Live screen printing ‘not just another festival freebie’ at Boston Calling
Shawn Brewer is a one-man show who had one of the busiest booths at Boston Calling. Though he set up shop at a music festival, Brewer is an artist and storyteller through screen printing, not music. He specializes in live screen printing, where people can personalize a poster as Brewer makes it in front of them.
“So what are you thinking?’’ Brewer asks a teen with a crown of fake flowers in her hair.
She chooses a design with an old sailboat, choosing red paint for her print.
Brewer places a dallop of red paint on the window-paine-sized screen. He then uses what looks like a large squeegee to spread the paint evenly over the screen. He lifts up the screen to release the crisp paper with the smooth new design.
Brewer is from Portland, Maine, but was raised in Gloucestor with his artist parents.
“I was always into storytelling,’’ Brewer said. “And for me that is a very visual thing. I want to provide that same experience to others who don’t have that same exposure to art. It makes art more accessible.’’
The idea of accessible art is how Fast Food Prints started four years ago. A student at the Maine College of Art, Brewer also worked part time in a restaurant and often wondered what it would be like if printing could be delivered to the public similar to fast food.
“If art can be food and you can deliver it at a fast pace, then that’s what I do,’’ Brewer said.
He takes this collaborative printmaking to festivals like Dam Jam and Kahbang, but also to parties, events, and sometimes just pop-up stations, where he educates people on print making and sells his work for $10 a poster.
Brewer designs all of the prints himself, and keeps an extensive library of his 100 images. He created four screens specifically for this year’s Boston Calling.
“Everyone from New England seems to have a general consciousnes of what being from New England is all about,’’ he said. “So when I was creating the designs, I thought about sports, the coast, history. I also created a speaker design because I wanted something that illustrated noise to really tie into the Boston Calling festival itself.’’
He said he will probably create 200 to 400 posters this weekend at the festival, which means he will meet at least that many people.
“I like to start with conversation and get to know people more,’’ Brewer said. “I like to talk about the process of art so that way then when they see my poster, they can say ‘yeah, I remember that artist and he made this for me.’ It’s not just another freebie at a festival.’’
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