Printmaking is a messy art requiring space that isn’t always available at home. Artists Thomas Dean and Jeremy Taylor are hoping to help solve this problem at Infinite Repeats, a gallery and studio that offers creatives the space and equipment to work on their projects, including screen printing, etching, and risograph printing.
“It’s a great opportunity for a lot of folks who live in a tiny apartment in Charlottesville and don’t have room for a giant etching press and the facilities to wash out everything,” says Dean, who is the managing director at Infinite Repeats. “We know printmakers who are working out of their kitchen sinks.”
The musician and illustrator first became interested in printmaking when designing merchandise for his band, eventually becoming a full-time screen-printer who has designed posters for The Southern Café & Music Hall and The Jefferson Theater. He currently prints shirts under his brand Lostwoods Prints. Dean found a like-minded creative partner in Infinite Repeats’ studio manager Taylor, an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art at PVCC who earned an MFA in printmaking from UNC Chapel Hill. Together they turned warehouse space next to Visible Records in Belmont into a community printmaking studio and venue.
The partners added plumbing, electricity, and large sinks where artists can wash out screens. Other printmaking equipment includes an etching press that allows artists to attempt more ambitious pieces than would be allowed by smaller presses, as well as locally built shirt presses that offer customization for printing on clothing.
Membership with Infinite Repeats offers artists 24/7 access to the space and the equipment inside. Although artists usually provide their own materials, including ink, screens, and shirts, the studio offers printmaking opportunities that Taylor and Dean say are not fully available at UVA or PVCC, and they hope to attract working artists to use Infinite Repeats in their practice. “It’s really hard, as a printmaker, to find this gear that we have,” says Taylor.
Several local artists have already taken advantage of the space, including Emily Ruth Prints and DEUS DETRITUS, whose work can be seen at area farmers’ markets.
Infinite Repeats versatility also allows for hosting events such as The Fruit Market with Critter Butts and Baker No Baker, which was held in conjunction with Visible Records’ punk rock tribute to the former Charlottesville venue Magnolia House. “I think it was important for us to have a community space for making things, but also a community space for gathering and events and music,” says Dean.
For those who want to learn the craft, Infinite Repeats offers workshops targeted toward beginners. June classes included lessons on shirt screen printing, creating zines with risograph printing, and an all-ages linocut workshop accessible to kids.
“We want to break that barrier to getting people excited about it and show them the possibilities of, being in front of the press, what it can do,” says Dean. “And then the wheels start turning: ‘Oh, I can do this.’ You start coming up with a lot of ideas once you get into it.”
More information about Infinite Repeats can be found on Instagram @infiniterepeatsworldwide.