potrero view

September 2008

Taking it to the Street: The Art of Steamroller Printing

By Katherine Case

With vendor tables, food, music and kids’ activities, the San Francisco Center for the Book’s (SFCB) Roadworks Steamroller Prints street fair is a seminal event.   The festival’s main attraction is the steamroller:  a three-ton giant that stands by while teams of SFCB artists and volunteers ink-up large scale linoleum blocks and ready them to be printed.

The street fair will be held on September 20th from noon to 5 p.m. on De Haro Street between 16th and 17th streets.  Six artists carved three by three foot linoleum blocks; each block will be steamroller-printed in an edition of three during the street fair, with one print by each artist auctioned off at SFCB’s gala dinner in November. This year’s artists are Enrique Chagoya, Patricia Curtan, Emory Douglas, Jason Jagel, Rik Olson and Favianna Rodriguez.

In addition to the big prints a slew of one by one foot “Little Linos” will also be printed. Little Linos can be carved by anyone, and are sold hot off the asphalt during the event. At last year’s festival more than 40 people carved a Little Linos block, including illustrators, artists, children, and teachers.

Subscribe to The Potrero View

All rights reserved. Copyright © 2006 The Potrero View.

Content on this site may not be archived, retransmitted, saved in a database, or used for any commercial purpose without the express written permission of The Potrero View or its Publishers.