New Academy Press, founded by Justin George and Michael Burch, is a collaborative screen printing shop in Pittsburgh, PA. New Academy Press will be vending at our Art Star Craft Bazaar for the first time this year, so we were interested in learning more about them. Check out our interview and come visit them at the bazaar at booth # 110!
Art Star: What will you be selling at the bazaar?
New Academy Press: We will be selling screen printed paper goods, such as illustrated prints, postcards, bookmarks, and paper sculptures.
AS: Describe your process.
NAP: We take original illustrations and designs and screen print them by hand. Some of our prints are then cut, torn, folded, and glued to create 3-dimensional paper sculptures.
AS: Are you professionally trained?
NAP: Justin holds a BFA in printmaking and Michael has one in photography.
AS: Are you able to make your work full time? If not, what do you do for your day job?
NAP: We work full time hours for New Academy Press, but to stay afloat we also spend additional time as a bartender and restaurant manager.
AS: Where would you like to see your art/craft business in the next 10 years?
NAP: We would like to move our operation out of our living room and into a larger, dedicated workspace allowing us to increase our creative output, and eventually spread our love for art making through teaching classes and workshops.
AS: Any exciting projects in the works?
NAP: We are currently working on a suite of new prints for a gallery show in August at the Irma Freeman Center for Imagination here in Pittsburgh.
AS: What are your favorite things about Philadelphia?
NAP: So many things! Michael spent a brief time living in Philly, and the things he misses most are the Museum of Art, bicycle lanes and beautiful old buildings. Justin enjoys the Mutter Museum and Ben Franklin.
AS: What are some of the inspirations for your work?
NAP: We are heavily influenced by past eras of scientific exploration, design and manufacturing. We love learning about the people who have spent their lives searching for answers and discovering new things about the natural world.
AS: What are you reading / listening to?
NAP: That is a very big question. We love talk radio, podcasts and audiobooks that teach us about this crazy universe, but when it comes to getting thing done we like really loud rock music.
You will need the following:
Roll out a piece of your clay evenly and not too thin! Mine was probably around an 1/8″ thick.
Now cut out your little hearts with your cookie cutter! No worries if they don’t come out perfect, you can sand them smooth after baking.
After you’ve cut out your desired amount of hearts, gather them up on a baking tray or piece of foil and stick them in your preheated oven. Bake at 125 for 15 mins (or whatever it reads on your sculpey packaging). Remove from oven and let cool before handling. Sand the edges, front & back to remove imperfections.
Grab your sharpie (make sure it is permanent b/c otherwise it will smear) and write in your favorite sayings! This is definitely the fun part. I kept it somewhat sweet and PG-13 for this post, but I did have fun writing in some really naughty ones! I practiced my handwriting on paper first, cuz I’m a dork. They didn’t all come out perfectly but that’s okay – it gives them character!
Next you will glue on your pin backs. You need just the tiniest dot of glue on the back. Let them dry overnight before handling.
All finished! They make cute and easy v-day gifts! I pinned this one to my hubby this morning after he tried to eat it. As tasty as they look, don’t eat them. You’ll die.
I hope you enjoyed this post! Feel free to share but please credit me and link back to our site.
T
We will be hiding 2 signed Dr Dog records + 2 tickets to their January 31st show at the Electric Factory in one of the vendor booths on Friday at 4pm. The first person to find it, gets to keep it.
