Gallery Two, Chicago
In the summer of 2014, Stan Shellabarger awoke from a dream in which he was making pressure prints on a letterpress with artist Elijah Burgher (whom to his knowledge, had never made a print before). Compelled to make this dream a reality, Shellabarger took a class at Spudnik Press in Chicago to learn this technique and subsequently invited Burgher to Spudnik to produce a group of unique prints. Since then, Burgher has returned to the press twice more to print with Shellabarger. Shellabarger, a member of the Spudnik Press Cooperative, has in turn invited several more Chicago artists (most with no printmaking experience) to make prints. In exchange, Shellabarger only requests that he and Spudnik both receive a print from the session instead of financial compensation. Shellabarger savors the experience of witnessing the working methods of artists he admires and while working within the parameters of their artistic visions.
Running concurrently with Stan Shellabarger’s solo show in Gallery 1, My informal printmaking residency with Stan Shellabarger — in Gallery 2 at Western Exhibitions — features prints by Leslie Baum, Elijah Burgher, kg (Karolina Gnatowski), Kelly Kaczynski, Rachel Niffenegger, Paul Nudd, Steve Reinke, and Jeremy Tinder made in collaboration with and at the invitation of Stan Shellabarger at Chicago’s Spudnik Press. Both shows open with a free public reception on Friday, March 1 and run through April 13, 2019.