Five Points Arts Print Festival: A Celebration Of Woodblock Printmaking
What started as an invitation to host BIG INK and a woodblock printmaking workshop at Five Points Arts has turned into the an print-oriented festival at its Arts Center in Torrington, Connecticut, June 3 and 4. If you have any interest in art of print making —or just like to be supportive of the arts in our community — you’ll want to be on the scene of the first-ever Five Points Arts Print Festival. The two-day event will be awash with activities centered around carved wood blocks, ink, and hand printing, along with lectures, demonstrations, art print sales, an art market and silent auction, plus music and food. Admission is free.
First, a little about BIG INK. In 2012, two artists founded BIG INK to foster a community of people who create large woodblock prints. A decade in, they now travel all over the country to facilitate woodblock printmaking workshops “one impression at a time.” The artists, Lyell Castonguay and Carand Burnet, bring with them their “Big Tuna” mobile press that prints up to 40x96-inch carved woodblocks, which are essentially hand-carved stamps.
“We reached out to BIG INK to see about having them here,” says Judith McElhone, founder and executive director of Five Points Arts. “They’re often at large college campuses, but they had an opening for the June weekend. We wanted to find a way to complement BIG INK’s stay here.”
The result: a print-making community festival at the organization’s Arts Park, housed at the former University of Connecticut Torrington Regional campus. The printmaking lab will be open for demonstrations, and the juried print show, with work by printmakers from all over the country, will be on display throughout the building. The digital and printmaking studios will be busy demonstrating how to use a wide-format printer, scan images, and make prints from your own drawings.
Artists from Regional 7 High School and the University of Hartford Art School will experience printing oversized carved woodblocks on the legendary Big Tuna mobile press. It can print small blocks as well, but witnessing the creation of such large woodblock prints has got to be an impressive sight.
At the art market, artist/vendors will be selling a range of prints: etchings, monoprints, woodcuts, lithographs, giclee, and digital prints. Food vendors will include Meraki, the Mobile Meltdown, and Singing Sliders.
The festival is an opportunity to wander the verdant grounds of the 90-acre campus and tour the Five Points Arts Center, a visual arts laboratory where artists explore new techniques and concepts through workshops, seminars, lectures, open studio events, and outdoor interactive experiences. The entire art center will be open throughout the weekend. You might be inspired to learn the art of woodblock printmaking — or drawing, painting, or photography — yourself.
“All the printmaking processes can be taught,” says McElhone. “Anyone can learn to do it. The process is fun to learn. You find yourself immersed in it, and today that’s something we all need.”
Five Points Arts Print Festival Featuring BIG INK
June 3-4, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Five Points Art Center
835 University Drive, Torrington, CT
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