Local Printmakers Tea & Conversation

From left to right: Zeina Baltagi, Henry Klein, John Greco, Michelle Rozic, Daniel Rolnik, and Miles Lewis

WHERE: Camera Obscura - 1450 Ocean Studios, Santa Monica, CA
WHEN: February 21st, 2015

Zeina Baltagi and Miles Lewis invited me to partake in their panel discussion about printmaking. They're artists who started the Valley Art Workshop and I became good friends with them right around the time of starting Intellectual Property Prints. If I can remember correctly, this panel was hosted towards the end of their month long residency at the Camera Obscura; where they had set up a studio along the enclosed balcony overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Santa Monica Pier.

I was definitely the little mouse of the panel. Considering, the other speakers were heavy hitters in the field of fine art printmaking. Henry Klein dealt eastern european artists, John Greco's Josephine Press worked with everyone from Raymond Pettibone to Michael C McMillen, Michelle Rozic was head of the LA Printmaking Society, and then I was there, which was an honor.

At the time of this panel, my gallery was directly across the street and we were set to have the opening reception for "With A Little Help From My Friends" that same night. I was continually texting back and forth with my intern to see what was happening, since people were coming through early to check out the show.

It's funny because I think the photo of me on my phone above, sort of sums up the generational divide of the panel. I was the millennial of the panel (besides the hosts) and doing my best to fight the ideas of the others; sticking to my guns about the idea of affordable prints and artworks. I remember people coming up afterwards and thanking me for just being real about printmaking and art - and not trying to convolute it with abstract ideas.

Zeina and Miles were amazing at facilitating the discussion and keeping it fresh and exciting.

View the full description of the panel, HERE.