Drive By Press drove onto campus on September 6 to present a lecture and demonstrate first-hand how printmaking can be done on the road and out of a van.
Greg Nanney of New York is half of the duo that decided to put a printing press in the back of a pick-up truck and travel across the country promoting the art of printmaking. Seven years ago Nanney and his partner Joseph Velasquez took every cent they had and invested it into their dream of sharing art with students and art enthusiasts.
This was a way to relate to the world and share their prints with multiples of people. Their travels began in Midwestern USA with their first stop in South Dakota. They quickly realized selling paper prints did not make enough money to keep their project afloat. At the University of Maryland a student asked if they would do a print on his t-shirt. This simple question flipped the switch on their inner light bulb and solved the dilemma of making money to keep their road trip rolling.
“T-shirts are democratic. Not intimidating and everyone can wear one….our art isn’t exclusive.” Nunney said during his lecture. As word spread of the traveling printing press the demand grew for their demonstrations. During the summer breaks they printed and sold art at festivals continuing with their phrase of “teamwork to make dream work.”
Nunney and Velasquez have since split their team into three separate groups. Nunney said, “The drawback of having three groups traveling is I have to carve three blocks of each design for printing.”
The groups also carry thousands of prints to display, made by many artists and each print has its own unique story. Recently they have expanded their art form by printing onto custom skateboards.
Following the Thursday lecture, Nunney and fellow artist Wes, went to the parking lot outside of Wolf Hall for a hands-on demonstration of carving and printing techniques. On Friday they printed outside of YCP’s downtown art studio at Marketview Arts.
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