Cheers, whistles and a cowbell rang through the Block Museum of Art at the first-ever Printpalooza on Saturday.
The event, which showcased printmakers and their products, attracted hundreds of visitors throughout the afternoon.
“It’s an incredible turnout,” Senior Curator Debora Wood said. “The prints are amazing.”
Prints are made by transferring ink from a hard material like wood onto paper. Each print is considered an original because no two prints turn out exactly the same.
Martin Mazorra of Cannonball Press, a prints company from Brooklyn, N.Y., said the high attendance surprised him.
“It’s an amazing turnout,” he said. “It’s a family-friendly crowd.”
On the first floor, DJs played music while kids participated in a hand-coloring print activity. Comix Revolution, an Evanston comics store, sold graphic publications and T-shirts. Prints were sold by Cannonball Press, Spudnik Press, Drive By Press and the Screenprint Vending Machine.
The printmaking and T-shirt-pressing demonstrations drew the largest crowd with a line wrapping around the top floor of the museum for the majority of the four-hour event.
The demonstrations were done by several artists including Northern Illinois University artist Eric Fuertes, who used a device called a Dumbo Press.
The Dumbo Press works like a rocking horse and is used to transfer the ink from a wood carving onto the paper. As Fuertes rocked back and forth on the press, audience members rang the cowbell and cheered so loudly it could be heard on other floors.
Many students went to the event, including Medill freshman Danielle Pierre.
“I really love local artists,” Pierre said. “It was convenient because it was right on campus.”
Weinberg freshman Samantha Brody went to Printpalooza to find room decorations. Most prints and items cost around $20 to make Printpalooza affordable for community members and students. Brody and her roommate bought three prints for $5 each.
“There were a few really cute things, and I really like what I bought,” Brody said.
However, she said overcrowding made it difficult for her to see all the art she wanted to check out.
“(There were) not as many selections as I thought there would be, and it was way too crowded,” she said. “But the stuff was really pretty.”
The event served as a family outing for many. Forty-five-year-old Reece Pendleton brought his 6-year-old son along to explore the work of the print artists.
“It’s a nice opportunity to see what current printmakers are doing,” Pendleton said.
Wood was inspired to hold Printpalooza at the Block Museum by an event Cannonball Press had hosted called “Prints Gone Wild!”
At the end of the Printpalooza, Wood led a tour of The Satirical Edge exhibition. The exhibition includes artwork from the 1950s through the present day and features a variety of styles from burlesque art to lithographs.
Based on the success of the event, both visitors and the museum would like to have Printpalooza again next year with a few changes.
“They might need to expand to a bigger space,” Pendleton said.
