The Little Friends of Printmaking are a husband-and-wife team of silkscreen artists living and working in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Emerging onto an already crowded poster art scene in early 2003, The Little Friends quickly established themselves as an indispensable new talent. Click through the jump to see what your walls have been missing...
James & Melissa Buchanan make up the duo that is Little Friends of Printmaking. Working side by side, they are best known for the interplay of layers in their prints, and a playful looseness that leads the viewer to consider the process by which the image was created. This notion is central to their work-- as commercial screenprinting becomes practically obsolete, the Little Friends do their part to demystify the process and re-affirm the qualities that make screenprints desirable and unique among works on paper.
The Little Friends were recently profiled in the new book New Masters of Poster Design (Rockport); their work can also be seen in Beasts! (Fantagraphics), The Darkening Garden (Payseur & Schmidt), and Two Faced: The Changing Face of Portraiture (IdN). They are currently working with Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin to develop a new Print & Publishing lab.
The Little Friends of Printmaking bring a fun and playful nature to the world of screenprinting that is sure to have everyone talking. In 2006, they received the Young Guns award from the Art Directors’ Club, honoring the world’s finest emerging creatives under 30. Their work has been exhibited internationally, although it looks just as good in your living room. Their work is highly accessible to all.
Little Friends will be part of the silent auction taking place on July 19th in L.A. at Poketo, with proceeds benefiting the movie Handmade Nation (a documentary on the new Craft Movement). This is something near and dear to their hearts as each one of their prints is hand screened with love and sunshine... as much as Milwaukee allows that is.
If L.A. is a little out of reach, you can always find them on Etsy as well as their website and even on Flickr.
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
Oooh! I knew them back in the Madison days! They made a poster for a show I promoted once. They are so adorable. Awesome!
view MCNicole's profile
"...as commercial screenprinting becomes practically obsolete..."
Not obsolete really, just not as common. I work at a screen screen company, and we do decent business. 60% is industrial screen printing, 30% is commercial screen printing, and 10% is digital. Screen printing inks holds up much better to UV rays than litho or digital inks. Yeah, its not as common though, cause digital is cheaper because there is less prep work.
There is my rant for the day. ;)
view RedMaiko's profile
maybe its just less common in the art world?
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I love my LFRM prints, check out the red version of the tastee treats print if you're interested: http://topia7.com/blog/2008/05/cathrineholm-enamel-bowls-with-citrus.html
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