On Press : Prints for NonPRofits

Detroit Artists Support NonProfit Organizations 

Beginning in 2018, Signal-Return launched a project to more meaningfully engage multiple communities that overlap at the printing studio: artists, printers, non-profits, and customers with an interest in art and in Detroit.

Signal-Return invited a group of artists to each make a poster from hand-carved linoleum blocks, the sale of which would benefit a specific service-based non-profit. Each artist was paid an honorarium for their work, and the artist selected the nonprofit they wished to support.

Then, via a series of presentations, demonstrations, group workshops, one-on-one meetings, and exploratory carving and printing, artists develop their designs. Most images result from multiple carved blocks, as one block is needed for each color printed. The artist signs and numbers the prints, and each limited edition will not be reprinted.

Twenty-four gorgeous prints are represented here, with links to the invited artists and the organizations they selected.

As an organization that embraces both craftsmanship and creative expression, work on this project is designed to bring people together, using the power of the original multiple and the inherent beauty of a traditional printmaking technique to support the efforts of others in the city. Together we are louder.

The twenty-four On Press: Prints for Nonprofits have been acquired for the permanent collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts' Department of Prints, Drawings and Photographs.

Supported by

The Windgate Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Kresge Foundation