YouTube video by Spark Box Studio Printshop & Artist Residency Coating Silkscreens with Photo Emulsion | Art Printmaking Vlog

Been coating screens for new projects and shared the process in a new video: youtu.be/0W1e-pWrIpQ #silkscreen #screenprint #printmaking

Our spring post: “For the Cosmos” a colourful screenprint by Chrissy Poitras featuring abstract flowers in a striped vase. #printpromptmonday (sparkboxstudio.com/product/for-...)

May have to convince Kyle to make more gem art, they’re some of my favs 💎 "Refinement" a copper plate etching with aquatint. I love the close-up of the plate, you can see the contrast between the etched lines & the untouched copper. #printmaker #art Online Shop: sparkboxstudio.com/product/etch...

YouTube video by Spark Box Studio Printshop & Artist Residency How I Tackled My First Multi-Plate Etching | Art Vlog

Finally printed the edition of a multi-plate etching I made while away at Zea Mays Printmaking residency. So happy with how they turned out. #etching #intaglio #printmaking #art
youtu.be/FCgnMe7-UOA

Kyle’s been working on a new print and it features a large split fountain technique, something he’s never done before. He’s wanted to try this for a while and this piece called for it. #screenprint #printmaker #art

sparkboxstudio.com/diy-drying-r...
We love a studio hack! When we first opened we couldn’t afford one of those giant, beautiful metal drying racks. So Kyle made us a DIY drying rack that's on casters that rolls under our tables. 💛 #art #artstudio #diy

An acrylic painting on paper of a stylized bouquet of flowers in a vase. The flowers are rendered in an illustrative, slightly abstract style with bold shapes. The background is minimal, flat pink with mustard yellow table.

Details of the acrylic painting on paper of a stylized bouquet of flowers in a vase. Focus is on flowers that resemble daisies.

An angled images of acrylic painting on paper of a stylized bouquet of flowers in a vase. The flowers are rendered in an illustrative, slightly abstract style with bold shapes. The background is minimal, flat pink with mustard yellow table.

Details of the acrylic painting on paper of a stylized bouquet of flowers in a vase. Focus is on flowers that resemble daisies.

The Union Gallery is celebrating their 30th anniversary with a silent auction. Proceeds are split between the artist and the gallery. This is my piece, "To Gather", an acrylic work on paper. Auction closes April 25: www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticket...

We have been deep into #etching lately.
This print is an oldie but a goodie—Kyle made it back when we were still using Future Floor Wax as our hardground (yes, the floor polish 😅). We actually loved this process - it was cost effective, easy to make and easy to clean-up.

Instantly improving your Artist Statement in April! | Spark Box Studio Get more from Spark Box Studio on Patreon

We've been sending our more applications to open calls this year than ever before, so we made a worksheet to help us with artist statements. If you're needing help with writing your #artist statement it's on our Patreon (for free and paid members): www.patreon.com/posts/instan...
#artistadvice

Today we are guest lecturing at OCADU for the Professional Practices class 😀

YouTube video by Spark Box Studio Printshop & Artist Residency If You’re Overthinking Every Print, Watch This! | Art Vlog Printmaking

I almost gave up on this cut stencil silkscreen but I am so glad I stuck with it. What a fun process! #silkscreen #printmaker #artist
youtu.be/5PedBFSf_ps?...

My entry for #printpromptmonday - the theme is Magic!

"Safe Travels" screen print by Kyle. Who hasn't wanted to create a portal to another dimension?

sparkboxstudio.com/product/safe...

Love these! We have so much end cuts from print projects that we've been trying to come up with a plan for and this has us inspired!

These installations are stunning!

Silk panels silk screened with a collage of mountain and glacier imagery hang from the ceiling in the centre of a brightly lit Gallery space; larger images of repeat photography hang on the walls. The silk shows images from the Athabasca, Bow, and North Saskatchewan. Seen here is an image of the Athabasca Glacier flowing across 5 four by nine foot panels. The images along the wall combine historical and contemporary images by the artist re-photogrphed in the same place, drawings of older archive on top of the new images of the Bow Glacier and Saskatchewan Glacier, showcasing how they have melted back.

Silk panels silk screened with a collage of mountain and glacier imagery hang from the ceiling in the centre of a brightly lit Gallery space. Behind the silk panels a larger wall piece of blue cyanotype work peeks out. The images on the panels show the Athabasca Glacier close up, and part of Johnson Canyon, along with a bit of Athabasca falls in the center. The images are merges seamlessly into one long piece split across many panels each four by nine foot in size.

Silk panels silk screened with a collage of mountain and glacier imagery hang from the ceiling in the centre of a brightly lit Gallery space on the left side only of the photo. Seen behind the silk panels a larger wall piece of blue cyanotype work, which shows urban river scenes. Edmonton downtown and refinery row scenes merge seamlessly with the Mountain peaks around Abraham lake, at large scale. Currents is seven feet tall and stretches from wall to wall, encompassing those within the gallery

A small piece of silk flutters at the left from 'flux', but the focus is on the large 'currents' artwork taking up the majority of the long gallery wall. Blue cyanotype imagery shows parts of Edmonton's downtown, from the Legislature though to the industry around rundle park, refinery row industrial images, and the ice on the river in the foreground merging into glacial ice on the right of the image. A person is seen looking at the work, giving a sence of scale. The work is large, seven feet tall, and meant to feel immersive, with recognizable landmarks to tell residents where they are looking in Downtown Edmonton's river landscape.

Hello! Posting older work as an intro, from 2023 at the Art Gallery of St Albert, Alberta, Canada. I work in printmaking, photo, and print adjacent media, large and small, focused on the headwaters, watersheds, and glaciers in the eastern slopes and out in the prairies to Edmonton (home).

The the joy on Kyle's face when he pulls a great print! #etching #printmaker

Secrets to Green Copper Plate Etching - Spark Box Studio Join us as we both created copper plate etchings using green methods for hard ground, aquatint, coffee lift and stop-out.

Last summer Kyle and I spent a couple weeks at Zea Mays Printmaking where we took a deep dive into non-toxic aquatint #etching. We loved it! #printmaker
sparkboxstudio.com/secrets-to-g...

thanks! love when I can use parts of another project to create a smaller sub-project 😄

thanks so much 💛

#printpromptmonday time! This week is #foliage, let’s see your flowery offerings.

Extra favour from us this week - please share the graphic around if you feel able to, it will help spread the print prompt love.

Remember to tag your post with the hashtags, post all week long and like other’s subs!

#PrintPromptMonday theme is #Foliage

This is my "Happiness Is" screenprint based on a collection of flowers drawn as part of a larger mural piece.

Vintage-style relief print depicting a man surrounded by large antique books. He peers into a cutout cavity inside one of the books, where a small cat is whimsically playing a cello.

Overhead image of a black and white relief print and the photo negative used to create the printing plate.

Detail of the vintage-style relief print where the man peers into a cutout to find a small cat is shredding on his cello.

“Cat Book” is one of our all-time bestsellers at craft sales, because, well… how can you not fall for a musical feline surrounded by antique books? 🐈‍⬛🎻 This is a photopolymer plate printed on the Vandercook. bit.ly/4iA6NMY
#printmaking #catart #handprinted

Copper plate etchings featuring a botanical scene, surrounded by test prints displaying various colour tones achieved through aquatint techniques.

Overhead view of a copper plate prepared for etching, with visible etched lines of leaves and plants. Ink and printing tools are on the table, showing parts at the printmaking process in progress.

Angle view of two copper plate prepared for etching, with visible etched lines of plants and leaves. Ink and printing tools are scattered on the table, hinting at the printmaking process in progress.

Spent a great day printing this two colour #etching in the shop yesterday. #printmaker #artistinstudio

Trying to be realistic about art making vs social media posting.
Art making always comes first—it’s the heart of what we do—and to follow our human rhythms, not the algorithms (thanks @andyjpizza.bsky.social for those wise words).

A humble proposal:

Ban the word “complex” from all art writing. It doesn’t tell a reader anything they can’t decide for themselves.

While I’m at it: if the word “powerful” shows up in an artist statement, I know an AI wrote it. It’s equally meaningless and lifted from gendered tech writing.

Really love the texture you are getting in this print!

Screen Print Tips and Tricks - Spark Box Studio Kyle printing his newest screen print Tides and Gravity. Shares colour mixing, registration, screen print setup.

A walk through of editioning a screen print with tips and tricks! #screenprint #silkscreen #artiststudio
sparkboxstudio.com/screen-print...

Getting to use these old presses is such a highlight to being a printmaker! We genuinely love making original handmade prints and having a studio that’s also a museum for print history is an added bonus! #printmakers Can you relate?

MONOLITH - Spark Box Studio Monolith is a relief print by Kyle Topping. It is an original, limited editioned black and white print designed and printed at Spark Box Studio.

sparkboxstudio.com/product/reli...

YouTube video by Spark Box Studio Printshop & Artist Residency Deep cleaning a Vintage Printing Press | Printmaker Art Vlog

Never give up on your vintage manual tools! So satisfying! The lovely, dedicated folks @sparkboxstudio.bsky.social go the distance to restore an abandoned press. Beautiful! ❤️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z8K...