Biography

Erik Brunvand lives and works in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is a professor of Computer Science at the University of Utah, and a co-founder of Saltgrass Printmakers, a non-profit printmaking studio in Salt Lake City. He is fascinated by process. This is one primary reason that he is attracted to printmaking: possibly the most processes-oriented area of the art world. He makes work using relief, letterpress, intaglio, screenprint, and photopolymer processes. He also makes kinetic works featuring electronic mixed-media elements.

Academic Paper

Automated Drawing: Exploring the Boundaries Between Print and Drawing
Automated drawing machines are mechanisms that make marks, typically drawing directly on the substrate using traditional drawing implements such as pens, pencils, and charcoal. Drawing and printmaking are close cousins in the world of works on paper. One main distinguishing feature of prints is the possibility of making editions, but automated drawings may challenge this distinction. These are drawings in that they are images applied directly to the paper, but they are also editionable because they can be replicated. In this paper I discuss automated drawings, the machines that make them, and develop a taxonomy of the various mechanisms. I will also briefly survey some artists who use this technology, and who in the process blur the boundaries between drawing and print.

Illustrated Talk

Electrified Printmaking: Using Conductive Ink to Create Active Images
There are a variety of inks and paints that are also electrically conductive. These substances are used for a variety of purposes including direct painting of circuit board traces for electrical prototyping, repair or modification of existing electrical circuits, and electromagnetic shielding for sensitive electronics or for humans. In this talk I will describe some experiments in using these conductive materials for making prints. The prints made from these inks and paints will be conductive, thereby allowing the images to also become active electronically. That is, the images can also function as wires, and with the addition of other electrical components, can make the images electrically active.

Exhibition

Homespun Technology
Technology is a pervasive part of our modern world. Marvels that were science fiction only a few years ago are now intertwined in all aspects of our lives. Until recently, these high-tech tools and toys have been developed primarily by teams of highly trained specialists and much of it has seemed akin to magic by users.

This is changing. We are at an inflection point in the ability of people to harness technology for their own purposes. Similar in some ways to the personal computer hobbyist movement of the 1970’s, the “Maker” movement of the present day is enabling and empowering tinkerers, builders, hackers, DIYers, and artists to design and build what they envision, not simply use what can be purchased. The technology employed can range from archaic to avant-garde, but the underlying ethic resonates with echoes of a homespun era. Printmakers are natural makers – their strong connection to the physical aspects of printing involves inventing, manipulating, building, and modifying those processes in pursuit of their artistic vision.

In this portfolio, the artists respond to the theme of “Homespun Technology” in both literal and thematic ways. Some of them use their own homespun technology in the production of their prints. Others use imagery and thematic content to address this growing trend to “make” on one’s own, rather than be content with what someone else makes for you.