One more "heaven and hell" print

ArtWorks' Mural Project

http://www.artworksgr.org
http://www.uica.org
Drew, Brandon, Gaby, BJ, Jossie, Steve, Jeanne, Brent, Rachel, Gretchen, Alynn and Beki.
The finished mural.

The final sketch, this is how the mural was supposed to look like.

Koyokuikatl

Koyokuykatl era el otro nombre de Carlos Cortez; un artista grafico chicano al cual decidi conocer sin tomar en cuenta que la vida pasa mas rapido que el tiempo. Este grabado es un homenaje a un artista cuya obra refleja su vida y sus ideales.

Dead End

Last year Division ST was closed for construction for almost a year. This is how I felt every time I needed to bike near Downtown.
This print was auctioned yesterday at the Grandville Academy for the Arts, I'm glad somebody found it funny.

Mural at Ada Vista Elementary

This mural is at Ada Vista elementary school, and is about the creation story according to the aztecs. The story is called "The fifht sun".

Transgenicos

These prints are about our past and current relationship with our food, especially our Corn.
Estos grabados los hice cuando me di cuenta de lo que habian hecho con nuestra comida, principalmente nuestro Maiz.

Tapete

Public Art: "Tapete"

This piece was created with the collaboration of 5 Mexican local artists at Calder Plaza in Grand Rapids MI. We were concerned with the situation at the US- Mexico border, where hundreds of people have died in search for a better life.
Those who don't die physically at the border, die emotionally at the factory; becoming just an extension of a bigger machine.
Esta pieza la creamos 5 artistas mexicanos en Calder Plaza, Grand Rapids MI. Queriamos hacer publica nuestra preocupacion respecto a la situacion en la frontera de Mexico-EEUU donde cientos de personas habian muerto tratando de cruzarla.
Pero aquellos que no mueren fisicamente en la fruntera, lo hacen emocionalmente en la fabrica al convertirse en una extension mas de la maquinaria.

What prevents us from that emotional death are our traditions, and our culture; where the language plays an important function in the creation of our identity.
Lo unico que nos salva de la muerte emocional son nuestras tradiciones y nuestra cultura; en la cual nuestro lenguaje tiene un papel fundamental en la creacion de nuestra identidad.
This piece was created to say all that.
We used traditional symbols, colors and grains (corn and beans)
Esta pieza la creamos con todo eso en mente, utilizamos simbolos , colores y semillas tradicionales (frijoles y maiz)

hydrants

This was the image on my birthday invitation. There are no analogies, I just like hydrants.

the finished print

the whole process...

First, I decided the order and the color of the plates. I did the first image with colored paper, and then I made xerox copies. (Note: the orientation of the drawing on the copy machine changed the result)
Primero: decidir el ordern y el color de las placas, la primera imagen la hice con papel de colores y luego le saque varias copias. (Nota: la orientacion de la imagen en la copiedora cambia el resultado)

Next: I picked the color that had more detail; in this case is the blue one, and carved that plate first so it can be used as key plate.

Siguiente paso: Elegi el color que tuviera mas detalles; en este caso el azul, y escarve la placa para usarla como llave.

Once it was finished, I inked the plate and transfer the ink to an acetate and then to the other two plates. Una vez terminada, laentinte y transferi la tinta a un acetato y despues este a las otras dos placas.

First plate; I inked and printed the orange cones first, then I wiped off the orange ink and inked and printed the yellow.

Primera placa; primero entinte e imprimi los conos anaranjados, despues limpie la placa y entinte e imprimi el amarillo.

Second plate; the paper was left on the press to prevent it from moving out of the registration marks.

Segunda placa; deje el papel bajo el rodillo de la prensa para evitar que se moviera de las marcas de registro.

Last plate

Ultima placa

Last step: cleaning up.

Ultimo paso: limpiar.

construction season

There are two stories for this print.

1 The joke; there is a saying here in Michigan about the weather. "We only heve two seasons; winter and construction". The most coloful season is Fall, and what best represent construction are orange cones.

2 The paradox; construction of roads means that in the future we will have acces to places that were far away or too difficult reach without a car. It also means that those places are going to get destroyed in the process.

Alynn Guerra