My name is Shelley Thorstensen and I need your financial help to move and set up a 1966 mint condition Okuma flatbed lithography offset proof press from Whately, Massachusetts to my shop, Printmakers Open Forum in Oxford Pennsylvania. This press is a beauty. It can print lithographs – both stones and plates – as well as relief woodcuts, linocuts and monoprints about 24 x 36 inches and larger. To the best of my knowledge I will be the only female owner/operator in the US of a press like this.
In the 1970s I was one of a select few who developed what was then referred to as “mylar lithography”. I created hand-drawn separations of existing artwork which were then printed one plate at a time on flatbed offset proof presses. For example, working under the aegis of Marina Picasso, I created 36 hand-drawn separations of a work by Picasso. My hand and brain became better than photoshop before it even existed.
Unfortunately, I was not allowed to run those presses. It was the 1970s and 80s. This was a man’s world. Since that time, I’ve had opportunity to run flatbed presses. I’ve spent pretty much my entire life learning and thinking about printmaking. I feel I have a great wealth of knowledge and history to share about all facets of print.
This Okuma press needs to come to Printmakers Open Forum not only for my own use but also to teach others, especially women, how to make plates and operate it. Printmakers Open Forum has a history of providing multiple medium hybrid workshop/residencies. I see this new press as becoming part of this milieu.
This press weighs over 10,000 pounds and is 13.5 feet long and six feet wide. Riggers need to prep the press, disconnecting the electrical components, securing all the movable parts, wrapping it and jacking it up and getting it on skates to be eased out of the building. A trucking company will winch the press onto their truck, then make the 321.7 mile trek to Oxford Pennsylvania. Before it arrives, walls in the shop will have to be removed to allow its passage. A volunteer crew will be here to meet her. The press will again be jacked up, set on skates and pushed to the back end of the shop where she will permanently reside. Once in place, the press will have to be precisely leveled to be able to operate. The electrical system on the press uses 3 phase with a 2 phase converter. While the electrical system is fully functional and state-of-the-art for the 1960s, I need to convert this electrical system to a more current system that eliminates the idiosyncrasies of these type of presses. Unfortunately, it is going to be quite expensive to move and recalibrate the press, as well as to make necessary shop modifications.
The total project cost is $18,000. I have $10,000 in savings, which is enough to get the press to Printmakers Open Forum, which I will do no matter what. I need at least $8000 to recalibrate and re-wire the press and to bring people here to help run it. Kickstarter crowdfunding is all-or-nothing funding and I have until the end of this campaign to raise $8000 or more or get no funds.
There are lots of categories to help support LITHOSPHERE. Each giving level has its own unique rewards. Please check out the different categories. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support. Your generosity is what will make this possible.
In addition to what I’ve cooked up below, everyone who donates will have their name printed on the press with my forever gratitude.
I’m excited to say that four artists will be creating limited edition prints at LITHOSPHERE on the Okuma: Katie Baldwin of Huntsville, Jeffry Mitchell of Seattle, Todd Norsten of Minneapolis and myself, Shelley Thorstensen. The artists have agreed to make these lithographs available at a price substantially lower than their market value. The prints are available now to purchase at pre-publication prices. I know I am asking you to purchase sight unseen, but remember, past performance indicates future performance. We’ll put our best efforts forward and you’ll be helping me greatly in moving this press here. If you don’t know these artists, please look them up!
A look at some of Katie’s work here
Katie Baldwin is a printmaker and book artist who lives in Huntsville Alabama. She has traveled internationally as an artist in residence. She was one of seven international artists selected in 2004 to learn traditional Japanese woodblock printing (mokuhanga) from master carvers and printers at the Nagasawa Residency on Awaji Island, Japan. Under Queen Anne’s Revenge Press, Baldwin produces artist’s books and woodblock prints. She has exhibited extensively, including Geida University in Tokyo, Japan and the Print Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her work can be found in many collections including the Library of Congress in Washington DC. She has received grant funding through several organizations, including the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts. Baldwin received her MFA from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She served as the Victor Hammer Fellow at Wells College from 2011-2013. Katie was a resident at the first PrintCamp at PMOF.
Some of Jeffry’s work click here
Here’s Jeffry talking about his work: https://youtu.be/OqrBlxd09l
Jeffry Mitchell, based in Seattle, received an MFA in Printmaking from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, and a BA in Painting from the University of Dallas. He has had solo exhibitions at Mark Moore Fine Art in Los Angeles, Rena Bransten in San Francisco, Morgan Lehman in New York, Zentrum für Keramik in Berlin, the Seattle Art Museum, and the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. His work is in numerous public and private collections, including the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive; Cheney Cowles Museum in Spokane; the City of Tacoma, Washington; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; New York Public Library; Honolulu Museum of Art; the Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Portland Art Museum, among many others. Mitchell’s work has been reviewed in Art in America, the Seattle Times, LA Times, ARTnews, and Artforum. I have known and admired Jeffry since our days in grad school at Tyler.
A look at some of Todd’s work here
A little Essence of Todd Norsten video here
Todd Norsten, who lives and works in Minneapolis, is a graduate of Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He has exhibited at galleries and museums in the United States, Europe and Asia and was included in the 2006 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Selected solo and group exhibitions include Federica Schiavo Gallery, Rome, Italy; Fondazione Giuliani, Rome, Italy; Leo Koenig, Inc., NY; Dayton Art Institute, OH; Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN; Josée Bienvenu Gallery, NY; Walker Art Center, MN; Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis. His work is in the collections of the British Museum, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Walker Art Center, as well as numerous private collections. Todd is a former student of mine from my teaching days at Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
Shelley talks about flatbed offset here at 5:20″
Shelley Thorstensen, who lives and works in Oxford Pennsylvania, received a MFA in Printmaking from the Tyler School of Art of Temple University, in Elkins Park, PA. Thorstensen is a printmaker concerned primarily with medium. She proposes that medium can comprise a significant part of an artwork’s meaning, and aims to marry traditional printmaking techniques with modern, digital styles to evoke a sense of relative reality transcending virtual conceptions of printmaking. As her printmaking is a duet between tactile and virtual, Thorstensen insists that artwork is a physical representation of the artist’s consciousness: a duality of body and mind, physical and mental. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Royal Museum of Art, Antwerp, Belgium; the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; the Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA; and Polymetaal, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
There are always risks and challenges to an undertaking. I’ve thought through what they could be. No matter what, the press is coming to Printmakers Open Forum. Then it is a matter of tooling it up. The people who will do this are the best in this field. In addition, I would be very distressed if I could not get Rewards out to backers in a timely fashion, so, with that in mind I’ve given each category ample leeway in terms of timing of delivery of Rewards.