SNAP at 40, Part VI: Print as Theatre
oral history of the Society of Northern Alberta Print-artists (SNAP), compiled from artist statements, reviews, articles from SNAP's newsletter, and interviews with members of the Edmonton printmaking community
copies of the publication are available here; the text on these pages contains additional photos and text cut from the print publication due to space and budget constraints
Introduction • Part I • Part 2 • Part 3 • Part 4 • Part 5 • Part 6 • Part 7 • Part 8
oral history of the Society of Northern Alberta Print-artists (SNAP), compiled from artist statements, reviews, articles from SNAP's newsletter, and interviews with members of the Edmonton printmaking community
copies of the publication are available here; the text on these pages contains additional photos and text cut from the print publication due to space and budget constraints
Introduction • Part I • Part 2 • Part 3 • Part 4 • Part 5 • Part 6 • Part 7 • Part 8
Above: Interior of SNAP’s Red Strap Market location under construction
Steven Dixon: I predicted that the year the Cecil Hotel was torn down was the year SNAP could no longer afford rent. And I don’t think I was far off. The same year there was nothing but parking lots on the opposite side of the street, and condo developers with permits in hand waiting for the Cecil to close. And when the Cecil closed, there were probably a thousand units built on that street within a year. You could just see it. It was ripe for transition. And so now you see what we have today down there.
Marc Siegner: And we could have bought that building for around $400,000 at the time…
Helen Gerritzen: They had moved part of the studio down behind the new location of the gallery, once they had separated from Latitude. And there was some discussion about buying the building—can you imagine the upkeep of something like that?
Liz Ingram: At the time SNAP wasn’t in a good position to do something like that. It went through various phases and at that point it was a bit disorganized. And there just wasn’t the will, and the drive, and the organization to do something like that. But boy, what an opportunity that was…
Helen Gerritzen: That would have been a game changer in many ways. But the board decided that they wanted to move to the Red Strap Market. I just remember I wasn’t happy with the Red Strap, and I didn’t know what the solution was. I kind of felt like staying at the Great West Saddlery Building was also fraught.
Nick Dobson: We […] secured space next to the Red Strap Market in the Arts District that satisfies our spatial needs and puts us in close proximity to Edmonton's major art attractions. This location, although increasing our total square footage by nearly one third, does not represent a significant increment in our lease commitment. In short, I believe this is a tremendous improvement in SNAP’s disposition for the future. [1]
Amy Fung: [Red Strap denims] would eventually become the namesake of a short-lived art market and four-storey empty warehouse space that hosted the local printmaking community, as well as one-off events and art shows […] The space never really functioned as a hospitable studio, and was rumoured to serve more as glorified storage for its owner and local architect, Gene Dub, who had a soft spot for saving scraps of forgotten civic history. [2]
Nick Dobson: After twenty-two years in the Saddlery building, it was a sad affair for Greg Swain and I to close the doors on SNAP's use of the edifice. As I helped Greg install new lighting and repair old plumbing (in order to conform with the landlord’s requirements) my attention would often drift to memories of the SNAP/Saddlery experience. Indeed, it was fitting that Greg was there to help finish our association with the building as he had so great a hand in building SNAP's Saddlery presence. [3]
Marna Bunnell: Has anyone talked about Greg Swain?
Steven Dixon: I predicted that the year the Cecil Hotel was torn down was the year SNAP could no longer afford rent. And I don’t think I was far off. The same year there was nothing but parking lots on the opposite side of the street, and condo developers with permits in hand waiting for the Cecil to close. And when the Cecil closed, there were probably a thousand units built on that street within a year. You could just see it. It was ripe for transition. And so now you see what we have today down there.
Marc Siegner: And we could have bought that building for around $400,000 at the time…
Helen Gerritzen: They had moved part of the studio down behind the new location of the gallery, once they had separated from Latitude. And there was some discussion about buying the building—can you imagine the upkeep of something like that?
Liz Ingram: At the time SNAP wasn’t in a good position to do something like that. It went through various phases and at that point it was a bit disorganized. And there just wasn’t the will, and the drive, and the organization to do something like that. But boy, what an opportunity that was…
Helen Gerritzen: That would have been a game changer in many ways. But the board decided that they wanted to move to the Red Strap Market. I just remember I wasn’t happy with the Red Strap, and I didn’t know what the solution was. I kind of felt like staying at the Great West Saddlery Building was also fraught.
Nick Dobson: We […] secured space next to the Red Strap Market in the Arts District that satisfies our spatial needs and puts us in close proximity to Edmonton's major art attractions. This location, although increasing our total square footage by nearly one third, does not represent a significant increment in our lease commitment. In short, I believe this is a tremendous improvement in SNAP’s disposition for the future. [1]
Amy Fung: [Red Strap denims] would eventually become the namesake of a short-lived art market and four-storey empty warehouse space that hosted the local printmaking community, as well as one-off events and art shows […] The space never really functioned as a hospitable studio, and was rumoured to serve more as glorified storage for its owner and local architect, Gene Dub, who had a soft spot for saving scraps of forgotten civic history. [2]
Nick Dobson: After twenty-two years in the Saddlery building, it was a sad affair for Greg Swain and I to close the doors on SNAP's use of the edifice. As I helped Greg install new lighting and repair old plumbing (in order to conform with the landlord’s requirements) my attention would often drift to memories of the SNAP/Saddlery experience. Indeed, it was fitting that Greg was there to help finish our association with the building as he had so great a hand in building SNAP's Saddlery presence. [3]
Marna Bunnell: Has anyone talked about Greg Swain?
Above: Greg Swain, Chinese Checkers, relief, 1988
Gordon McRae: Greg Swain's art has in some aspect always been figurative. Whether it's a languishing female nude, a check-shirted truck driver at a urinal or a spray of people below a cliff, the human form has been central—whether warped, dwarfed or swollen—in all of his major works. Between the four walls of the frame it seems as if each figure has been placed as deliberately as the observer’s viewpoint. “Come here,” it seems to say, “And stand right in this sport. I have something to show you.” [4]
Anthony Pavlic: Greg Swain, who passed away a little while ago, was basically the guy who kept the place running. He was a great guy, I really liked Greg and he was just a Mr. Jack-of-all-trades, so he was instrumental in building the studios, making sure that things were working smoothly. He was a pretty important part of SNAP.
Robin Smith-Peck: Aw, Greg. He looks so buff in this photo [in the catalogue for "The Great West Saddlery Show," 1987] , so ‘tennis-player.’ And nothing could be further from the truth!
Marc Siegner: You’d go to the studio in the morning and Greg would be there still partying from the night before!
Steven Dixon: Trying to convince you that he wasn’t living there.
Marc Siegner: Sweeping up, pushing a broom around…
Laurel Westlund: Out in front with his motorcycle, and his eyeliner…
Nick Dobson: Greg Swain helped with some of the [Red Strap] building. It was a nasty, nasty space—like I spent a few weeks with a jackhammer peeling the floor off. And after a while I just couldn’t do it anymore… it was hot, and I had to be masked and I had to wear coveralls. Sean Caulfield somehow or other took over and finished the job of peeling the floor.
Candace Makowichuk: The move was a huge undertaking both physically, mentally and financially. It took its toll and staff, board and volunteers began to feel it—and so did the bank book. [5]
Kelsey Stephenson: The shop wasn’t actually set up when I got there to be an emerging artist in residence. It was mostly functional, but things were still being put together. So one or two days I would go in, and find out ‘oh, we’re having a party to make some cabinets?’ There were a couple days like that.
Candace Makowichuk: From the first mention of a new facility, Walter [Jule] set out to design a space for SNAP that was not only functional, but also capitalized on the natural lighting created by the towering front windows as well as the grand open area. What he designed was an open-concept plan that is unique from any other print shop in Canada. In most shops, the artist is hidden from public view, and the Gallery is the only area seen by visitors. In the new SNAP, artists can print out in the open, facing the street, visually inviting passers-by to stop and engage in the artistic process. [6]
April Dean: From my understanding, when [SNAP’s space at the Red Strap Market] was designed, the idea was to have this street-front open window concept to really make the practice of printmaking more visible to the community. People are walking by, traffic is driving by, and they're looking and seeing presses and printing in action. There's a lot of print shops all over the world that are closed spaces, and no one ever sees the magic that goes on behind the scenes, whereas here you walk in to go to the gallery and you have to walk through the print shop. So you're interacting with the means of production before seeing the final product in the gallery. I think that's a really interesting concept. [7]
Nick Dobson: It's the concept of ‘print as theatre.’ We envisioned something that would be very interactive with the public. We have two press areas laid out so people can see them and see what's going on through those big front windows. Printmaking appears arcane to the general public, and we are choosing to demystify it. [8]
Helen Gerritzen: I had a solo show in that location, and I actually really liked that little gallery. I didn’t really like the whole atmosphere of the gallery surrounded by the printshop and being in a fishbowl… I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it…
Gordon McRae: Greg Swain's art has in some aspect always been figurative. Whether it's a languishing female nude, a check-shirted truck driver at a urinal or a spray of people below a cliff, the human form has been central—whether warped, dwarfed or swollen—in all of his major works. Between the four walls of the frame it seems as if each figure has been placed as deliberately as the observer’s viewpoint. “Come here,” it seems to say, “And stand right in this sport. I have something to show you.” [4]
Anthony Pavlic: Greg Swain, who passed away a little while ago, was basically the guy who kept the place running. He was a great guy, I really liked Greg and he was just a Mr. Jack-of-all-trades, so he was instrumental in building the studios, making sure that things were working smoothly. He was a pretty important part of SNAP.
Robin Smith-Peck: Aw, Greg. He looks so buff in this photo [in the catalogue for "The Great West Saddlery Show," 1987] , so ‘tennis-player.’ And nothing could be further from the truth!
Marc Siegner: You’d go to the studio in the morning and Greg would be there still partying from the night before!
Steven Dixon: Trying to convince you that he wasn’t living there.
Marc Siegner: Sweeping up, pushing a broom around…
Laurel Westlund: Out in front with his motorcycle, and his eyeliner…
Nick Dobson: Greg Swain helped with some of the [Red Strap] building. It was a nasty, nasty space—like I spent a few weeks with a jackhammer peeling the floor off. And after a while I just couldn’t do it anymore… it was hot, and I had to be masked and I had to wear coveralls. Sean Caulfield somehow or other took over and finished the job of peeling the floor.
Candace Makowichuk: The move was a huge undertaking both physically, mentally and financially. It took its toll and staff, board and volunteers began to feel it—and so did the bank book. [5]
Kelsey Stephenson: The shop wasn’t actually set up when I got there to be an emerging artist in residence. It was mostly functional, but things were still being put together. So one or two days I would go in, and find out ‘oh, we’re having a party to make some cabinets?’ There were a couple days like that.
Candace Makowichuk: From the first mention of a new facility, Walter [Jule] set out to design a space for SNAP that was not only functional, but also capitalized on the natural lighting created by the towering front windows as well as the grand open area. What he designed was an open-concept plan that is unique from any other print shop in Canada. In most shops, the artist is hidden from public view, and the Gallery is the only area seen by visitors. In the new SNAP, artists can print out in the open, facing the street, visually inviting passers-by to stop and engage in the artistic process. [6]
April Dean: From my understanding, when [SNAP’s space at the Red Strap Market] was designed, the idea was to have this street-front open window concept to really make the practice of printmaking more visible to the community. People are walking by, traffic is driving by, and they're looking and seeing presses and printing in action. There's a lot of print shops all over the world that are closed spaces, and no one ever sees the magic that goes on behind the scenes, whereas here you walk in to go to the gallery and you have to walk through the print shop. So you're interacting with the means of production before seeing the final product in the gallery. I think that's a really interesting concept. [7]
Nick Dobson: It's the concept of ‘print as theatre.’ We envisioned something that would be very interactive with the public. We have two press areas laid out so people can see them and see what's going on through those big front windows. Printmaking appears arcane to the general public, and we are choosing to demystify it. [8]
Helen Gerritzen: I had a solo show in that location, and I actually really liked that little gallery. I didn’t really like the whole atmosphere of the gallery surrounded by the printshop and being in a fishbowl… I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it…
Above: Interior views of SNAP’s Red Strap Market location, including exhibitions by Kim Tae Huk and Goedele Peeters
Sara Norquay: It was nice to have the office and the printshop and the gallery space in one area, it was quite open. The print shop was not designed very well—all the presses were in the window. To carry your damp paper from the soaking tray to the window—it dried on the way! The other downside of that, because of the location there were a lot of people on the street, who came in to talk to you because you were in the window. You didn’t want people wandering in if you were the only one there. I had some interesting moments. I never went there at night. I didn’t feel safe, even in the daytime if I was the only one there, because I had some encounters that were very stressful.
Holly Sykora: There were some very strange moments, but overall it felt like an easy place to be; it felt like a second home in a lot of ways. I sort of fell into being involved: they have a visiting lecture series at the university, and I was sitting there and Nick Dobson was sitting in front of me and he turned and goes ‘You want to be the treasurer at SNAP?’ And I said ‘No? I don’t know anything about money?!’ And he said ‘No, no, there’s an accountant who will do the books, you just have to present them.’ I said I didn’t know anything about this but he said ‘No, no, it will be fine, just sit on the board…’ I would love to be involved, but as treasurer… I put my name forward, and that’s how I became involved.
Teresa Kachanoski: I was finishing up my BFA at UofA and taking extra classes in printmaking when I was approached by a fellow student, Anna Szul, to join the board. They needed someone in the role of fundraising director and I was not really interested in that aspect but intrigued by the idea of being involved in an artist-run centre and thought it would be a great way to continue my art practice. At that time SNAP had fairly recently moved to the 97th street location and there was still a lot of finishing construction needed to make it functional as a working space though the gallery was well set up and operating. I also got the sense that there was some burn-out among those that worked so hard to make the move in the first place.
Sara Norquay: [My husband and I] arrived in 2008 [from Santa Barbara, California] to figure out how we were going to move here, and of course I heard from people I knew in Santa Barbara that Edmonton had this amazing printmaking department at the University of Alberta. So I thought I was coming to Mecca! So I showed up at SNAP when they were in the old place across from the courthouse, and introduced myself, and said I’d like to rent. It took quite a bit of time to persuade them that I was a printmaker and that I would not ruin the machines. I had tests, and they finally said ok.
April Dean: I was a UofA grad, and therefore given the ‘gold seal of approval’ because the way I thought about printmaking and making prints was acceptable to the powers that be. I know for a fact that a number of artists who were not UofA grads were made to feel very unwelcome at SNAP because their idea of printmaking was different than the majority at the time.
Sara Norquay: It was nice to have the office and the printshop and the gallery space in one area, it was quite open. The print shop was not designed very well—all the presses were in the window. To carry your damp paper from the soaking tray to the window—it dried on the way! The other downside of that, because of the location there were a lot of people on the street, who came in to talk to you because you were in the window. You didn’t want people wandering in if you were the only one there. I had some interesting moments. I never went there at night. I didn’t feel safe, even in the daytime if I was the only one there, because I had some encounters that were very stressful.
Holly Sykora: There were some very strange moments, but overall it felt like an easy place to be; it felt like a second home in a lot of ways. I sort of fell into being involved: they have a visiting lecture series at the university, and I was sitting there and Nick Dobson was sitting in front of me and he turned and goes ‘You want to be the treasurer at SNAP?’ And I said ‘No? I don’t know anything about money?!’ And he said ‘No, no, there’s an accountant who will do the books, you just have to present them.’ I said I didn’t know anything about this but he said ‘No, no, it will be fine, just sit on the board…’ I would love to be involved, but as treasurer… I put my name forward, and that’s how I became involved.
Teresa Kachanoski: I was finishing up my BFA at UofA and taking extra classes in printmaking when I was approached by a fellow student, Anna Szul, to join the board. They needed someone in the role of fundraising director and I was not really interested in that aspect but intrigued by the idea of being involved in an artist-run centre and thought it would be a great way to continue my art practice. At that time SNAP had fairly recently moved to the 97th street location and there was still a lot of finishing construction needed to make it functional as a working space though the gallery was well set up and operating. I also got the sense that there was some burn-out among those that worked so hard to make the move in the first place.
Sara Norquay: [My husband and I] arrived in 2008 [from Santa Barbara, California] to figure out how we were going to move here, and of course I heard from people I knew in Santa Barbara that Edmonton had this amazing printmaking department at the University of Alberta. So I thought I was coming to Mecca! So I showed up at SNAP when they were in the old place across from the courthouse, and introduced myself, and said I’d like to rent. It took quite a bit of time to persuade them that I was a printmaker and that I would not ruin the machines. I had tests, and they finally said ok.
April Dean: I was a UofA grad, and therefore given the ‘gold seal of approval’ because the way I thought about printmaking and making prints was acceptable to the powers that be. I know for a fact that a number of artists who were not UofA grads were made to feel very unwelcome at SNAP because their idea of printmaking was different than the majority at the time.
Above: Teresa Kachanoski, September, letterpress-printed linocut, 2009
Teresa Kachanoski: As a community I have to say that I found it somewhat elitist and not exactly welcoming to people considered “hobbyists”. This was something that I felt was detrimental to SNAP’s survival and an area that I wanted to attempt to change. I also enjoyed learning how to use the letterpress and then teaching letterpress workshops. Steve Dixon had been teaching the occasional workshop and didn’t want to do it anymore. He suggested that I learn the machine. I think I had 2 sessions with him before I held a weekend workshop to teach others. It actually went very well and was a lot of fun.
Dawn Woolsey: Teresa Kachanoski and Shirleen Smith, who started the Calendar Collective, really got to know the letterpress well and I got to know it along with them. In the Jasper Avenue location, the letterpress developed a lot further with Shirleen and Anna Szul.
Shirleen Smith: My first involvement with SNAP was taking a letterpress course from Teresa Kachanoski (a past-president of SNAP), guessing it was about 2008? 7? I met Teresa through a mutual friend and we had a lot of fun in the printshop. There were lots of UofA artists involved at the time but also a smattering of “community people”—so I felt quite welcome. I discovered linocut which has become a favourite medium for me—but I also tried out woodcut, photo-etching, etching, silkscreen, mezzotint, and analogue photography (I was already familiar with darkroom work). I must say, it was like an amusement park for me. What fun! One of the greatest parts was discovering that printmaking is a social activity. All the massive equipment draws people in to make art which, to my mind, is much more fun that doing it all alone all the time. It certainly fosters learning and inspiration.
Dawn Woolsey: I had taken a papermaking course from a woman who had a store called ‘Indigo,’ and fell in love with papermaking—I still enjoy it very much. Afterwards, I found myself with lots of paper and nothing to do with it. I thought, wouldn’t it be wonderful to make prints, and wanted to use the letterpress to print quotations and things. So when I found that SNAP had moved into the 97th Street location I thought great, I can do that. [9]
Barbara Johnston: A relationship between printmaking and artist books seems like a natural to me. (The combination of images and text in multiples has been a proven winner for well over 500 years after all.) Quite a few artists who make books have a foot in both camps which I guess is how the “overlap” between SNAP and CBBAG [Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild] has come about. I think it’s a really healthy connection which creates an opening for a mutually beneficial exchange. Book artists have been introduced to printmaking as a possibility and SNAP can just as easily call on CBBAG to provide printmakers with knowledgeable access to book making skills and techniques.
Dawn Woolsey: I had suggested to CBBAG members at one point that if anyone would like to carve a linocut, I’d be happy to print it at SNAP and then we could bind it. Sara Norquay at that time was one of our members, and I think Tina Cho as well, and we thought why don’t we print it as a group? I thought it could have been a bit of a gong-show, having twelve artists setting type. Then I thought, it’s not going to be any different than a class, and I can run a class of a dozen students without batting an eye. So I organized everything, figured out the printer’s spreads—Carla Costuros, Barb Johnston, and a few other SNAP members were really helpful with the printing. So we managed to print them all together.
Barbara Johnston: I’ve been hooked on books since taking my first course in 2004 and I have been a member of the Alberta North Chapter of CBBAG since the get-go; have helped organize some past chapter exhibitions; and had a work selected for CBBAG’s National Juried exhibition: Art of the Book 2013. I’ve also participated in several group projects that were made possible by having access to SNAP’s letterpress.
Dawn Woolsey: We sort of all hung out in the shop together. At that time, whoever was the featured artist in the shop would always do at least one Saturday workshop, sometimes more. So we would all hangout Saturday, it would always be really busy because people would drop in for the workshops.
Teresa Kachanoski: Out of the letterpress workshops we started the calendar collective fundraiser with lino images and text, which became very popular and satisfying.
Teresa Kachanoski: As a community I have to say that I found it somewhat elitist and not exactly welcoming to people considered “hobbyists”. This was something that I felt was detrimental to SNAP’s survival and an area that I wanted to attempt to change. I also enjoyed learning how to use the letterpress and then teaching letterpress workshops. Steve Dixon had been teaching the occasional workshop and didn’t want to do it anymore. He suggested that I learn the machine. I think I had 2 sessions with him before I held a weekend workshop to teach others. It actually went very well and was a lot of fun.
Dawn Woolsey: Teresa Kachanoski and Shirleen Smith, who started the Calendar Collective, really got to know the letterpress well and I got to know it along with them. In the Jasper Avenue location, the letterpress developed a lot further with Shirleen and Anna Szul.
Shirleen Smith: My first involvement with SNAP was taking a letterpress course from Teresa Kachanoski (a past-president of SNAP), guessing it was about 2008? 7? I met Teresa through a mutual friend and we had a lot of fun in the printshop. There were lots of UofA artists involved at the time but also a smattering of “community people”—so I felt quite welcome. I discovered linocut which has become a favourite medium for me—but I also tried out woodcut, photo-etching, etching, silkscreen, mezzotint, and analogue photography (I was already familiar with darkroom work). I must say, it was like an amusement park for me. What fun! One of the greatest parts was discovering that printmaking is a social activity. All the massive equipment draws people in to make art which, to my mind, is much more fun that doing it all alone all the time. It certainly fosters learning and inspiration.
Dawn Woolsey: I had taken a papermaking course from a woman who had a store called ‘Indigo,’ and fell in love with papermaking—I still enjoy it very much. Afterwards, I found myself with lots of paper and nothing to do with it. I thought, wouldn’t it be wonderful to make prints, and wanted to use the letterpress to print quotations and things. So when I found that SNAP had moved into the 97th Street location I thought great, I can do that. [9]
Barbara Johnston: A relationship between printmaking and artist books seems like a natural to me. (The combination of images and text in multiples has been a proven winner for well over 500 years after all.) Quite a few artists who make books have a foot in both camps which I guess is how the “overlap” between SNAP and CBBAG [Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild] has come about. I think it’s a really healthy connection which creates an opening for a mutually beneficial exchange. Book artists have been introduced to printmaking as a possibility and SNAP can just as easily call on CBBAG to provide printmakers with knowledgeable access to book making skills and techniques.
Dawn Woolsey: I had suggested to CBBAG members at one point that if anyone would like to carve a linocut, I’d be happy to print it at SNAP and then we could bind it. Sara Norquay at that time was one of our members, and I think Tina Cho as well, and we thought why don’t we print it as a group? I thought it could have been a bit of a gong-show, having twelve artists setting type. Then I thought, it’s not going to be any different than a class, and I can run a class of a dozen students without batting an eye. So I organized everything, figured out the printer’s spreads—Carla Costuros, Barb Johnston, and a few other SNAP members were really helpful with the printing. So we managed to print them all together.
Barbara Johnston: I’ve been hooked on books since taking my first course in 2004 and I have been a member of the Alberta North Chapter of CBBAG since the get-go; have helped organize some past chapter exhibitions; and had a work selected for CBBAG’s National Juried exhibition: Art of the Book 2013. I’ve also participated in several group projects that were made possible by having access to SNAP’s letterpress.
Dawn Woolsey: We sort of all hung out in the shop together. At that time, whoever was the featured artist in the shop would always do at least one Saturday workshop, sometimes more. So we would all hangout Saturday, it would always be really busy because people would drop in for the workshops.
Teresa Kachanoski: Out of the letterpress workshops we started the calendar collective fundraiser with lino images and text, which became very popular and satisfying.
Above: Shirleen Smith, February, letterpress-printed linocut, 2011
Shirleen Smith: I used to make calendars for a few friends, mainly collage, and tried out a few linocut/letterpress pages in 2008 (just a few for friends). Teresa encouraged me to make more for SNAP and I said “Sure, if we can get together a bunch of people to do it.” Thus began the Calendar Collective (I’ll take credit for the name) in 2009. In my time everyone printed their image (max. 2 colours) as well as the type for the month. There's always a few months with the same day layouts (where the first of the month starts on the same day as it does in other months) so people would team up so they didn't all have to set the type. One year we streamlined things by getting all the paper cut——which was a treat after tearing it all down with a blade and a straight-edge. Not everyone was equally comfortable on the letterpress so the more experienced printers would buddy-up and help out. Lots of work but fun. A few folks (notably Dawn Woolsey) did their image in silk screen some years. We pulled in some guest artists like Leila Sumi (from Parks Canada in the Yukon at that time, and an artist) and New Leaf Editions in Vancouver. Looking over the contributors between 2009 and 2013, there was an interesting mix of University and community artists.
Sara Norquay: Jared and Cate Kuzik got involved, and they are incredibly knowledgeable about letterpress. Jared isn’t a printmaker, but he got pulled in, so he’s done a lot, and then Cate has run the calendar a few times. It’s had its own history. Recently they’ve gone to screenprint and other stuff…
Shirleen Smith: As for my own images, most were plants and animals. A few favourites were half a sunflower (that way it was almost life size and I got to carve the particular spiral pattern of seeds inside), an iguana, and a snowshoe. Each one was only part of the animal/object so I'd have to say I like that approach. Not sure why——the detail? the mildly surprising incompleteness? I also learned a registration trick by carving part of a braid of garlic cloves. I was pleased to create 3 dimensional objects with only 2 colours (and white). The restriction to 2 colours was a good exercise in planning and efficiency.
Shirleen Smith: I used to make calendars for a few friends, mainly collage, and tried out a few linocut/letterpress pages in 2008 (just a few for friends). Teresa encouraged me to make more for SNAP and I said “Sure, if we can get together a bunch of people to do it.” Thus began the Calendar Collective (I’ll take credit for the name) in 2009. In my time everyone printed their image (max. 2 colours) as well as the type for the month. There's always a few months with the same day layouts (where the first of the month starts on the same day as it does in other months) so people would team up so they didn't all have to set the type. One year we streamlined things by getting all the paper cut——which was a treat after tearing it all down with a blade and a straight-edge. Not everyone was equally comfortable on the letterpress so the more experienced printers would buddy-up and help out. Lots of work but fun. A few folks (notably Dawn Woolsey) did their image in silk screen some years. We pulled in some guest artists like Leila Sumi (from Parks Canada in the Yukon at that time, and an artist) and New Leaf Editions in Vancouver. Looking over the contributors between 2009 and 2013, there was an interesting mix of University and community artists.
Sara Norquay: Jared and Cate Kuzik got involved, and they are incredibly knowledgeable about letterpress. Jared isn’t a printmaker, but he got pulled in, so he’s done a lot, and then Cate has run the calendar a few times. It’s had its own history. Recently they’ve gone to screenprint and other stuff…
Shirleen Smith: As for my own images, most were plants and animals. A few favourites were half a sunflower (that way it was almost life size and I got to carve the particular spiral pattern of seeds inside), an iguana, and a snowshoe. Each one was only part of the animal/object so I'd have to say I like that approach. Not sure why——the detail? the mildly surprising incompleteness? I also learned a registration trick by carving part of a braid of garlic cloves. I was pleased to create 3 dimensional objects with only 2 colours (and white). The restriction to 2 colours was a good exercise in planning and efficiency.
Above: Dawn Woolsey, October, letterpress-printed linocut, 2009; photo by Shirleen Smith
Dawn Woolsey: I did a Canada Goose that was one of my favourites. It was done from a photograph I took at the zoo. The grass was so green and lush, and there was a Canada Goose parked on this hill, so I thought I’m going to see if I can get close enough to photograph of it. I was crawling on my stomach trying to get a shot, and I got close enough that it kept biting me—it would take a bite of grass, and then bite me again! That was definitely a favourite.
Shirleen Smith: Other fond memories were the grooming and collating parties. One year we got together at Teresa's house, other years at SNAP, generally with beverages (wine, for example) and snacks and went through all the calendar pages choosing the keepers and doing some cleaning up, sometimes hand colouring. Then we stacked each month around a table and passed the calendars by hand to each person and a “checker” at the end—you’d be surprised how often we missed a month or put two copies of a month into a finished calendar.
Sara Norquay: It was a collective, so there was a lot of discussion and disagreement, but nevertheless, I liked that it came from the members. Now they hire a designer, but this was really grassroots, where people just came in and made it happen.
Shirleen Smith: I'm not sure how many copies we started with but by 2011 we were making 90 and by 2012, 150. I think we allowed for about 20 mistakes on every month/calendar page. Initially we sold them for $60, figuring $5 per page (including the cover). People who printed a month got 2 free calendars for their efforts. […] Initially there was some skepticism about the calendar. One of the senior UofA print artists told us that they'd tried calendars in the past but it never panned out. That was 2011 and at the Print Affair Xmas party and sale that year the calendar made more money than the bar. Which is probably why the SNAP calendar is still being made.
Dawn Woolsey: I did a Canada Goose that was one of my favourites. It was done from a photograph I took at the zoo. The grass was so green and lush, and there was a Canada Goose parked on this hill, so I thought I’m going to see if I can get close enough to photograph of it. I was crawling on my stomach trying to get a shot, and I got close enough that it kept biting me—it would take a bite of grass, and then bite me again! That was definitely a favourite.
Shirleen Smith: Other fond memories were the grooming and collating parties. One year we got together at Teresa's house, other years at SNAP, generally with beverages (wine, for example) and snacks and went through all the calendar pages choosing the keepers and doing some cleaning up, sometimes hand colouring. Then we stacked each month around a table and passed the calendars by hand to each person and a “checker” at the end—you’d be surprised how often we missed a month or put two copies of a month into a finished calendar.
Sara Norquay: It was a collective, so there was a lot of discussion and disagreement, but nevertheless, I liked that it came from the members. Now they hire a designer, but this was really grassroots, where people just came in and made it happen.
Shirleen Smith: I'm not sure how many copies we started with but by 2011 we were making 90 and by 2012, 150. I think we allowed for about 20 mistakes on every month/calendar page. Initially we sold them for $60, figuring $5 per page (including the cover). People who printed a month got 2 free calendars for their efforts. […] Initially there was some skepticism about the calendar. One of the senior UofA print artists told us that they'd tried calendars in the past but it never panned out. That was 2011 and at the Print Affair Xmas party and sale that year the calendar made more money than the bar. Which is probably why the SNAP calendar is still being made.
Above: SNAP letterpress activity through the years: 1. Curating party for the 2012 SNAP calendar, left to right: Elizabeth Showalter, Riley Braden, Jennifer Konanz, Dara Armstrong-Riddell, Anna Szul, Shirleen Smith, Brenda Raynard, Dawn Woolsey, Arwen Aubrey-Hébert; photo courtesy of Shirleen Smith; 2. Curating party for the 2009 calendar, left to right: Teresa Kachanoski, Anna Karolina Szul, Holly Sykora, and Sara Norquay; photo courtesy Shirleen Smith; 3. Teresa Kachanoski holding a calendar page, photo courtesy Shirleen Smith; 4. Ted Bishop’s University of Alberta Shakespeare class learns about typesetting, photo courtesy Shirleen Smith; 5. Jared Kuzik helps Jessie Beier on the Vandercook
Sara Norquay: There was a whole discussion of whether this was art or not. One year they raised the price—it was ridiculous, and they didn’t sell any. I told them it’s not art, it’s a calendar. People are buying it because it’s a calendar.
April Dean: I think that something that has sort of like grown up and transpired in Edmonton alongside SNAP is the craft-fair culture; these are people who are invested in making things and selling them and trying to earn a wage doing that. There were moments of heated debate: could or should SNAP be a place for that. And lots of opinions that it actually shouldn’t, that it somehow isn’t, or wasn’t, art that should be pursued at SNAP. And that for me was a problem! Because my love for printmaking is that it is not one thing, and that its root are in this community-based democratic approach. It is by its definitions a multiple; there is no singular way of doing things.
SNAPline: You are a regular vendor at Royal Bison’s bi-annual sale, what can fans of your work look forward to at your table this year? How does participating in the sale affect your working process?
Laurel Westlund: Having a bi-annual deadline to pull a collection together really helps to keep my print practice rolling. I approach each sale as a mini-exhibition that reflects whatever I’ve been inspired by in the months leading up to it. It’s also nice to get the candid one-on-one feedback on my work outside of a gallery setting. [10]
Sara Norquay: There was a whole discussion of whether this was art or not. One year they raised the price—it was ridiculous, and they didn’t sell any. I told them it’s not art, it’s a calendar. People are buying it because it’s a calendar.
April Dean: I think that something that has sort of like grown up and transpired in Edmonton alongside SNAP is the craft-fair culture; these are people who are invested in making things and selling them and trying to earn a wage doing that. There were moments of heated debate: could or should SNAP be a place for that. And lots of opinions that it actually shouldn’t, that it somehow isn’t, or wasn’t, art that should be pursued at SNAP. And that for me was a problem! Because my love for printmaking is that it is not one thing, and that its root are in this community-based democratic approach. It is by its definitions a multiple; there is no singular way of doing things.
SNAPline: You are a regular vendor at Royal Bison’s bi-annual sale, what can fans of your work look forward to at your table this year? How does participating in the sale affect your working process?
Laurel Westlund: Having a bi-annual deadline to pull a collection together really helps to keep my print practice rolling. I approach each sale as a mini-exhibition that reflects whatever I’ve been inspired by in the months leading up to it. It’s also nice to get the candid one-on-one feedback on my work outside of a gallery setting. [10]
Above: Laurel Westlund, No feeling is final, screenprint, 2020
Megan Bertagnolli: The Royal Bison evolved out of a pre-existing art and craft fair, cleverly named Arts Versus Crafts, held a few times in 2004-05 at the former Red Strap Market. Like the Royal Bison, the purpose was to bring well made arts and crafts to the people in way that was accessible to both potential vendors and visitors. […] Of course the biggest difference between the Royal Bison and an artist run centre is that despite offering an alternative venue to display original works and a place to engage different members of the community, vendors are there to (hopefully) sell some of the works they make. Yet the spirit is the same. The response from the arts community has been overwhelming (double the applicants than ever before) as it has been from the public at large. More people came through the doors on Saturday alone than at any previous Royal Bison. [Vikki] Wiercinski says the feedback has been unbelievable, people “are absolutely impressed with what quality and range Edmonton’s art and craft scene has to offer and they haven’t seen another fair like our Royal Bison.” Edmonton needs more points of engagement between art and the public at large and alternative venues like the Royal Bison aim to fill that need. It’s not just the arts community that is asking, it’s also the people like those that attended in droves this past weekend. [11]
Megan Bertagnolli: The Royal Bison evolved out of a pre-existing art and craft fair, cleverly named Arts Versus Crafts, held a few times in 2004-05 at the former Red Strap Market. Like the Royal Bison, the purpose was to bring well made arts and crafts to the people in way that was accessible to both potential vendors and visitors. […] Of course the biggest difference between the Royal Bison and an artist run centre is that despite offering an alternative venue to display original works and a place to engage different members of the community, vendors are there to (hopefully) sell some of the works they make. Yet the spirit is the same. The response from the arts community has been overwhelming (double the applicants than ever before) as it has been from the public at large. More people came through the doors on Saturday alone than at any previous Royal Bison. [Vikki] Wiercinski says the feedback has been unbelievable, people “are absolutely impressed with what quality and range Edmonton’s art and craft scene has to offer and they haven’t seen another fair like our Royal Bison.” Edmonton needs more points of engagement between art and the public at large and alternative venues like the Royal Bison aim to fill that need. It’s not just the arts community that is asking, it’s also the people like those that attended in droves this past weekend. [11]
Above: Cate Kuzik, Rebel, screenprint, 2019
Brianna Tosswill: The pattern my life has revolved around is my weekly markets on Sunday and Thursday. Twice a week, I check my packaged art stock and the battery charges on my phone and square reader and load up my cart. […] I spend the next four hours talking to people about my art (as well as their reading habits, sources of comfort, and anything else they cared to share with me). Sometimes these exchanges result in purchases, sometimes they don't. Many of them are rewarding regardless. And at the end of the day, I pack up and haul everything home again. [12]
Wendy McGrath: I first met Caitlin Bodewitz March 11, 2017 at the “By Curated Market” in the Prince of Wales Armouries in Edmonton. Her booth was dominated by her large-scale print, “Befriend the Unknown.” At the centre of the print is an owl in flight. It grips a triangle in its talons and flies against a backdrop of tree trunks in varied muted colours and textures. Two smaller triangles seem poised to drop to the forest floor. But the prediction could be illusory—perhaps the owl really means to grab the other two triangles before they escape. [13]
Caitlin Bodewitz: Being in an urban environment has hugely impacted my current body of work. I am constantly seeking a balance between two opposing realms: the juxtaposition of being a nature-lover in an urban setting, organic versus structure. I depict this duality through the use of geometry imposed on nature, trying to unify them in harmony rather than creating tension. [14]
Wendy McGrath: Bodewitz strikes a balance between urban and nature and she also aims to strike a balance between the artistic and purely practical. Market settings are an opportunity for her to display her prints to a wide demographic. “You never know who’s walking through, so I keep price points and items diverse. A large piece draws people in but buyers might take something smaller.” But she also emphasizes the importance of an online presence—online store, website, social media—to help get her work in front of an audience and potential buyers. [15]
Brianna Tosswill: The pattern my life has revolved around is my weekly markets on Sunday and Thursday. Twice a week, I check my packaged art stock and the battery charges on my phone and square reader and load up my cart. […] I spend the next four hours talking to people about my art (as well as their reading habits, sources of comfort, and anything else they cared to share with me). Sometimes these exchanges result in purchases, sometimes they don't. Many of them are rewarding regardless. And at the end of the day, I pack up and haul everything home again. [12]
Wendy McGrath: I first met Caitlin Bodewitz March 11, 2017 at the “By Curated Market” in the Prince of Wales Armouries in Edmonton. Her booth was dominated by her large-scale print, “Befriend the Unknown.” At the centre of the print is an owl in flight. It grips a triangle in its talons and flies against a backdrop of tree trunks in varied muted colours and textures. Two smaller triangles seem poised to drop to the forest floor. But the prediction could be illusory—perhaps the owl really means to grab the other two triangles before they escape. [13]
Caitlin Bodewitz: Being in an urban environment has hugely impacted my current body of work. I am constantly seeking a balance between two opposing realms: the juxtaposition of being a nature-lover in an urban setting, organic versus structure. I depict this duality through the use of geometry imposed on nature, trying to unify them in harmony rather than creating tension. [14]
Wendy McGrath: Bodewitz strikes a balance between urban and nature and she also aims to strike a balance between the artistic and purely practical. Market settings are an opportunity for her to display her prints to a wide demographic. “You never know who’s walking through, so I keep price points and items diverse. A large piece draws people in but buyers might take something smaller.” But she also emphasizes the importance of an online presence—online store, website, social media—to help get her work in front of an audience and potential buyers. [15]
Above: Caitlin Bodewitz, Meadow, graphite and screenprint on birchwood, 2020
continue to part seven...
***
Footnotes, part 6:
[1] Nick Dobson, “Message from the President,” SNAPline, Spring 2004, 2.
[2] Amy Fung, Before I Was A Critic I Was A Human Being (Toronto & Vancouver: Book*Hug Press & Artspeak, 2019) 65.
[3] Nick Dobson, “Message from the President,” SNAPline, Summer 2004, 2.
[4] Gordon McRae, “Greg Swain,” SNAPline, Summer & Fall 2005, 1-2.
[5] Candace Makowichuk, “Financial Report,” in the unpaginated minutes of the SNAP Annual General Meeting, April 30, 2005.
[6] Candace Makowichuk, ‘A Heartfelt Thank-You,” in SNAPline, Summer 2004, 4-5.
[7] April Dean, interviewed by Andrew Paul, “studio visit: April Dean | printmaker,” see magazine, August 13-19, 2009, 30.
[8] Nick Dobson, quoted in Christa O’Keefe, “SNAP Grand-opening,” See, October 26, 2005.
[9] SNAP’s connection with Edmonton’s paper and fibre art communities has been a recurrent, if interrupted, thread in the history of printmaking in Edmonton. Carla Costuros, the former chair of Grant MacEwan College's fibre arts program for 11 years, along with Jill Fischer and Lainna Wolanski, founded the collective SubText (the Subversive Textiles Association of Artists), which operated out of SNAP’s studios at the Great West Saddlery Building in the mid-1990s. Originating out of the budget cuts which shuttered the printmaking and fibre arts program at MacEwan, these three gathered together over 40 artists concerned with the future of fibre arts in the city, and there was overlap between the members of SubText, SNAP, and Latitude 53 that helped spur a number of joint projects. Likewise, one of SNAP’s founding members, Evelyn David, opened a store called ‘Indigo Print and Paperworks’ in the 1990s on Jasper Ave., which employed SNAP members such as Tina Cho, showed work by SNAP members, including Marna Bunnell, and taught classes on papermaking which several SNAP renters, including Dawn Woolsey, benefited from. While these organizations are no longer active, their impact is ongoing, and can be seen in the interest in ongoing textile/print hybrids embraced by SNAP artists such as Morgan Pinnock, Erica Vaskevicius, Sara Norquay, and Kyla Fischer, and in the handmade papers used by renters like Brianna Tosswill.
[10] Laurel Westlund, “My Process,” SNAPline, Winter 2014, 10.
[11] Megan Bertagnolli, ‘Royal Bison as Artist Run Centre,’ Latitude 53 Blog, November 30, 2011, https://latitude53.tumblr.com/post/13558213792/royal-bison-as-artist-run-centre
[12] Brianna Tosswill, “Market Diary,” September 9, 2022, https://www.penrosepress.ca/blogs/nerd-time/market-diary
[13] Wendy McGrath, “My Process: Caitlin Bodewitz,” SNAPline, Summer 2017, 21.
[14] Caitlin Bodewitz, interviewed by Wendy McGrath, “My Process: Caitlin Bodewitz,” SNAPline, Summer 2017, 22.
[15] Wendy McGrath, “My Process: Caitlin Bodewitz,” SNAPline, Summer 2017, 21.