From monster mania to ghoulish ghosts, University of Wisconsin-Stout printing and Print Club students created designs for the Halloween season.
The students then transferred the designs to wood relief plates that are covered with ink to create paper prints or to be printed on T-shirts.
Eliza Jorgenson, a first-year studio art major from Hudson, created a design with ghosts flying out of a cauldron. “I wanted the ghosts to be cute, not malicious,” Jorgenson said. “I feel it’s more appealing if they are cute versus scary. Then you can wear the T-shirt all the time and not just for Halloween.”
Students used a special ink and rolled it onto the wood relief plates, then used a press to make an impression on the shirt.
Rachel Bruya, assistant professor of printmaking and foundations, said the prints are popular with students and community members. “I think it is a little novel,” Bruya said. “It ‘s a good introduction. We’ve seen a lot of students go on to work at a company or start their own small personal screen printing or relief printing shop. It’s great we educate people what printmaking is and what it can do.”
The Print Club has about a dozen core members, and about 65 students each semester take the printmaking class, Bruya said. Students usually also sell prints and T-shirts at the annual Senior Show held commencement week, featuring School of Art and Design projects.
On Monday, Oct. 29, T-shirts were sold for $10 each, with customers able to choose from about 30 wood relief plates, or $5 for those who brought their own shirts.
Paper prints were also available at varying prices. Profits support the Print Club; 90 percent of paper print profits went to designers and the other 10 percent to the club.
Katlin Mallek, of Plover, a senior majoring in art education, created a design featuring a haunting, scary ghost with a pumpkin head. “It’s Halloween,” she said, smiling. “It’s supposed to be scary.”
“Printmaking is new to me,” Mallek said. “I enjoy learning about how you cut away parts of the wood and applying the ink and transferring it to paper.”
Gary Schuster, university website manager, stopped by to purchase a T-shirt for his wife, Elizabeth. He chose a one-eyed, fanged kitten for the design.
“My wife likes cats,” Schuster said. “This print design is the perfect combination of cute and scary. One of the benefits of working on a UW campus is getting out of the office and seeing what the students are doing. It helps me stay connected to campus and find website stories that prospective students would relate to. I enjoy supporting Stout's student organizations, because campus life is as important as academic life.”
UW-Stout is Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University, with a focus on applied learning, collaboration with business and industry, and career outcomes.
###
Photos
Tracie Newman, a UW-Stout senior studio art major, rolls ink on a wood relief plate to print on a t-shirt.
UW-Stout students Kendra Lundstrom, at left, Victoria Pesch and Tracie Newman removes a wooden relief plate after printing a t-shirt
UW-Stout student Victoria Pesch holds up a finished t-shirt printed from wooden relief plates.