IMPRESSIONS EXPO ATLANTIC CITY has come and gone, and the Ink Kitchen was there, interviewing industry leaders and producing great Q&A sessions on their stage. Rick Roth and Pam Ikegami and the folks from the show have also been leading a really cool initiative with industry suppliers to raise funds and clothing donations for local non-profits in each of the communities that host the trade shows.
A focal point of the fundraising program, designed to leave something behind for a non-profit in each convention city, is a unique souvenir poster screen printed live at the Long Beach event by Screen Printing magazine columnist Andy MacDougall, and in Atlantic City by Brian Potash of Devilfish Ink in Philadelphia. The posters were available for a small donation, with all proceeds going to Adelaide’s Place, which is a women’s shelter in Atlantic City, and CareCloset, who works with the unhoused in Long Beach. The AC illustration is the famous diving horse that thrilled thousands of visitors on the Atlantic City boardwalk starting in 1927.
In the past two years of the program, the posters have become very collectable. Pam Ikegami reports that people were impressed with the double split fountain featured in the artwork created by Texas based designer Alyx Spurrier. In Long Beach, MacDougall had more than one printer wondering what halftone screen they were running to get the blend effect. ‘Friends don’t let friends use halftones,’ was the answer, as both printers showed how the magic was created using the screen printing process, a squeegee, and some skill. Potash was a guest on the Ink Kitchen stage as he explained some of the intricacies in flatstock printing.
Sponsors included:
• Bayside
• Hirsch
• SanMar
• Avient
• S&S
• Jerzees
• Albachem
• Saati
• Ikonics/Chromaline
• Easiway
• Allmade
• Roq
• Stahls/Transfer Express
• Nazdar SourceOne
• Howard Custom Transfers
• SPSI
• Newman Stretch Devices
• GSF
• KIWO
• Ulano
Between both shows, a total of nearly $30,000 in cash, and thousands of garments were collected and delivered to Adelaide’s Place and the Care Closet. If you are attending Printing United or the Impressions show in Dallas/Ft Worth in the fall, watch for the Ink Kitchen team carrying on the good work, bringing the printing community together to spread the love — and some screen printing — and give a helping hand to local non-profits doing good work in convention cities.
PHOTO GALLERY (4 IMAGES)
Scenes from the charity live-printing events.
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