Meet co-op member Megan Wetzel!
Tales from the Co-op: Megan Wetzel
Tales from the Co-op: Erin Leon
Tales from the Co-op: Jon Mahnke
Rebuild, polymergravure
I’ve been making prints since I was a junior in high school , where I fell in love with etching. I completed my bachelors degree at the University of Iowa, and my masters in Minneapolis at the University of Minnesota. I enjoy printmaking as an artistic endeavor as well as a nice day job that pays the bills. My wife and I started an illustration and screen printing business that sells greeting cards and printed kitchen towels called Crankosaurus press. Despite printing thousands of products a year, I still have a deep passion for printing as my primary artistic medium.
I am working primarily in photopolymer gravure, a process I learned from Keith Taylor in a course taught at Highpoint. It allows me to take images drawn on the computer and transform them into intaglio prints. These works have been inspired by the overwhelming amount of construction in Minneapolis recently.
Primarily working at home for yourself can be a lonely endeavor, Highpoint offers me a wonderful social lifeline as well as a reliable well equipped print facility. It's wonderful to have somewhere to go with welcoming staff and co-op members. Working around other amazing artists has given me new ideas and definitely helped me improve as an artist.
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Tales from the Co-op: Matt Kunes
Colorado’s Lost Grizzly, screenprint
After studying graphic design at UW-Stout, I moved to Minneapolis and constructed a barebones screenprinting studio in a laundry room. The space was tiny, but it was everything an aspiring artist needed to create screenprinted shirts, posters, and art. I named this humble space Motelprint Studios. After fifteen years of screenprinting next to a washer and dryer, I felt it was time to leave the restricted space of the laundry studio and find a new studio to call home. Enthusiastically, I found the Highpoint community.
My work often references animals and nature. I enjoy the varying abstract relationships I can create within the drawing using line, engaging color schemes, negative space, and scale. Although much of my design aesthetic was influenced at a young age obsessing over 1990’s cutting-edge skateboard designs, the experience that most shaped my current aesthetic was exploring graphic design and screen printing techniques during my time abroad in college. While in Germany, I discovered that my art relied on graphic design elements. By blending the two methods, I have achieved a visual connection to the subject matter. By arranging each element purposefully, I breathe new life into my subjects through vibrant, alluring color arrangements and charismatic contour lines.
What I found at Highpoint is professional equipment and a staff that offers an extraordinary studio experience for printmakers. Also, it is wonderful to be surrounded by inspiring artists of all ages and backgrounds. These factors have contributed to a resurgence of productivity. I am looking forward to all the new enjoyable art arrangements and prints to come generated at Highpoint Center for Printmaking.
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Tales from the Co-op: Anne Feicht
Friends, screenprint
I find what draws me to making prints are the many different stories they can tell. To me it is magical when pigment, shape, and line, placed according to a printmaker’s intentions, transform paper into a print. When making my own prints I try to keep the stories positive, while at the same time not losing site of the complicated times we live in. I absolutely feel the world needs positive thinking and positive doing.
Most of my images are fictional, and the notions of connectedness, motion and circularity are important to me. I think of my images as pieces in a bigger picture, and enjoy mentally wandering in that “image place” while I am drawing and working. What place that is, relative to the everyday places we know, is a question I find appealing to consider as both a maker and a viewer of art.
Many print images I work on begin as three-dimensional ideas in my mind’s eye. In the distant past I primarily worked sculpturally with wood, willow, and other elements. While making sculpture, I enjoyed not only creating the object but also the process and challenge of building. I eventually switched to making wood block prints and left sculpture behind, but continue to mentally work between a sculptural and printmaker’s viewpoint. Similar to sculptural building, I enjoy the process of making prints and find following the orderly steps of printmaking both comfortable and rewarding.
I took a long break from printmaking, but several years ago, I felt an urge to make new prints and return to unfinished stories. Becoming a member of Highpoint, has allowed me that opportunity, and the ability to work with printing methods with which I do not have as much experience. I am inspired by the different types of prints created at Highpoint, including those made in the classroom, by co-op members, in the pro shop, and by Highpoint staff. I honestly cannot think of a more interesting or supportive community to re-explore printmaking.
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Tales from the Co-op: Cathy Spengler
holes, screenprint
I retired in 2016 after 30 years in graphic design, in large part because a hankering to make screenprints was starting to compete with my “real” work, which I otherwise loved. I found myself taking photos and playing with images for hours (even when client deadlines loomed!), imagining the prints they might become.
A class at Highpoint in 2006 had given me my first chance to try screenprinting. A decade later, I was lucky to find another screenprinting course offered at Normandale Community College, taught by Cindy Koopman. She welcomed a 60-year-old student into her class of 19 and 20 year-olds, and it was a perfect launch into the work I dreamed of doing.
And Highpoint, where I’ve been a member since 2017, has been a perfect home in which to start doing that work. I’m grateful for this wonderful resource—thoughtfully-run; generous with knowledge and equipment; and full of like-minded members and staff who are fun and inspiring and so helpful to work alongside.
About the work I’m doing: at heart, I just love to look at things. My process, from the beginning, has been more about noticing than creating. My eyes are consistently drawn to certain things—color, the play of light and shadow, patterns interestingly out of whack or with syncopated rhythm—and what I find so much fun is that beauty in these forms can pop up at any time, and in the most ordinary places. I love to play with images until I find what I recognize as a “sweet spot” for me: that edge where representation and abstraction meet. I hope to be playing for a long time to come!
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Tales from the Co-op: Lynn Bollman
Food as Thought, relief with found objects
My thoughts result in my print ideas, and are directed by things I see, find, and experience, and are the subject of my work. They don’t reflect on political, social, moral, or historical issues, but are a product of random – not precise, varied – not compartmentalized, original – not obvious, mind-work. They are often inspired by the unexpected.
Anyone who says you can’t see a thought,
simply doesn’t know art.
-Wynetka Ann Reynolds
I am a printmaker and I work almost entirely with relief methods. I typically start with a traditional substrate, but am easily moved to experiment with unusual physically textured surfaces. Any durable physically textured surface has the potential to become a worthy surface for a print idea…a thought.
I work everything by hand and avoid using digital devices. What some observers identify in my work as flaws, are simply a reflection of an honest attempt to reveal my intentions.
No less than seventy-five percent of the time I spend on making a print is dedicated to thinking and planning. It is not uncommon for me to lie awake for hours at night, searching to find a solution to further one of my ideas. I can make good designs. I spent most of my professional life encouraging my students to do just that. What inspires me now is what makes a design meaningful. What I make now has to stand above design, or a simple solution. It has to be a product that reveals what I demand of my art…that it be of a deep and truly original thought.
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Tales from the Co-op: Mike Marks
From the series: The Mountain Moves and I Stand Still, intaglio, chine collé, and stone relief
I moved to Minnesota in 2016 from Maine. I knew about Highpoint prior to that and was excited to become part of such an active print community. After resettling my studio practice, I was awarded a 2017/2018 Jerome Emerging Printmaker Residency at Highpoint which reinvigorated my work and has given me momentum ever since. Originally from West Virginia (with some serious Wisconsin family-roots!), I first discovered printmaking while attending the Cleveland Institute of Art. Even though print wasn't my exclusive focus then, I later returned to school to receive my MFA in printmaking from the University of Delaware in 2013.
For about the last ten years, my prints have been based on representing the pace of change to places I have a deep connection to: from the mountain-top-removal occurring in West Virginia, to retreating glaciers in Alaska, to climbing mountains and standing in trout streams. I view the landscape as a reservoir of mark-making from the geological to the man-made, and I try to echo the tension between these marks in my images using a mix of both representation and abstractions. I mostly work with intaglio, collograph, and relief techniques. The physicality of making these types of plates feels reminiscent to the way history is embedded in the landscape. I try to find parallels between this and the process of accumulating a history of mark-making into a plate's surface to create a print.
I feel fortunate to have arrived at Highpoint where I have found a community of supportive co-op and staff members that continue to push printmaking as a means of expression. I'm always discovering something new within my own work being in such a positive studio environment. I've moved around a lot in the past, but it feels exceptionally good to be producing work in the co-op knowing I'll have many additional productive years to come here.
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Tales from the Co-op: Kristin Bickal
In My Soup, polymergravure photogram
As a long-time neighborhood resident, I became aware of Highpoint through my daughter’s involvement during high school. She took part in the teen Access/Print program in 2010 and was later an Education Intern one summer when she was home from college.
I studied fine art photography along with design as an undergraduate. Since then, I have dabbled in the book arts, letterpress, and alternative photo processes, mostly through continuing education classes. I saw an opportunity in the newsletter and volunteered as an Education intern myself last year, following in my daughter’s footsteps. I was hooked and began exploring the amazing world of printmaking at Highpoint in the co-op.
My work reflects all my interests and the world around me, both natural and man-made. Recently, I’ve been experimenting with the technically demanding process of polymergravure, resulting in images like In My Soup. This is an intaglio print made from a plate produced as a photogram. I’m intrigued by how the physical manipulation of the ink adds another dimension to this early photo process.
I’m so grateful for the wonderful people and stimulating environment I’ve found at Highpoint and now enjoy mentoring the teens in the Access/Print program while continuing to learn. What an incredible place!
Tales from the Co-op: Jeremy Piller
A few trees (U of M Arboretum), screenprint
I have always been drawn to screenprinting. Creating an edition has always been appealing to me, as I want to create beautiful art that many people can enjoy. With this technique, there is a direct correlation between making the stencil and the finished print. Make a mark, print, repeat, and eventually (hopefully) you will have executed what you imagined in your mind.
Recently, I’ve been working on a series of landscapes. I’ve been learning how to put years of painting skills into service by painting the imagery I use to make my screens. Starting with basic blocks of color, I build from there, adding layers of marks and reacting to each previous color. The image develops organically with each run through the press. It’s not exactly an efficient way to produce a print, but I love the process of rendering, color by color, that vision onto paper.
Highpoint is a great place for me to work. The facilities and equipment are excellent and the community is wonderful. While waiting for a screen to dry, I find inspiration in the gallery or discuss techniques and motivations with the other members. As a result, I’ve found myself more focused and encouraged to continue printing.
Tales from the Co-op: Lynnette Black
Wood Nymph, intaglio with relief and stencils
A native Minnesotan, I fell in love with intaglio printmaking while studying under Leo Lasansky at Hamline University and his father, Mauricio Lasansky at the University of Iowa. Although it was challenging, I maintained my art practice (painting, drawing, collage) while pursuing a medical device marketing career and raising a family. For support I was a long-term member of Women’s Caucus for Art and WARM (Women’s Art Resources).
It was always my dream be a coop-member of Highpoint Center for Printmaking - I went to many free ink days through the years. After a long absence I returned to intaglio printmaking because of the detail and richness you can achieve. To get started I took a one-week intensive at Highpoint with master printer Gregory Burnet. Highpoint is a great place to learn; from other coop members, watching the professional shop work, getting technical advice from staff and the educational programs they offer. To deepen and broaden my skills, I have taken several workshops and had a solo exhibition in the Threshold Gallery, a valuable resource offered to co-op members. Recently, my piece Wood Nymph (pictured) was recently accepted into the Stand Out Prints International Exhibition.
In my work I strive to make a psychological, emotional impact and use multiple techniques for a complex and layered affect. The space at Highpoint, the organization and equipment is world class. It is a joy to “come to work”.
Tales from the Co-op: Anda Tanaka
I have lived in the Midwest my entire life and have always appreciated our open spaces- cornfields, prairies, the huge starry night sky. However until recently, I did not realize how important the Midwestern landscape is to my art practice and how I yearn for its expansiveness to find space and stillness within myself.
Tales from the Co-op: Austin Nash
Born and raised in Minnesota, I grew up on a farm two hours southwest of the twin cities near Springfield (there is one in every state). Although I drew as soon as I could hold a pencil, I was equally interested in economic theories and business models. In 2014 I received my undergraduate degree in business administration with a focus on entrepreneurship from the University of St Thomas.
Tales from the Co-op: Nancy Bolan
I took my first printmaking classes as an undergraduate in graphic design. I loved the physical process of intaglio printmaking, and the way that etching and printing a plate transformed and contributed to an image. I was excited when I discovered the co-op at Highpoint: I could continue to explore the medium in a well-equipped studio, and also get to know a supportive community of artists, experts and instructors.
Tales from the Co-op: Kyle Caspers
When I first began working at Highpoint, the rule I set for myself was to avoid anything that felt conservative. After four years in an undergraduate program that was centered on traditional figurative painting and drawing, I was ready for a change. Underlying this change was a desire to replace the primacy of skilled mark making and virtuosity that occupies the attention of many artists with a more process-driven approach. My best work has a sense of being built or engineered, so naturally I have become invested in designing things digitally using a combination of Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
Tales from the Co-op: Glenn Ronning
I first became interested in sculpture some 25 years ago. After a time, I became frustrated with the lengthy clay to wax to bronze process. Consequently, I switched to woodcarving, a process in which I’m fully involved that moves along at a faster pace. During this time, I also became interested in old film cameras, negatives, and working in a darkroom.
Tales from the Co-op: Dana Potter
My studio practice is an important contrast to my contemporary life, in which my daily rhythm is continuously interrupted by the immediate demands of digital interactions. When managing tasks on my computer or phone, my movements are tracked, quantified, and monetized within predefined symbols and layouts.
Tales from the Co-op: Nancy Ariza
My current body of work explores storytelling and illustration through a series of charming characters. It features anthropomorphic critters native to Minnesota and speaks to my love of the outdoors. Through the use of a children’s book aesthetic, I aim to capture a sense of nostalgia and innocence. These endearing scenes attest to my years of working with youth and include a humorous touch.
Tales from the Co-op: Calvin Hafermann
My path to Highpoint began somewhat unconventionally, with my graduation from Perpich Arts High School in the spring of 2015. Rather than attend college right out of the gate, I decided to take a year off to give myself the opportunity to try something outside of the traditional educational setting, and to better inform what I would do with my eventual college experience. I spent the year working at the Walker Art Center and interning in their education department, and a coworkers mention of Highpoint’s internship program led me to working as an education intern from the fall of 2015 to the spring of 2016. I had the opportunity not only to work with an amazing and diverse array of students, but was also afforded access to Highpoint’s co-op studio.