Silkscreening students challenge norms

When Jeremy Braden was handing out tracts in front of the Keathley University Center, he wasn't with any organization. His handout didn't instruct anyone to change religions or save an endangered species. It didn't say how to get a cheap oil change or the latest CD from some local band.

In fact, Braden's handout only had three words printed on it: "This is Artwork."

Braden's artwork was part of a class project for Silkscreening 2130. The class, taught by art professor Christie Nuell, shows students the ropes in the process of printmaking and how to apply that knowledge to the rest of their artwork.

"Printmaking is not about producing just one piece, but 20," Nuell said.

Nuell said that the ability to produce large amounts of artwork is the strength of printmaking. It allows the artist to reach a wider audience.

The assignment for the class is simple: replicate or mimic real documents and distribute them to the unknowing masses. The catch is that the new documents should have a twist about them.

"The project is about taking art to a different audience through a different process than the usual," art education major Jess Colley said.

Colley wanted to do something about women's negative view of their own bodies. The art education major made bookmarks that told women that they were beautiful. She placed these bookmarks in women's magazines at various stores around town.

Part of the assignment required students to document the reaction to their work.

Junior Ben Stewart decided to follow restaurant's traditions of giving out "employee of the month" awards. He created blue and grey doorknob hangers, awarding apartment tenants with a "Tenant of the Month" award. On the back, the recipients could turn in a small card with their picture on it to show their "Tenant of the Month" status.

"I put one of the door hangers on my neighbors door," Stewart said. "When one of them came out, she saw it and started yelling at her roommate 'Hey, come look at this!' She was pretty excited about it."

While Nuell's students said they enjoy the class, the broad scope of the assignments can be overwhelming at first for some students. According to graphic design major Cara Charleston, without a specific starting point to work from, it's easy to get stuck in the brainstorming process.

"I've always found it easier to have someone tell me 'Draw a shoe,' and I'll draw a shoe. I'll draw it how I want, from what angle I want, but I'll still be drawing a shoe," Charleston said.

According to Nuell, the goal of the project isn't to deceive people.

"I hope that people will do something to help other people," Nuell said.

"I don't want to engender negativity," Nuell said. "Life's too short to be negative."

Nuell has been assigning this project in her class for the last few semesters.

One semester, a student put up signs in gas station bathrooms that warned of the dangers of the diseases populating the fixtures.

Another project involved former student Jackson Martin, who put up large warning signs, similar to deer crossing signs, with a police car on it near speed traps in Murfreesboro.

Screenprinting is one of many processes of printing. It involves spreading ink over a silk screen, which evenly distributes the ink over the canvas.

As the ink passes through the screen, a stencil blocks ink from getting onto certain parts of the paper. The stencil acts as a mask on the paper.