PRINT TO EMPOWER: WORKSHOP

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Event:
PRINT TO EMPOWER: WORKSHOP
Start:
October 14, 2017 1:00 pm
End:
October 14, 2017 5:00 pm
Cost:
Free
Category:
Organizer:
Apply Online
Updated:
September 13, 2017
Venue:
DiverseWorks (MATCH Gallery)
Phone:
(713) 223-8346
Address:
Google Map
3400 Main Street, Houston, TX, 77002, United States

Print to Empower is a letterpress wood type workshop for 14 participants.

Application and advance registration is required.

Lead by Keelin Burrows, Curator at the Printing Museum and Travis Smith, museum volunteer and Printer at Workhorse Print Makers

Application deadline: October 2

This letterpress workshop will introduce 14 participants to the ways that printing has historically been used—and continues to be used—as a tool to affect social change. A brief history of empowerment through print will be presented at the beginning of the workshop. Participants will use a Showcard proof press and wood type from The Printing Museum’s permanent collection to create a two-color letterpress political poster (edition of 12) for public display and dissemination.

Participants will begin the workshop by discussing current social and political causes relevant to the contemporary moment in the nation and how they relate to Houston and the individual. Using the root phrase “PRINT TO EMPOWER…” participants will discuss personal moments of disempowerment they have experienced in their lives in Houston and distill these experiences down to a key phrase or word. Examples might include:

PRINT TO EMPOWER AN INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY

PRINT TO EMPOWER LGBT RIGHTS

PRINT TO EMPOWER GENDER EQUALITY

PRINT TO EMPOWER OPEN IMMIGRATION

PRINT TO EMPOWER EDUCATION REFORM

Participants will set their word or phrase and print an edition of 10 posters each. Each poster will have a short statement about the workshop and the following hashtag at the bottom #printtoempower. This will allow participants to upload images of their posters online and connect them to The Printing Museum’s Facebook event page. On this page, participants can share their personal story of disempowerment and how they are taking back their power through the action of print. Collectively the group will discuss where they will strategically and responsibly hang their posters throughout Houston.

Through this cathartic act of coming together, sharing personal stories, setting a word or “intent”, printing, and disseminating their work into the community, participants will take back their personal power and agency, as well as inspire others to do the same. Ultimately, this workshop will serve as a micro-session to rebuild the divide amongst communities—in the both the physical and digital realm—connecting the political to the personal in Houston.

The program is presented in collaboration with The Printing Museum.

Please apply as soon as possible. This workshop is limited to 14 people. Answers to the three application questions (on the Eventbrite registration) will provide the basis for selection of participants. Notification of acceptance will be sent by email on October 3, 2017.