| |
How did you get involved with design and printing?
LB: My high school art teacher ran his own printing business before switching to public schools, so he set up his old screen printing equipment in the classroom. I was hooked by the time I was about fifteen. I started printing t-shirts for friends’ bands, covering my parents’ driveway with drying shirts. I would also make Xerox flyers for punk shows in my home town. It was all cut-and-paste style—I didn’t have a computer. I moved to Utah in 1997 and enrolled in the University of Utah. I wanted to study graphic design, but my portfolio was rejected, so I opted for printmaking.
How did you get involved with concert posters?
LB: After graduating, I assumed that I would never use my printing degree. I was working a minimum-wage job when I became friends with Phil, the owner of an all-ages venue here in Salt Lake City that I frequented called Kilby Court. I offered to make flyers for him, starting out with black-and-white Xerox handbills. When Phil discovered that I knew how to screen print, he suggested that I make limited-edition posters for all of the shows. He built me a little printing studio next to the venue and I got started. I had a recognizable style, so the small, colorful posters became a sort of trademark for the venue. People could look at the posters and instantly know they were for a Kilby Court show.
What do you find appealing about designing, lettering, and screen printing your posters by hand?
LB: I enjoy the physicality. I love to get my hands dirty and hold up a poster and know that I was a part of the process from start to finish. I am a printing junkie. I want to hurry and get drawings done so I can get to the printing. Once I lay down the first color on a poster, I can’t wait to see what the next one will look like. I’ve never been big on computers. I mainly just use mine to check e-mail and scan my finished posters so I can post them on my Web site.
You project a distinctly human quality in your work. Where do you find your inspiration?
LB: Most of my images are based on photographs taken of people I know, kids hanging out at parties or the Kilby Court shows. I am fairly shy, so when I am in a public place I bring my camera with me, to hide behind. I am a people-watcher, and I like to study mannerisms and facial expressions. When I get my photos back home, I draw them, editing out the unnecessary bits of information and simplifying the scene to something universal that anyone can relate to. I have often heard that my images of people remind the viewer of someone they know.
How can someone get started designing and screen printing posters?
LB: When I started screen printing the Kilby Court flyers, I was pretty much penniless. I saved up to get just the basics. I found some discarded screens and restretched them myself, got scraps of paper from a friend who worked at a large printing warehouse, got trashed squeegees from the university and had them sanded down, and printed with mistint latex paints instead of inks. The most pricey thing I bought was a power washer to clean out the screens. The other expensive thing was a paper cutter. My very first set up was around $200. The best advice I think I can give is to apprentice with someone first, especially if you haven’t done printing in school. Don’t spend a lot of money and then discover you hate the process of printing—it’s not for everyone.
|
|
