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Screen printer Jay Ryan to kick off Curiosity Series

Jay Ryan Screen Print

The West Virginia University Curiosity Series kicks off Sept. 5 with a visiting artist lecture by Jay Ryan.

Ryan learned about screen printing from Steve Walters at Screwball Press in late 1995, where they worked together until 1999, at which point Ryan started The Bird Machine print shop in the basement of his apartment building. His initial clients were his friends' bands, his own band, and the clubs where they played. By stumbling into the right place at the right time, he fell in with a new movement of screen printed poster makers across the country and around the world.

The business grew slowly and organically, with the gradual addition of printing assistants and an office manager. For five years, the printshop occupied a commercial space in the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago, before settling into a permanent home in quiet Skokie, Illinois.

Jay established a reputation for hand-drawn text and a computer-free design process. His prints aim to attain the same goals as other concert posters, but using raccoons and toasters instead of skulls, breasts and hot rods.

Today, Ryan’s clients include bands such as Andrew Bird, Fugazi, Shellac, Hum, The Decemberists, Jack White, Pearl Jam, Modest Mouse, The Melvins, My Morning Jacket, and hundreds of others, as well as Patagonia, Samsung, Radio Flyer, Metropolis Coffee, and CBS Films.

Ryan’s lecture will be held at 5 p.m. Sept. 5 in Bloch Hall, Creative Arts Center. The event is free and open to the public. Seating is on a first-come-first-served basis. A reception will be held in the CAC lobby following Ryan’s lecture.

The Curiosity Series is a sampling of the diverse art events that happen in WVU’s College of Creative Arts each year. These events feature students, faculty and internationally acclaimed guest artists hosted by the School of Art & Design, School of Music and School of Theatre & Dance. Exhibitions at the Art Museum of WVU feature artists from West Virginia and around the world. For more information, visit https://ccarts.wvu.edu/curiosity.