Bench Pressed is design and letterpress company owned and operated by Jane and Andy Shannon. Since 2012, they've grown from a single press in the couple's bedroom to six antique presses (thus far) in their studio-slash-retail space located in Minneapolis' Seward neighborhood. Bench Pressed specializes in hand-drawn and hand-printed greeting cards that are "tongue-in-cheek with a little sweet".
Hannah Gebhart
My linoleum and wood block prints are designed, drawn, carved, and printed by me. I print each piece by hand using a glass baren typically using black ink on white archival paper. Colored prints are made either by hand-coloring with watercolors or by printing multiple blocks on top of one another.
Coralette Damme
Although I do some screen printing, the majority of my work is relief printmaking, created in a very analog fashion, starting with a sketch transferred to a substrate. Blocks are carved and then printed by hand. My work is either black and white single block compositions or a more complex combination of overlapping layers to introduce elements of color. I occasionally add other custom elements after the primary blocks are printed which means that most finished artwork is one of a kind or of a very limited edition. I rarely create editions larger than 15-20 pieces and prefer to keep things unique as it is more interesting for me and more special for the collector. I print on paper or wooden panels which are a nice alternative because they do not require framing and may stand on a shelf rather than requiring wall space. I also create cards and small hand folded books, all created from hand carved blocks and stamps. My images are inspired by nature and folk lore.
Stanley Leonard
Woodbury MN
https://www.stanleyleonardstudio.com
2022 Booth #87
Hand carved and printed woodcut relief prints using multiple block and reduction cut techniques.
Emily Gray Koehler
I work primarily with color-reduction woodcuts printed with oil-based ink on Rives BFK paper. All blocks and plates are carved and/or built by me. I also hand-ink and pull all of my prints. I do not create any reproductions of my work and my editions typically number 16 prints or less. Color-reduction woodcuts involve carving and printing the same woodblock in sequence for each layer of color on the print. This process is also called a “suicide print” because the block is destroyed through the action of successive carvings thus rendering the edition finite. I occasionally incorporate collagraph between the layers of my woodcuts to add textural elements. Collagraph is a process where I create a low-relief collage on a printing plate using materials that can be safely run through a press (plants, sand, gesso, etc.). I print collagraph plates in an intaglio method, where ink is wiped into the crevices of the collage and off the surface and then printed, transferring the ink and texture to the print.
In every print ever made, there is a history of process, a story told in wood and ink, paper and pressure. These mechanisms of printmaking guide my hand, while my heart is inspired by the wonder of nature. The marrying of these two passions has informed my art as I seek to explore the intersection of humanity and nature in a world where nothing is untouched by man or womankind.
Artist Bio
Emily Gray Koehler has spent over fifteen years developing her expertise in printmaking while delving artistically into themes of nature and the environment. Working out of her studio in NE Minneapolis, she holds a B.F.A. in printmaking and has art in public and private collections throughout the United States and in Europe.
Andy Bauman
Minneapolis, MN
2019 Booth # 5
I use a combination of rubber and linoleum to create relief prints in a variety of formats, including prints, coasters, postcards, bags, and more. My prints are made using a combination of single block, multi-block, and reduction techniques.
Brian Wagner
Minneapolis, MN
2023 Booth #66
Brian received their B.F.A. in Printmaking and Drawing and Art History in 2019. In 2020 they attended the world-renowned Tamarind Institute of Fine Art Lithography in Albuquerque, NM and are a trained Collaborative Printer and Lithographer. They are currently working and living in Minneapolis, MN.
They primarily work in Lithography, a printmaking process utilizing ancient bavarian limestone as a planographic method of printing based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The image is hand drawn, affixed by means of a chemical reaction, and then printed from the stone.
Wagner's work currently focuses on queer existence and memory and their interest in queer domesticity and what it’s like living in and occupying these spaces. Their work serves as a selection of thoughts, imagery, and personal experience and often incorporates text and snippets of writing as connection to lived, day-to-day life as a queer person. Immersing the spaces we inhabit as no different than any other. They are meant to be reclaimed and lived in and are spaces of transition and are often temporary, ever-changing, and ever-growing, something that they find cohesive with their own sexuality, queerness, and identity.
Jonathan & Allison Metzger
Traditional hand-pulled, multilayer serigraph prints. All layers and textures are hand created by the artists using rubylith film, India ink, and grease crayons.
Working in both additive and subtractive techniques within the stencil process, the collaborative couple explore the visual rhythms of nature. They create their limited editions using 140 lbs. archival paper and water-based inks.
Artist influences include the great masters of American Modernism such as Georgia O'Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, and Aaron Douglas.
Jonathan & Allison Metzger are a husband and wife team that create traditional silkscreen images without any use of digital technology or manipulation. Compelled to create work that is inspired by their own experiences with nature, they visually explore the vast and diverse American Landscape. Jonathan creates the initial drawing, Allison and Jonathan perfect the composition and then hand cut each rubylith layer, Allison chooses and mixes all the colors, Allison and Jonathan hand print each color layer.
Artist influences include the great masters of American Modernism such as Georgia O'Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, and Aaron Douglas.
Both Allison and Jonathan received their Master of Fine Art Degrees from University of Kansas in 2013. During the summer of 2015, while participating in an Artist Residency held at the prestigious Red Barn in Lindsborg, Kansas, they decided to pursue something they always dreamed of doing; opening their own studio where they could create their original work and build a platform to interact with the public and art collectors alike. In the last three years, they have slowly built their studio to reflect their passion for nature and local community. In the summer of 2018 alone, they participated in over 20 juried art fairs in the upper Midwest.
Kendra Gebbia
I hand carve wood blocks and pull limited edition prints from my relief plates. Each piece is hand colored with oil paint and glazing medium on mulberry printmaking paper. I display them traditionally as wall art and back lit as functional table lamps. All elements of my process are created by me.
Kimberly Tschida Petters
Minneapolis, MN
2019 booth #50
My work is nature inspired. It begins as pencil and ink drawings and then is made into printing plates. My landscapes are carved in linoleum. The ink is applied/painted onto the block and then printed. I print on two antique printing presses. One color and one layer at a time.
Andrew Kosten
Brookings, SD
2017 booth #.
All works featured are traditional, hand printed intaglio and lithographic prints- not digital reproductions. Intaglio prints are typically multiple copper plate etchings printed on high quality archival paper. All lithographs are printed from traditional stone and/or aluminum plate matrices.
Mark Herman
Numeric Press Ltd.
Minneapolis, MN
2017 booth # 40
Pen and ink illustrations finished digitally using Illustrator, printed on fine art paper with pigmented inks, open and limited edition prints.
Bradley Hall
Bradley D. Hall Gallery
Granite Falls, MN
https://www.bradleyhallgallery.com/
2019 Booth # 85
Hand watercolored & hand printed, linoleum block prints.
For creating the linoleum block prints the process consists of transferring a sketch onto a linoleum block from a reference photo or sketch. The artist then hand carves the linoleum block. The artist prints the block with watercolor paper, on a tabletop pilot press. The prints are each hand painted, signed and numbered.
The prints are framed in barn wood, by the artist, from material collected from old farm buildings.
Holly Foss
Minneapolis, MN
hollysuefossart.weebly.com
2023 Booth #23
Serigraphy. (silk-screening) I make a drawing, cut stencils for each color and hand print my signed and numbered limited editions. My work is about nature, animals and places I travel to. Often people tell me they feel really good in my booth and this makes it worthwhile for me too.