Hush Hush Hubble Print for 25th Anniversary
Over the last couple weeks there has been some really exciting work going on here at Old Town Editions. If you have stopped by you may have seen some, but not all of this incredible work. We reproduced a painting commissioned by George Washington in 1757 for Mount Vernon, 23 Bull Run Battle Maps for Manassas National Battlefield Park, and printed an unpublished Hubble Telescope Image that was unveiled yesterday. There is just something about having an unpublished image from the mighty Hubble Telescope that is the icing on the cake. These are just a few examples of the exciting work going on here. All of this work has been amazing and a once in a lifetime experience for all of us here at Old Town Editions. Last week we were contacted by Chuck Hymen, a representative of the prestigious Cosmos Club in Washington DC. He let us know that we would be receiving an image from the Hubble Group that we could not share with anyone. This image was to be added to a showing of prints of images...
Old Town Editions and Blue Line Studios Donate Embellished Print
Old Town Editions and John Kiernan of Blue Line Studios have teamed up to donate a custom hand-embellished print for a special charity auction this Sunday, March 10, 2013 from 3 to 6 PM. This benefit auction is for 17 year Alexandria Police veteran Peter Laboy. Laboy sustained a catastrophic gunshot to the head last week in a traffic stop just blocks from our own Old Town Alexandria print studio. He is still in critical condition. The benefit auction on Sunday is to raise money for him and his family to help as much as possible with bills and anything else they need during this tough time. Please come out to Virtue Feed & Grain this Sunday to show your support for your local law enforcement.The donated fine art print will be custom embellished for the highest bidder at the live auction this Sunday. The winning bidder can get the print customized for themselves or even have it embellished as a gift to officer Laboy and his family. Kiernan’s embellishing allows him to customize...
Drawings From Afar for Image Capture
Artist Amy Lin is back in Washington DC from her recent move to Russia. Amy’s brilliant new collection of works brings her back to our nation’s capital for her solo show opening “Diffusion” at Addison/Ripley Fine Art on March 2, 2013. Old Town Edition’s role in this endeavor was the capturing/photographing of all of Amy’s fine detail drawings. Professional art image captures/photography is essential for making sure an artist’s digital images look identical to an artist’s originals. Old Town Editions is proud to work with talented young artists such as Amy. Congratulations on a gorgeous collection, Amy.“Amy Lin is an artist whose distinctive, vibrant and ambitious drawings masterfully balance precision and an elegant chaos. The works, in her own words, explore “cultural diffusion and are inspired by my residency last year in Singapore and my subsequent move to Russia.” In this, her second exhibition at Addison/Ripley, Lin’s colored pencil marks fly and flare on their unspoiled white...
Dana Scheurer Limited Editions for Reston Interfaith
Reston Interfaith commissioned artist Dana Scheurer to create the original painting “Dancin’ On The Dome”, and one hundred limited edition fine art reproductions. Scheurer has created a following from her involvement with groups like Greater Reston Art Center. She also participates in local area art shows selling originals and prints. She’s created original artwork for Reston Triathlon, Reston Kids Triathlon, and the Reston Home Tour.Dana Scheurer signing prints at Old Town Editions for Reston InterfaithHer involvement in the local arts community and her subject matter have drawn attention from several Reston based businesses. Dana’s involvement in the community has created strong demand for her artwork. This is evidence that being involved with local art associations, shows, and galleries helps an artist to gain publicity to become successful. Dana has been creating limited editions with Old Town Editions since 2004. Selling reproductions allows more people to afford an artists...
Old Town Editions Mentors Students From TC Williams High School
This week we met with Alexandria Recreation Outreach rep Michael Johnson and TC Williams printing program teacher Bob Trout. This meeting set the framework for Old Town Editions to mentor high achieving students from the TC Williams print program at our print studio. We want to give the students a chance to learn printmaking and how it applies in a real world business environment. We have 2 excited students lined up for the program. Soon, these select students will come over during school day for 2-4 hours a week to learn digital fine art printmaking. This time will help these students prepare for their full time internships starting with us in May. Since the students are seniors, and the school has a special student placement program, they will spend their last month of high school working as full time interns with Old Town Editions. This is a unique opportunity that we are excited to be involved with. During the meeting we uncovered the fact that the TC Williams printing program...
The Death of the IRIS Printer
Yesterday, at approximately 9:30AM we unplugged our last IRIS printer. This was a bittersweet moment for us. (Don’t get us wrong, it's a great feeling to be out with the old and in with the new.) Bitter because these machines originally cost $40,000 each. It pioneered the industry we are in today and still creates beautiful prints. Sweet because the benefits of using new printers including larger color gamut, more durability, and prints being more archival far exceed the cost and other faults of the IRIS prints.The machine is just no longer the best, most archival machine like it once was. The richness of the inks and the beautiful velvet appearance of its prints still rival all the printers on the market today. Due to its faults it is just not realistic to keep the machine alive any more. More reasons the IRIS had to go: IRIS archival ink is no longer manufactured, it is very expensive to operate, it constantly purges ink, if any little droplet of spit or water lands on the print...
Old Town Editions Sponsored Photo Booth
Earlier this year we were approached about a new concept The Art League had to build a photo booth. They were looking for a sponsor to aid in the purchase of camera and software for the photo booth and we jumped at the opportunity. What a great idea! Over the years we have donated extra fine art printing materials and offered special rates to Art League members. This was a perfect match. We started brainstorming with them on their design, offering any insight we could to create the best photo booth possible. They commissioned photographer Tom Roberts to construct the photo booth and we offered to paint the photo booth as part of our sponsorship. We decided to use an oversize version of our logo to decorate the booth. The only catch was it had to be hand painted because we had no way to transfer a print to the booth in a high quality way.To do this we had to prepare our logo digitally to fit the photo booth in an aesthetic way, wrapping all the way around the booth. We painted the...
One Creative Project Leads to Another
New York artist Jay Hart came to us with a special request to print his image on transparent film for an installation at The Science Center in Ithaca, NY. The vision was to have two prints, one overlaying the other. When lit from the front you see a satellite image of the continental United States. When lit from behind you see all the major waterways. We had to order samples of several types of film to test the best material for producing this final assemblage installation. After lots of testing we found that front print back lit film was the best material for the project. This film allows for rich colors with the transparent qualities required. When lit from the front the image looks like a rich fine art print. When lit from the back the hidden underlying image brings the assemblage to life showing the rivers and waterways of our United States, creating a beautiful interactive final installation for the Science Center. We always require testing for new materials to make sure the...