Rock music blares as a bearded man is hard at work, preparing a printing press for action. Dark-colored graphic T-shirts and posters are scattered on the walls of the studio. A blue and white hand-painted sign reads, “Get Sh*t Done.”

The same process he is engaged in is also used to make the buttons on a microwave, the back defroster on a car or the design on a band T-shirt. Screen printing is a technique that is everywhere, but is rarely thought about by the people using these products.

For Aaron Jenkins, screen printing is more than an overlooked detail — it’s his artistic technique and career. He owns a screen printing shop, The Black Arts Studio, which specializes in printing textiles and graphics. He prints T-shirts, apparel and posters, often for local businesses and bands. This year, he’s set a new goal: creating a print of his own artwork every month.

Screen printing is a process that uses mesh to transfer an ink design onto a surface, using blocks or a stencil.

Located in the Delavan Center, a multi-use complex near the Nancy Cantor Warehouse with several studio spaces, Jenkins has no shortage of artistic neighbors to chat about his work with. Cayetano Valenzuela is an artist working in the Delavan who is a good friend of Jenkins’ and a collaborative partner.

Valenzuela’s business, Black Rabbit Studio, specializes in handlettering and graphic design. Some of his most popular works are the hand-crafted signs he creates for local businesses.

 

The neighboring artists’ latest collaboration is The Black Days Project, titled because of the word “black” in both of their business names. The sequence of Jenkins’ work tells a story, while Valenzuela’s pieces each stand alone, but also work as a collection.

Jenkins’ January print is a black and white scratchboard illustration of a burning house with a small part of a fictional story written at the bottom. For the same month, Valenzuela’s created a four-color drawing of a burning ship with the words “sink or swim” in a gothic script.

For his art, Jenkins typically uses a pen and ink, scratchboard — a material used for etching — or Photoshop. He gets inspiration from album art, and said he likes to incorporate skull motifs into his work.

Jingyu Wan | Contributing Photographer

On Saturday, the pair printed their second pieces. They plan on holding an art show for the project at the end of the year and selling all of their prints as posters. Right now, posters are sold online, in each of their shops and at craft fairs.

“It’s a way for us to really push each other to create artwork that people can afford,” Valenzuela said, adding that an original artwork could cost around $200, but a reproduction, such as a poster, typically costs $30.

Even though Valenzuela and Jenkins are neighbors now, their relationship began before they were working in the same building.

Years ago, they both were involved in the central New York punk music scene, with Jenkins in a band and Valenzuela frequently attending shows. They both draw their aesthetic from grungy, gothic album art, adding another layer to their shared passions of creating art and collecting posters.

Jenkins’ music career in a hardcore metal band Ed Gein was what originally lead him to transition into screen printing. He and his friends named the band after the serial killer because they used to spend weekends watching horror movies. Gein was the inspiration for some of the villains from their favorite movies, such as “Silence of the Lambs” and “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

Out of high school, when Ed Gein was frequently on tour, Jenkins, who had a flair for drawing and art since he was a child, asked himself about printing the band’s T-shirts and artwork, ‘Why are we paying someone else do this? I could do this.’

Jingyu Wan | Contributing Photographer

Soon, he began teaching himself the basics of screen printing and getting part time printing jobs between tours. He took a job managing a screen printing shop, which he had for seven years while doing his own work on the side. Eventually, he reached a point where he could make a bigger profit independently.

“The more I learned about (screen printing), the more I realized how versatile it is,” Jenkins said. “It’s a very simple technique in one regard and complicated in another. It’s this crazy mix of art and science.”

To this day, he still prefers to print for local musicians over almost any other clients. He said that if he has the option, he doesn’t take jobs that he’s not interested in, such as printing for sports teams or schools.

The Black Arts Studio prints for Strong Hearts Cafe, Recess Coffee House, Gorham Brothers Music and local hardcore metal/punk bands — a list of clients that frequently overlaps with those of Black Rabbit Studio. The two businesses work together, often referring clients to the other so that Jenkins is printing Valenzuela’s designs.

Just like the pair know each other from the punk scene, much of their business comes from it, too. Jesse Daino and Graham Reynolds, Jenkins’ fellow band members, are the owner and manager of Recess Coffee House. The owners of Gorham Brothers Music, a guitar shop just off Erie Boulevard, were also playing in a band called The Engineer when Jenkins’ band was touring.

Valenzuela said that this group of local clients and business owners share the values of punk culture with him and Jenkins, such as what he described as their “DIY ethic.” Many clients they know from the music scene went on to become self-starters and entrepreneurs. While they all began making music or going to shows, many of them graduated to starting their own businesses and working for themselves.

Said Valenzuela: “When we’re young we go to punk shows, and when we’re older we build stuff.”

Published on January 31, 2016 at 9:40 pm

Contact Alex: aerdekia@syr.edu