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Shop Tour: Bibliographia

Today’s post comes via Andy MacDougall, screen printer extraordinaire and all around good guy (and fun guy.) You can check out some of what he does at squeegeeville.com.  I titled this a shop tour, but we are talking the reverse, this is about a shop that comes to you.

In 2008, printmakers Delilah Knuckley and Abraham Mong fell in love when they were in Richmond, Virginia at Southern Graphics International, a printmaking conference. Mong was teaching Lithography at Pratt Institute, painting murals with Matamuros and managing the Martin-Zambito Gallery in Seattle. Knuckley was teaching screen printing, finishing a degree at Drexel, DJing at WKDU 90.7fm, and a member of Space 1026 in Philadelphia.

The two soon moved to Austin, where they began a new chapter of their lives together.
By 2013, Knuckley had taught over 1,000 students to screen print and engineered a tiny modular print shop to bring to schools. Dissatisfied with resources available she designed the first version of a mobile print bike.
In 2015, Mong and Knuckley founded Bibliographia Projects and built the four-color single-station bike trailer. This version of the bike appeared at the Contemporary Art Museum of Austin, The Elizabeth Ney Museum, Common House, Maker Faire, Fast Folks, and the Museum of Human Acheivement.
 However, Bibliographia had a bigger plan.
With two main objectives, to be able to bring the printshop to the audience, and to be able to give participants a reverse residency- a complete experience of photosensitive emulsion-based screen printing.
Saturday, May 7th, Bibliographia presented to the world the first ever, Mobile Print Train, at Maker Faire Austin.
The train is headed up by the Unit, which includes the exposure unit, followed by the carousel car (press) and a box car to carry shirts, bags, and other necessities.
The newest version of the press complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which means individuals in wheelchairs can print as easily as any other guests without any accommodations, due to design modifications to the car.
Additionally Mong and Knuckley boast fluency in Italian, French, Spanish and have some American Sign Language knowledge. Being able to reach people is a priority to Bibliographia. Even the name “Bibliographia” attests to their interest in being easily understood by as many people as possible. Nearly the entire Western Hemisphere can discern the meaning of the Latin-rooted name “Bibliographia.” This is deliberate, to encourage people for whom English is a second language, to be able to grasp their meaning.
 Bibliographia seeks to enable anyone to have a positive art making experience, and has made this a priority in the building process and the design of the participatory performance art piece.
They are now booking dates leading from Austin, Texas to the inaugural session at the Black Mountain School in North Carolina. Bibliographia Press will inform a new experimental community alongside legends such as
Charlie Ahearn
Joe Ahearn
Bill Daniel
Tim Kerr
Maximillian Lawrence
Faythe Levine
Joe Riley
Andrew H. Shirley
Heidi Tullman
Amanda Wong
And beyond….
People in the Austin area can catch the laid-up Bibliographia Press at Ney Day, at the Elizabet Ney Musesum May 21st.
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