Their work is raw. Their work is unedited. Their work isdirty.
But above all, Ryan O’Malley, printmaking graduatestudent, said their work is communicating a message.
And he is bringing their work to LSU.
O’Malley is a member of the Dirty Printmakers of America,a group of 20 printmakers from across the country who breaktechnical rules and push academic limits when it comes toprintmaking.
First, they select a theme. Then each artist creates theirprint, copies their work and sends it to each member in thegroup.
The end result is a “folio,” as the artists call it,of edgy pieces of art that, unlike a painting or sculpture, can bemultiplied and available for people to see in 20 differentlocations.
 
Content over Craft
Joseph Velasquez, a printmaking graduate student at theUniversity of Wisconsin in Madison, was drinking a beer on his backporch with a friend about two years ago when he came up with theidea of dirty printmaking.
Velasquez said because printmaking naturally pays so muchattention to technical style and detail, many artists view it asthe “bastard child” of art.
Traditionally, printmaking is defined as the design andmanufacturing of prints as woodcuts or silkscreens. O’Malleysaid printmaking students are forced to adhere to rigid rules oversize, view and display.
But Velasquez wanted to take printmaking past those rules.
“It is about being dirty and fighting convention,”he said.
Velasquez said the idea manifested when he met O’Malleyand a few others at a printmaking workshop in South Dakota. Theidea expanded from there.
From thousands of miles away, Velasquez said he andO’Malley kept in touch through e-mail and kept finding peoplewho were “definitely dirty.”
“We’re creating a venue for these artists to runto,” Velasquez said.
John Hancock, a printmaking professor at the University of MaryHardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas, is one of those “dirtyprintmakers.”
For Hancock, it is about being able to get their images out toas many people as possible.
 
Like Christmas
When O’Malley finally receives all the prints, he said itis like Christmas.
“It’s 20 little gifts,” he said. “And 20people having all 20 print portfolios, is like having 20arms.”
O’Malley said because everyone has a copy of theportfolio, their images have more reach and more potentialviewers.
In fact, he said the beauty of printmaking is that they cancreate multiple prints to spread their message.
The increased reach seems to be working to their advantage.
Velasquez said an art gallery owner saw one of the DirtyPrintmaker portfolios and wanted to display it in his Los Angelesstudio.
“Our intention was to share these among artists,”Velasquez said. “But the more people see them, their jawsdrop and say ‘this is a great group ofartists.'”
He also said the sale of their portfolios has grown tremendouslyin the past three weeks.
“I can get eight to 10 grand for them now,”Velasquez said. “And $300 to $500 for just oneprint.”
 
Snake in the Grass
Normally, O’Malley said the themes are general and leaveroom for the artists’ interruption. But this portfolio isabout the the upcoming presidential election.
Titled, “Snake in the Grass,” he said all of theprints will be politically charged and are designed to make peoplemore politically aware and active.
“It’s all about promoting voter awareness,”O’Malley said.
And to achieve his goal, O’Malley and Matt Bouregois,printmaking teaching assistant who also contributes to the DirtyPrintmakers of America, will string the prints on a clothesline inFree Speech Alley on Monday.
O’Malley said he hopes to document people’sresponses and eventually make a DVD of people’s reactionsfrom all cities where the prints are displayed.
“Our main goal is to communicate this information to asmany people as possible,” he said.
Velasquez said the Dirty Printmakers of America are going todisplay their portfolio before or after the election inMinneapolis, Minn., Lawrence, Kan., Austin, Texas., Los Angeles,Calif., New York, N.Y. and St. Louis, Mo.