Issue: 2022.1

Repair

Repair and maintenance are at the heart of the print shop, counteracting a modern narrative that the art of repair has atrophied in recent years. The presses need fussing and care, and a lot of specialized knowledge, but are beloved by their artists for their peculiarities. Presses (and shelves of type) are rescued from the scrap heap to live a new life in a new location. These conversion and sustainability practices sometimes require deep dives into esoteric manuals on rare machines to figure out how to repair.

For the 2022.1 SNAPline call, we were interested in these specific processes of repair, in these unearthed manuals that require translation or interpretation, in the deep Youtube hole of videos dispensing mechanical wisdom, in the strange behaviour of machines and the people around them, in your experiences making something work again. Alongside all the junk produced by one-time use objects and modern disposable culture, there are cultures of renewal that we want to highlight in this issue, whether these repairs relate to printshops or any other field of work.

Featured Artist Morgan Pinnock has created a set of two beautiful prints. The first is a rendering of a person cocooned in their home, repairing what seems to be a piece of garment, surrounded by colourful, bold yet comforting patterned fabrics and quilts. The second print holds a poem that calls to attention the act before repair – intense love and familiarity that results in wear and tear – and offers a bandage, a woven patch, that the viewer can use to repair it.

In “A Decade of Damaged Things: Experiments in Book Repair”, Risa de Rege takes us through various books she has repaired during her time at a library at the University of Toronto, and the secrets between the aging covers. In “DIY toolmaking, in conversation with Carley Mullally”, Liuba Gonzalez De Armas explores a Do-It-Yourself approach to artmaking tools with textile artist and researcher Carley Mullally. Rocio Graham approaches repair through a series of cyanotypes, chronicling her developing friendships with Migrant workers from Mexico and her own journey of mending her relationship with her homeland. In “Sewing Yarrow Flowers”, Lindsey Bond contextualizes her textile piece of the same name through the meaning behind yarrow flowers and how it ties to her family’s old farm in a colonial context.

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Print by Morgan Pinnock. A linocut in yellow, pink, green, and brown, depicting a figure with long golden hair is sewing a striped fabric, while sitting on a plush chair, in a room filled with brightly patterned cloth, and green plants.

Featured Artist: Morgan Pinnock

Morgan Pinnock is an artist and weaver based in Edmonton, Alberta (Treaty 6 Territory). She works primarily on the letterpress making reduction linocut prints, and on a small floor loom making handwoven textiles. Morgan attended the Alberta College of Art...

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Detail from Yarrow Flowers on the Farm and Sewing Yarrow Pillow appliqué pillow

Sewing Yarrow Flowers by Lindsey Bond

Sewing Yarrow Flowers is a four-minute video that features the creation of yarrow flowers as a textile piece. Wâpanewask / yarrow / achillea millefolium is a circumpolar herb with fern-like leaves, tiny white flower clusters and deep root system. The...

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