NORTH CENTER — The Chicago Printers Guild is moving its publisher’s fair to the Constellation venue in North Center this year.
The guild is a nonprofit trade organization for Chicago-area printmakers interested in the promotion of print culture.
On Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., the guild will host over 30 artists at Constellation, 3111 N. Western Ave., for its free Chicago Printers Guild Publishers Fair.
“We started the guild in 2009 and it was small group of like 10 printmakers,” said Rachelle Hill, one of the event’s organizers. “Back then there were so many printmakers in Chicago, but no one really knew each other. So we started opening up our spaces for people who do letterpresses, design, screen printing. It started out as a place where you could bounce ideas off of each other.”
As the guild has grown, its programing has grown to include lectures, workshops, field trips and art exhibits for its members. An archive of its members’ work is also now maintained at the Harold Washington Library.
“Our work in the library archives was studied by YOUmedia students. They looked at our work from the guild and then students picked one printmaker to inspire them,” Hill said. “After they did research on that guild member, the students created their own art.”
Because the guild want to cultivate future printmakers, it’s also inviting the recipient of the Chicago Printers Guild Student Award, as well as students studying printmaking at Harold Washington Library’s YOUmedia program, to showcase their work as well.
The first fair the guild organized was in 2016 in Logan Square. Hill said the decision to move the fair to North Center this year was partially to have it be more accessible for people with disabilities.
“This year there will also be framing available on site at the fair from The Frame Shop,” Hill said. “It’s nice because a lot of people buy prints and they just let it sit in the closet. I do that sometimes. So it’s exciting we’ll have framing available at the fair.”
Hill says the fair allows people a unique opportunity to chat with artists and learn about the Chicago area’s rich tradition in printmaking, and the majority of the work showcased is extremely limited and likely to sell out.
This year the fair will also have on display the large-format steamroller prints created by printmakers at the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative’s 2018 Steamroller event.
Featured Artists at this year’s fair include:
• Alexandra Blom
• Andrew Mullally
• Anna Hasseltine
• Ben Chlaplek
• Bob Scheffler
• Buffalo Buffalo
• Chimera Press
• Chloe Firth
• CROOKEDPAW
• Cul de Sac Press
• Current Location Letterpress & Curiosities
• Dan Grzeca
• Deborah Maris Lader
• Dylan Roberts
• Emma Bilyeu
• Ethan D’Ercole
• Fata Morgana Press
• Hoofprint
• Katie Chung
• Michelle McCoy
• Pegboard Press
• POWER WASHER ZINE
• Rachelle Hill
• Ryan Kapp
• Sonnenzimmer
• Tabor Shiles
• Victoria Marie Barquin
• Wes Beeler
• Wesley Kramer
For more information on the fair visit chicagoprintersguild.org/fair/.
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