Eric Von Haynes

This class introduces students to the concepts and production of distributable artists' projects. Working closely with faculty, students develop projects to be printed on the Heidelberg offset press and Risograph machines. Multiples such as prints, books, zines, posters, stickers, cards, and packaging are examples of potential projects that utilize these high-volume printing processes. Image creation methods include digital, photo, collage, and hand-drawing. Adobe Creative Suite and a variety of binding and packaging techniques will be demonstrated. Through hands-on examples, readings, and visits to special collections, such as the Joan Flasch Artist Book Collection, a wide range of printed work and distributable projects will be shared and discussed. Over the semester, students can expect to complete a number of multi-color offset and risograph projects and participate in two critiques.

In the last twenty years, the Risograph machine has become a powerful tool in the hands of artists and self-publishers. Students in this course will learn advanced methods of printing, spot color layering and color-separation along with becoming immersed in the rich global culture of RIsograph printing and publishing.

The class will consist of demonstrations, lectures and presentations on current Risograph practitioners, visits with artists and publishers, trips to school collections and the prodigious production of strange and beautiful printed objects. Lectures and readings may include the work of artists Sigrid Calon, Lale Westvind, Joe Kessler, and the publishers Colorama, Perfectly Acceptable, Colour Code, The Charles Nypels Lab, Animal Press, Tan and Loose, and others.

Students will be expected to produce 3-4 projects demonstrating technical proficiency and contextual grounding. These projects will be refined during regular one-on-one meetings and discussed in three group critiques. The course will culminate in a show of student work.

This course provides instruction in conceptualizing, producing, and distributing printed artists' multiples. It is designed to be project based, prioritizing students' individual goals, rather than covering a general range of information. Therefore, technical demos will be offered as needed. Critiques will focus on the conceptual use of the multiple as art, with particular attention paid to exploration of alternative venues for viewing and distribution. The course also includes a discussion group that will meet in the Artists' Book Room in the Flaxman Library once a month.

For advanced-level risograph and publishing-focused students, this course delves deep into color separation techniques, fine registration, spot color layering, as well as the history and contemporary uses of Risograph and other stencil duplicators as artists' tools. Instruction will include software tools such as Spectrolite, Ilustrator, and Photoshop as well as manual techniques.
The class will consist of demonstrations, reading discussions, lectures, and presentations along with studio work time supplemented with trips to school collections and visits from current practictioners. We will investigate the work of contemporary Risograph printers, publishers and artists such as Anemone Press, Sigrid Calon, Colorama Press, Genderfail, Knust Press, Sven Tillack, among many others. Readings and course discussions will cover the history of radical and artist publishing, DIY production, and institutional adoption of the Risograph machine. The class will culminate in a show of student work.
Students will be expected to produce 3-4 self-directed print or publishing projects using advanced techniques on the risograph machine as well as participating in a collaborative research and book project. Projects will be workshopped in one-on-one meetings and discussed in group critiques.

Taken every semester, the Graduate Projects courses allow students to focus in private sessions on the development of their work. Students register for 6 hours of Graduate Project credit in each semester of study.