Flatbed Visit

I visited Flatbed Press Tuesday, one of Texas' largest printing press services, and I have to say, I came back feeling inspired.



Flatbed was founded in 1989 by Katherine (Kathy) Brimberry and Mark Smith as a side-project to both of their careers as teachers. It became a full-time career for both of them in 1999, when they expanded their space and moved to East M.L.K. Blvd, giving them an 18,000 sq. ft. warehouse comparable to that of one of New York's Chelsea-district galleries.

Half of the space is devoted to printmaking processes and their presses, the other half to smaller galleries.

First off, let's get a little background on what printmaking is and the different techniques that Flatbed and many artists use.

Basically, a print is any mark pressed onto paper either by hand or by a printing press. There are a few different types of printing techniques:

• Relief: a surface that is carved (i.e. wood or linoleum), and then inked, so that only the surface is shown - not what has been carved. Some of the earliest prints and illustrations were done with relief printing, mostly carved woodprints. For example, this famous Japanese print was done with with wood.

• Intaglio: This type of printmaking is somewhat of an umbrella term. It can have many different techniques such as engraving, etching, drypoint and aquatint. These type of prints are normally done on metal (i.e. copper or zinc), and whatever is drawn onto the plates will be where the ink sits, therefore what is printed. This type of printmaking makes it easier to produce finer lines, so you can end up with a result like this:

Etching by Rembrandt

• Lithography: In contrast to relief and intaglio, lithography is a print made by drawing onto a stone with oils which pick up ink, giving you the print. This is one of the harder methods of printing, but can produce beautiful results:

"Relativity" by M.C. Escher

Flatbed press provides printing services to Austin and Texas artists. With most printing presses costing upwards of $20,000, a place to print your work is necessary. They provide counselations to artists, and charge by press per day. They also teach classes like introduction to certain methods of printmaking - a great opportunity for beginning artists.

As I said earlier, half of their space is devoted to small exhibitions; right now they are hosting the Senior Art Exhibition for UT graduating art students and a small viewing of war art.

In looking at their collection of prints on the wall, I was surprised to see the name of Bob Schneider - Austin's musical wild-man - and apparently, master printer. I was able to see some of the etchings he is currently working on, and what an amazing experience! He will have an exhibition at Flatbed beginning March 12 - April 18, called "Beggar's Bag." Here's an example of Schneider's past works:

So if you have time, try to make it down to Flatbed, have a chat with Mark and the gang - it really was an inspiring experience that I would recommend to anyone. Plus they give away scraps of old prints to visitors, just another reason to make it down!