Southern Steam Prints Brings Steamroller to ArtsFest

April 21, 2016

Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art student Allison Mueller is gearing up to introduce printmaking to the community in a big way — using a steamroller — during this year’s ArtsFest on April 23 from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Sweetheart Circle at Georgia Southern University.

Southern Steam Prints is the first event of its kind at Georgia Southern. For this event, Mueller issued a call to artists to design and carve 4-by-4-foot and 4-by-8-foot wood relief blocks. On the day of the festival, the blocks will be linked together, inked and printed by driving over the blocks with aBOMAG® steamroller, provided by Southern Rental Systems.

The theme for the inaugural Southern Steam Prints event is history — local, national and personal. So far, five blocks have been selected for printing. Works to be printed include art by students at the local Charter Conservatory for Liberal Arts and Technology, and art by professional and student artists.

“When people outside of the art community think of art, they usually think of painting, drawing and color pencil. Most have never heard of printmaking,” said Mueller. “But for me, printmaking is one of the most interesting, process-heavy ways to create art.”

To give festival-goers a hands-on opportunity to learn the printmaking process, Mueller has worked with professor Trish Carter, fellow art students and Statesboro-Bulloch County Parks and Recreation to develop and organize two other Print Zone ArtStops for the festival. So not only will visitors have a chance to become involved in the process of creating the large-scale prints with Southern Steam Prints, they also will have the opportunity to pull handmade paper and create monoprints. Visitors also will have an opportunity to purchase handmade prints and books created by students in the Department of Art’s Print & Paper Society at the festival’s Artist Market.

Mueller is a senior B.F.A. 2-D Studio major from Milton, Georgia. The Print Zone/Southern Steam Prints event is part of her honors thesis project, which focuses on educating the public on the historic process of printmaking.

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) is the largest of the eight colleges that make up Georgia Southern University, and it plays a central role in every student’s core of knowledge. CLASS, also described as the University’s College of the Creative Mind, prepares students to achieve academic excellence, develop their analytical skills, enhance their creativity and embrace their responsibilities as citizens of their communities, their nations and the world. CLASS offers more than 20 undergraduate degrees and several interdisciplinary minors from its 11 departments and five academic centers. CLASS offers eight master’s degrees, two graduate certificates and one doctoral degree.  For more information, visit class.georgiasouthern.edu.

Georgia Southern University, a public Carnegie Doctoral/Research University founded in 1906, offers more than 125 degree programs serving more than 20,500 students. Through eight colleges, the University offers bachelors, masters and doctoral degree programs built on more than a century of academic achievement. Georgia Southern is recognized for its student-centered and hands-on approach to education. GeorgiaSouthern.edu.

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