The Laura Grace Barrett Print Shop at the ZACC is the only nontoxic community print shop in Montana! The print shop offers the space and supplies to accomplish numerous print-making techniques including; silk-screening, relief printing, and intaglio printing.
The ZACC print staff and interns promote awareness and appreciation of the art of making original prints. The ZACC serves as a valuable resource to the art community by offering scholarships and low-cost classes. We strive to advance the professional standing of persons engaged in making original prints and to stimulate public appreciation and interest in the arts of printmaking.
PRINT SHOP DETAILS
RESIDENT ARTIST PROGRAM
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DAGNY WALTON | 2023 Print Shop Resident
Artist Bio:
Dagny Walton is an illustrator and printmaker. Originally from Colorado, Dagny received her BA in Classical Studies from the University of British Columbia.
Her work explores the inheritance of stolen land, the industrial exploitation of the landscape, and the deification of the cowboy archetype. Another major theme of her work is the interplay between human ambition and natural entropy: the permanent consequences our actions have on the land, and the chaotic nature of the environment that threatens our own existence.
Dagny resides in Missoula, MT with her partner Alexandra and cat Sam. She is pursuing an MFA in Art at the University of Montana. Her work has been shown at the Cawein Gallery in Forest Grove, OR, the ZACC Gallery in Missoula, MT, and has been featured as the cover design of Cutbank Literary Magazine.Artist Statement
I make my work to come to terms with what the American West was and what it’s becoming. My work is a critical, exaggerated re-telling of the myth of the West. I take a literal approach to the idea of “myth” and incorporate elements of Greco-Roman mythology into the landscape of the Wild West. This provides the viewer with a specific frame of reference: Greco-Roman mythology is still prevalent and accessible in our modern culture, so using its themes, visuals, and ideas allows me to draw on the collective unconscious to inform my work.
I work with graphic sensibilities that recall the work of mid-century pulp artists. I also mirror this low-brow aesthetic tradition with my use of printmaking as a primary medium. My pieces are non-exclusive and accessible in order to serve my political purposes. I instill my work with chaos and violence to overwhelm the viewer and encourage them to recognize the deep flaws of the American West’s history as a place colonized through racism, bloodshed, and industrial extraction. However, the process of making these pieces comforts me: the culture and history of the West begs to be ordered, for some sense to be made out of the ruin.
SEW PRINTY SEWING LAB
Thanks to the hard work of long-time volunteer Loretta Vizzutti, the Sew Printy Sewing Lab is available to the public! In collaboration with the Print Shop, we'll offer classes and encourage folks to use printmaking techniques to make customized fabric, then teach you how to sew specific items using the material made in class.
A very special thanks to those who have donated machines to our Sew Printy Sewing Lab:
Chris Wallace
Barb Karst
Jane Billstein
Laurie Bryn
Odette Grassi
Serger Donated By: Joan Egan
BEGINNERS ACCESS
ACCESS & COST:
$75 for 1hr of instruction plus 2hr printshop use during open hours. By appointment only, scheduled classes have studio right-of-way.
DETAILS:
Beginners Access is perfect for those who are new to printmaking, but prefer to work at their own pace outside a classroom setting. With the Beginners Access you'll get an hour to work with a ZACC instructor one-on-one, then an additional 2 hours of printshop time to keep working and exploring. Beginners Access is also great for folks who want to learn a new technique or work on a project with one-on-one guidance.
