WORDS Jennifer Kornegay
As technology rushes ever forward, it brings with it amazing advances that make our lives easier by allowing us to do so many things so much faster. Case in point: sending a file from your phone to a wireless printer that shoots out the finished product in the time it takes to you walk across the room to grab it.
That’s just one example, but one that’s apropos when discussing one of our favorite Makers, Green Pea Press in Huntsville. Located in historic Lowe Mill, which features more than 100 working artists, small businesses, restaurants and live performance venues, Green Pea Press is a member-based organization that provides access to equipment for artists working in fine art print media, including wood/linocut, etching, letterpress, screen print and bookmaking as well as educational lectures and workshops. Members “buy” time in the studio to create their own work, and the general public can take advantage of GPP’s classes. The Pea Pod, an offshoot of Green Pea Press, shows and sells the members’ original pieces: fine art prints, t-shirts, posters, cards, textiles and more.
Founder Rachel Lackey believes the recent resurgence of interest in the printmaking arts and other artisan trades is really a backlash to the notable drawbacks of the digital age. “Everything is so removed and impersonal,” she said. “People want handmade now; they want that connection again.”
We doubt Rachel’s got anything against you printing some directions or a recipe on the aforementioned home printer. It’s so far removed from its ancestors, it now bears almost zero resemblance to what she’s passionate about. And that’s what she wants you (and everyone else) to understand and then appreciate: the art of print media and a process that takes its time on purpose. That’s why GPP exists.
MADE: When did Green Pea Press start?
Rachel: We opened in January 2011.
How did you get into print media? I went to Memphis College of Art and then the University of Alabama Huntsville where I took some printmaking classes. I was hooked. When you see digital print next to letterpress, there’s no comparison. It’s so tactile. You can see the impression, see the craft that went into it. It just looks better.
So why start Green Pea Press? When I graduated, all of the sudden, I no longer had access to the press equipment or the print shop at UAH, so it was over. I couldn’t do it anymore. I talked to other artists who said the same thing. They had loved printmaking in school, but quit it because they didn’t have equipment. We all kept saying it would be great if someone started a print shop here, and I knew it would be, but originally, I didn’t want to be the one to do it; I thought it would be too much work.
What drove you to do it? A sculptor here in Huntsville had hand-built a large etching press that he said I could use, so that sparked it. Then I really started doing the research on opening a community print shop. Then, I just took the leap and did it. I relied on my determination, but I had so much help. An older guy here named Bill Axenroth, he had a print shop he ran for 40 years, and I got some equipment from him. He thought I was crazy because he had seen the industry die off; he couldn’t believe anyone would care about it, and he’d never really seen the fine art side of it. Now, he teaches some of our classes. I’m so happy he got to see it come back.
Tell us about the big birthday y’all celebrated recently. On March 29, we had a birthday party for our letterpress machine. It turned 100 years old. This amazing piece of equipment first began its work in 1914, and it’s still going.
Which is your favorite of the printmaking arts? I love etching, but love mixing them too. I’ll do an etching and then hand-color with watercolor, and then I might letterpress over it.
How many people are using the studio each month?
We have 36 members, and they pay annual dues to come use the equipment for their work and then sell their art in our store, the Pea Pod.
You also do print work for local businesses, right?
Yes. Local businesses can hire us to print cards or screen print t-shirts for events. That side of things is going really, really well, proving how much people value this art.
What about GPP classes?
Our screen printing workshop is the most popular. Every other month we do letterpress. We do a letterpress workshop for Valentine’s Day each year that is a big hit. We have both kids and adults making these cool cards. We did more than 200 cards this past year. And we do summer classes for kids.
Are you excited about Southern Makers?
Oh yes! I am thrilled to be a part of it. Knowing that so many artists and craftspeople will be there, the biggest names regionally in artisanship will be there, is amazing. But it will also be great to see some new faces. Nothing is more inspirational than seeing what other artists are doing and getting to interact with them.
Learn more about Green Pea Press at greenpeapress.com and meet Rachel and the GPP team at Southern Makers on May 3.