This is a collaboration between Tricia Treacy, Troy Richards and me. We were invited to demonstrate a process we had been working with at the 2011 Southern Graphics Conference at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.

This project explores the gap between the virtual image capture and its translation to physical form.
This collaborative, real-time project demonstration consisted of:

1) Capture: There was a “photo booth” set up to take portraits of conference participants. These images were processed with Photoshop and Illustrator to extract abstract portions of the portraits as vector line art.

2) Cut: Using a CNC Router, (shipped from Newark, DE to St. Louis, MO), we cut wood blocks of the vector line art abstractions; and

3) Print: We composed and printed these wood block reliefs on a printing press.

4) A small exhibition of the prints.

image of the setup showing Tricia at the printing press (right), and Troy and I at the CNC router (left).

the three of us around the CNC router.

CNC router cutting a wood block

tricia printing with grad student helper

promotional poster printed from a wood block cut with a laser cutter

promotional postcards (printed by Tricia) from a wood block cut on the CNC router

exhibition image

exhibition image