel less of connection. But I’m not laying it to rest yet as of yet – it’s my comfort zone.

KnittaPlease at The Standard, Los Angeles

S&N: Where do you see urban art headed in the next few years?

Right now I see cities and people that are responsible for the development of cities paying more attention to the idea that this (knit graffiti) is a legitimate art form. Though that could be good or bad. What I do see though is different kinds of graffiti that won’t be so banned or outlawed. People are putting down the spray can picking up everything from LED lighting to moss to Banksy‘s stuff to Space Invaders. I remember there was a time when skaters were not allowed to skate anywhere. Now every city is competing to have the biggest skate park. I think cities will start paying more attention to the voices of the citizens. I’m definitely seeing this in my own work.

Many thanks to Magda for taking the time to chat with us. Watch for her upcoming art picture book on knit graffiti to be released in October 2010. Also check out her newly launched website to see more photos of her work, as well as the KnittaPlease blog. Look for her trademark knit graffiti in a city near you.

Jul 132009
 

Check out how to make your own digital coat of arms (via DESIGNwathcher’s blog).

Here’s my quick and dirty design. (These were originally conceived for owners of Toyota Scions but could be easily altered using Photoshop.)

Coat of Arms

We’ll have a similar design and some others available as temporary tattoos at the Spins & Needles Mad Crafter + DJ Outdoor Party this Thursday!

We’re also thinking this could be sweet new sticker street art!

May 262009
 

Apologies for not having posted in a while – we took this month to recover from Clothing Remix + Remake swap madness plus our other events (Disco Bingo in Ottawa, Spins & Needles in Toronto).

building-graffiti-001

This street art recently appeared on a building I frequently walk by. Usually there’s just some scrawled grafitti tags but these faces definitely livened up the grey around it and made me smile.

building-graffiti-002

More to come later, including some a new DIY necklace inspired by Tom Binns, finds from the annual Great Glebe Garage Sale here in Ottawa. and a reconstruction of a thrift store dress I wore to a charity gala.