Explore UT: Steamrolling

Every year UT hosts a campus-wide event for students, prospectives, alumni and Austin families called Explore UT. This past Saturday, March 7, UT put on this major event; however, one activity caught my special attention.

In the vast building of the Art building, there is a small little room for relief printmaking (see Flatbed Visit Post). For weeks, students, teachers and volunteers have been using it for the Steamroller-printmaking event that is a part of Explore UT, carving giant pieces of wood to make an amazing print on cloth by pressing it with a steamroller.

I took it upon myself to go and see this - I mean, when is the next time you're going to see some heavy machinery being used by a bunch of art students?

Here's a bit of what I saw:

Students cutting up linens for the prints

Woodblocks ready to be inked up

UT Alum Nick Glenn, Explore UT volunteer, and his woodcut

Students inking woodcuts

Steamrollin'!

Print complete!

According to the UT event description, presenters and artists also came from St. Edward's University, ACC and Texas State University. This was a great and unique event for both artists and observers. If you're interested in participating or volunteering for next year's steamroller event, contact Sandra Fernandez or Ken Hale.