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Posted by Jason Urban on January 6th, 2010 | Plotter Drawings from the 1960’s is an online exhibition at Berlin’s Digital Art Museum. Calling it an exhibition of drawings is certainly justified, but as a collection of editionable and printed images, this show is also a link in the printmaking evolutionary* chain. While plotters are definitely not the same as large-format color printers of today, they are a crucial first step toward the utilization of computers as a tool for making substantially-sized digital printworks.
 Vera Molnar, Interruptions, 1968/69, open series, 28.5 x 28.5 cm
 Edward Zajec, ”Prostor2″, 1969.
* To clarify, I’m only using the word “evolutionary” in the linear sense; I’m not suggesting that newer media is superior. After all, this post is on a site dedicated to printmaking.
Posted by PRINTERESTING on November 12th, 2009 | Control:Print is a collaborative exhibition between The Royal College of Art and Parsons The New School for Design that is, according to exhibition materials, “considering the fate of ink on paper through explorations in design, craft, and technology.” It sounds serious because it is.
 Yes. That is a large-format printer in Parsons’ gallery window. Must be a digital print show!
Continue reading Control:Print at Parsons
Posted by Jason Urban on June 27th, 2008 | 
After a multi-week hiatus, DIY FRIDAY is back. This week we’re highlighting the Latte-Printer (pictured in action above).
For those who don’t know, not only does such a thing as latte art exist, apparently it is thriving. While there aren’t any solid numbers of exactly how many “artists” focus on the medium of coffee, with estimates for the total number of coffeehouses in the United States alone being 1 for every 14,000 Americans, it’s safe to say there are probably quite a few. Think of latte art as the coffee equivalent to “plating”- points for presentation. Baristas create designs in one of two ways: free-pouring which is like freehand drawing with milk or etching where the design is drawn after the milk has been poured.
Noticing the growing popularity in latte art, inventor Oleksiy Pikalo saw a different solution to the problem. On his website, Pikalo offers up how-to directions for his Latte-Printer. It utilizes an old plotter and edible ink. His directions are pretty vague and seem way beyond the novice level but a motivated printmaker can figure out the details, right? Finally, editionable coffee. The latte-printer would definitely make a great addition to any printshop.
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Posted by Jason Urban on June 6th, 2008 | 
Hey do-it-yourselfers! Ready for another installment of Printeresting’s DIY Friday? Hot on the heels of the 3D Printer, it’s another high-tech project… PRINT-ROBOTS!
Compliments of TeamEasyEnough at instructables.com… the Printbot. This little unit “prints” with chalk. Think Roomba with printing capabilities. It’s built using an iRobot platform and a dot-matrix printer. Check out the video…
Another similar but slightly different option is the Posterbot. The posterbot is the brain child of Wyatt Felt also at instructables.com. Motivated by his own illegible handwriting, he decided to produce a robot to do the work for him. This one uses a marker. Parts should run you a mere $50, a bargain considering the time and energy it will save!
Additional info and relevant links…
Posted by Jason Urban on June 4th, 2008 | 
George Olshevsky explains these images on his site Nuts about Nets much better than I ever could. I’ll just say that he’s a mathematician who is using the computer to visualize geometric problems- complex polyhedral configurations called nets. The products of his research are beautiful and strange images that he then produces as digital prints.
…astronomers produce prints of spiral galaxies and interstellar wonders, and naturalists produce prints of butterflies, flowers, and other beautiful organisms, so how about a mathematician offering prints of geometrical objects? People should know that such things exist within the realm of human knowledge!
Posted by Jason Urban on May 30th, 2008 | Enter your password to view comments
Posted by Jason Urban on April 26th, 2008 |
Parsons graduate Joshua Kinsberg was in the news a few years ago after designing a mobile print system for his MFA thesis in Design and Technology. His initial foray into the public eye came in 2004 during the Republican national convention in NYC where he debuted his bikesagainstbush project as a tool of politcal protest. The bicycle, which utilizes a chalk printer, allowed website visitors to wirelessly send messages of protest to be “printed” on the streets. While being interviewed for cable news’ Hardball with Chris Matthews, Kinsberg was arrested and his innovative, mobile printing unit was detained. He’s back in the news again… the NYTimes reported in March that Kinsberg had been under surveillance prior to the convention raising serious questions about an artist/activist’s rights to privacy. This seems like a great example of printmaking crossing-over into the “real world”- interacting with public and being part of the political debate.
There is a lot of lip service paid to “political print” in the museum setting but how often does print really have any political power? On a completely different note, how long before a company like Red Bull finds a way to take advantage of this technology to inundate college campuses with advertisements for energy drinks?
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Vera Molnar, Interruptions, 1968/69, open series, 28.5 x 28.5 cm
Edward Zajec, ”Prostor2″, 1969.
