Ella Berglund - Cabalista December 2012

Cabalista (noun) : [kab-uh-list-ah]
schemer, associate, member of a secret society or cabal 

Every month, Print Cabal has one featured artist. We work with that artist to select one of their pieces, and produce a limited edition run of screen prints. Some artists work will be on t-shirts or other wearable items, some will be high quality art prints. It varies month-to-month.
The limited edition prints are sold through the Print Cabal online store. 
In addition to the limited edition prints, each month an additional 50 screen prints will be produced. These will be a basic one-colour version of the artwork, printed on newsprint. They will be given away for free as an 'Art Drop' in a different Cork city location each month. 

Our second Cabalista is Ella Berglund, a Finnish artist, illustrator, and designer currently studying at Aalto University School of Art and Design in Helsinki. Ella works dark themes through all her work, from illustration and t-shirt designs from bands such as Graveyard (SWE), to fashion design, or even painting skateboards.
You can view her portfolio at ellaberglund.com



 

Print Cabal
How would you say you started with art and illustration? Was it just a hobby as you grew up, or something you have always hoped to do professionally?

Ella Berglund
I started drawing at an early age. It has taken many hours and lots of work to be where I am to day, and that's what I usually say, when somebody says something like "you are a natural", that really, all this is thanks to hard work.
I also remember wishing to become a better drawer when I was younger, and I guess that has sort of stuck with me till today.
..And I really hope I would do something that has to do with art as an profession, but I haven't yet really figured out what.

 Print Cabal
I think that's true for a lot of people - working in a number of different artistic disciplines and trying to feel out their path. What different things have you tried, and what are you concentrating on most these days?

Ella Berglund Well obviously I am now concentrating on my studies, which are about Fashion and Clothing design, but I've also started to push things fore ward with all the drawing that I'm doing. I want to graduate soon, and then maybe try to get in to study graphic designing, or maybe try to "do it on my own".
Through my studies I have tried a lot of things I like: filming, photographing, carving stone, paint, all different stuff, but the drawing has always been the number one for me. Back in the days I almost started as an apprentice at a tattoo shop, so maybe that will be something I will start up with again, I really don't know. It would be great to mix all these things together, but I guess that will be quite impossible.

College project, 2012

 
Print Cabal
It sounds like there's a lot of different routes you could take with your work alright - is Helsinki the kind of city that encourages that kind of diversity and experimentation? Do you find it easy to find collaborators?

Ella Berglund
In Finland, I would not live anywhere else then here. Just because here are the best gigs.
In Helsinki it is quite easy to "be doing stuff", even though you often have to do some kind of effort to make it actually work. There are really talented people here. That can be a bit scary, but at the same time really encouraging. It is nice to know you are amongst some gifted people, and because Helsinki is a quite small city, it's a huge chance that a few of them are your friends.
I'm pretty new at trying to find collaborators. The way I've done it is just by talking to the bands after the gigs, by meeting new people, making new friends and by not being afraid to really push it.

 

Print Cabal
So it sounds like music and art are pretty strongly connected for you - and there definitely seems to be doom, thrash, black and death metal influences in a lot of your work. Are there music-related artists that you follow or admire? And is there a special interest for you in doing that kind of work?

Ella Berglund
There are definitely a special interest for that kind of work. Music is a big deal in my life, and because I can't play an instrument, and I sure as hell can't sing, so I guess drawing anything music related is my way of contributing to that scene. And there are times when I draw and think about "is this suitable for a poster? or a shirt design? or a back patch", because those things are my favorite things to do and to look at.

six six six

Print Cabal
Your design for the Cabalista t-shirts, 'Den Onda', seems to follow that line - it borrows themes common to music, and metal in particular, without being crudely 'rock&roll'. Where did the inspiration this design come from?

Ella Berglund
Lately I've been drawing much with ink, so I guess the inspiration partly was about "mastering" that tool as well as possible, and then to work with these hand-drawn images on the computer, and by that get the right vibe in the design. The other part is mainly, and always, the music I listen too.

Den Onda (The Evil One) - 2012

Ella's design, Den Onda, has been printed as limited edition t-shirts for our December Cabalista. The t-shirts will be available to buy from the Print Cabal store from midnight on 8/12/12.
For more information see facebook.com/printcabal

Anna Giersz - Cabalista, November 2012

Cabalista (noun) : [kab-uh-list-ah]
schemer, associate, member of a secret society or cabal

November 2012 sees the launch of the Cabalista project from Print Cabal. 
Every month, Print Cabal will have one featured artist. We will work with that artist to select one of their pieces, and produce a limited edition run of screen prints. Some artists work will be on t-shirts or other wearable items, some will be high quality art prints. It will vary month-to-month.
The limited edition prints will be sold through the Print Cabal online store. 
In addition to the limited edition prints, each month an additional 50 screen prints will be produced. These will be a basic one-colour version of the artwork, printed on newsprint. They will be given away for free as an 'Art Drop' in a different Cork city location each month. 

Our first Cabalista is Anna Giersz, a Polish artist, illustrator, and photographer currently living in Cork. 

Print Cabal
Your work, first of all, is quite varied is style. There's drawings, more traditional illustration, watercolour, photography - have you always expressed yourself through different media, and is it intentional, or do you feel you're still exploring and looking for the form you love best?


Anna Giersz

2011

 Without a doubt I’m still exploring but I’m becoming more curious to investigate the forms already known to me. I have been drawing for as long as I can remember. Drawing is quite a natural primeval human activity and when I was a young child drawing was my favourite activity, during school and in my free time.
Up to this day, my sketchbooks are filled with fast sketches, ideas or even silly words and I always go back to them to refresh and transform my ideas. Painting and photography came much later. I first came into contact with oil painting in high school, started exploring various techniques, playing around with different styles and I feel like I’ve already done a great deal of it. I treat photography as a tool which helps me to look at objects from an entirely different perspective and is now one of my most beloved mediums.

Altar Of Plagues promo shot, 2011

In other words, at this moment in my career, I’m trying to push the boundaries, reach the limit of my capabilities when it comes to my drawing and painting skills. Even if the level of my abilities currently satisfies me I want to push the borders of playfulness and mix different styles together to achieve the effect I want. I’ve already played with several media and I’m still exploring. In my next projects I’d like to mix elements of 2D and 3D. Sound, noise and moving images interest me as well. However it turns out, I’m sure it’ll bring a great deal of experience and satisfaction.









   

Print Cabal
Do you think that progression is partly under influence from living and working in Cork? There is currently a pretty strong scene in Cork around installation art, sound art, and with some very experimental noise/art groups emerging. Does that differ to the art scene in Poland? Or is the crossover between noise and art something that came naturally?

Anna Giersz
Cork influences me in many ways. I admire its vibrant and diverse music and art scene, remarkably large for a city of this size. This is significantly different to what I’m used to in Poland. These are two different worlds, different cultures and history, you can recognise a different approach to art and music, in terms of techniques used, freedom of expression and approach to art as a whole but that’s normal and quite understandable. You can find certain similarities but I wouldn’t like to go into too much detail now. Living in Cork was quite liberating for my art but I retained my attitude towards quality. I am very demanding towards myself and other artists when it comes to quality of work. I work a lot on my own and I always motivate myself to try and do more. Surely, living in Cork inspired me to try different things as everyone can do anything they want here. Without exaggeration, of course, but people don’t limit themselves and are not afraid of experimentation. I like that and this diversity inspires me. You meet teachers or business people who work hard during the day and play metal in Fredz at night and are very good at it. Some do it for fun, some do it as a career, for me it’s both. So yes, it is a crossover of things. I learn from what I see, from who I meet and from everyone and everything that surrounds me.

Print Cabal
You've worked on gig posters and merch for bands before - is that something that just happened (in the usual Cork way), or is illustration and artwork for bands something you have a special interest in?

Anna Giersz

Tshirt design for Absolutist

Haha yeah, I know what you mean. It started in a way as you said, in a Cork way. I was asked by a friend to design a poster, because of his lack of time, so it was my first chance to do the poster for a really good concert actually (The Ocean). Everyone involved were very happy with it, so I became the ‘’person from posters’’ in [Cork gig collective] The Key and the Gate. I’ve always had a big fascination for design. I do have a degree as a visual artist from Constatin Brancusi High School of Art in Szczecin, Poland. I illustrated a book for Sci-fi story, did logos, posters and stuff, so I do have a background. Band artwork is something that particularly fascinates me because you have more freedom as an artist, and you get to complement some good music, so this just couldn’t get any better. Nonetheless, illustrating is still my life. A lot of research and testing goes into any one project. I want the final result to be satisfying, unique and with its own unique personality. I’m trying not to repeat myself.




Print Cabal
That research element definitely seems to show in your recent illustration work - layers of detail, and symbolism in some unexpected places. For the Cabalista project, we both agreed immediately to use your illustration 'The Bull'. Do you want to talk a little about the thinking and history behind that illustration, or would you rather people draw their own conclusions?


Anna Giersz
The graphic came from an image of a death rose petal. I was slowly working my way from the centre of a canvas and in the beginning, unintentionally; I created this image of a bull. I feel it’s important to mention it. The process plays a pivotal role here as it took me about 3 months to finish the piece. I was really careful with what I was adding and it was a slow development, but I wasn’t sitting on it every day. It was something I was coming back to when I was in the right mood. I had been creating this piece during a sensitive period in my life, thus my approach was very personal. The issue of inner renewal played an important role here. The animals’ inner nature, wild energy, and the additional elements such as the spawn, fish and the crescent define the process of psychological and intimate maturing. I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s a catharsis, but something of the sorts.

B/W version of  'The Bull'

Anna's illustration 'The Bull' will be printed on t-shirts as a limited edition three-colour screen print. The shirts will be available at the very first Cabalista Cafe, on Saturday November 24th, at Camden Palace Hotel Arts Centre, Cork. (You can get more information and check out the event page here.) Thereafter they will be available from printcabal.bigcartel.com
View more of Anna's work on her website, or follow her page on Facebook for new work.

First Poster Run

We decided to knock out a run of posters to start informing the locals about our new Cabal. We went for a partially hand-drawn/partially Photoshop'd design, printed on to A2 paper. Three colours for the craic.

The vacuum table is great, but it's noisy enough to alarm the dog and disturb the humans. Are you just as well off with tape and spray adhesive? Probably. You just need more time on your hands.

(Poster artwork and poorly-lit photos by Rhona Flynn at Print Cabal.)

We're working on pricing for posters, trying to make it as cheap as possible, because we really like screen-printed posters. Turns out paper is made from trees and costs money though, so we're having to shave a few cents off the beer budget to make it feasible for all you famously cash-strapped musicians to afford the service. We'll keep you posted.

BigScreen!

We have two fairly big screens here that make banners, flags, totally oversize tshirts, big posters and artwork all decidedly possible. One is a nice wide 43 mesh for printing on fabric, and the other is a yellowed 120 for paper prints. They're pretty big. This big:

Did we mention we like oversize prints? Probably. Well these screens have a maximum print area of 80cm x 45cm, and it's hard to help yourself from playing with them.

So, to burn a big screen you need a big acetate. Or, three acetates, some patience, and some cellotape.

Obviously when it comes to printing with this thing, the carousel is out of the question. We did our test-run just laid on a tabletop. No clamps or anything. Pure gnarly living-on-the-edge stuff, innit.

 And there you have it. Go big or go home.

Smiley Dogg

We got to do another hand-sketched print recently too, this time for Smiley Dogg Tattoo in Cork.

The artwork is by Beggy Bex (aka Smiley Dogg tattooist Kuba).

Printed on black tshirts and vests, Smiley Dogg availed of our 'no extra charge' deal on colours, and got the same design printed in four different colour inks - including a pretty sweet mellow lime colour that we custom mixed just for them.

Each shirt/vest also had a nice little print on the back with the shop name, again drawn by hand.

You can pick up one of these shirts through Smiley Dogg - and go check out the BeggyBex page on Facebook for more of Kuba's artwork and tattoos.

Printing with Fire

We printed merch recently for Cork City Firebirds, Cork's roller derby league.
The logo (designed by Holly Burgess Graphic Design) presented a problem in terms of traditional screen printing. Screen printing is generally a flat, colour-separated printing process - where each colour is printed as a separate layer, using a separate screen.
The Firebirds logo however, has this whole fiery, fuzzy, blended-colours thing going on:

So, we decided to mess around with it. We burned a nice fat, oversized logo onto one screen. After that, it was just a matter of dolloping (technical term) some yellow, orange, and red inks on, and having some fun.

The result was some that were just like the logo, with the hazy mix of colours blending out gradually from red to yellow. 

And then some with this really great flame effect from the mixing of inks. 

Sure, we could've made them all look the same, but the Firebirds liked the variety, and so did we.

They also had a different shirt printed too, with their team motto 'A Little Violence Never Hurt Anybody' printed in a custom-mixed red/orange ink.

These oversize prints really eat up the ink, especially when you're blending colours, but it's worth it. As your mother used to say, Go Big or Go Home.

Check out Cork City Firebirds on Facebook or on Twitter at #FirebirdsDerby

Holy Cow! We're workin late again!

Late night at the studio knocking out t-shirts for Holy Cow Tattoo in Midelton. 

Running down the last few prints round midnight, any ol' caffeine will do...

Sweet little crest on the front, white ink on black t-shirts. 

Nice full-size back print too, another hand-sketched drawing by Ross Daly at Holy Cow. This print is directly from the sketch - you can still see the light and heavy weights of the pencil in this detail of the print. Photoshop is awesome, but we love hand-drawn designs too...

Cheers to Ross Daly & John Taylor at Holy Cow.
You can get one of these shirts for yourself directly from their shop.