PUBLIC PICNIC TABLE PRINTS
Picnic tables, plywood, ink, kozuke paper, 30” x 72” (woodblock and prints), 2018-2019

Public Picnic Table Prints is a collaborative outdoor printmaking project that explores places of exchange by uniting public space, picnic tables, and the social discipline of printmaking. Over the course of four workshops, more than 60 newcomers came together to create three large-scale woodcuts inspired by Glen Garden, the site of the ISANS Community Garden.

Participants developed imagery and carved the woodblocks on site. During the Nocturne: Art at Night festival, the blocks were inked and printed slowly by hand at the MacPhee Centre for Creative Learning. The finished prints were later exhibited at the Anna Leonowens Gallery at NSCAD University and celebrated with a multicultural Thanksgiving picnic.

This project was a part of Welcome to this Place, a nation-wide arts initiative presented by Mabelle Arts and Parks People in partnership with Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia.

This project involved many hands. Sincere thanks to:

  • All participants for their dedication and enthusiasm

  • Welcome to this Place Project Coordinator, Eryn Foster

  • Melissa King, Heather Asbil, and the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia

  • Everyone who provided language interpretation

  • The helping hands of Luke Smith, Jay Caskie, Isa Wright, Hannah Drake, Chris Parsons, Alicia Hunt, Jenny Yujia Shi, Ericka Walker, Emily Hathaway, Nat Dow, Andrew Thorne, Will Vandermeulen, Michael Fuller, Kenny Kam, the Art Bikers, Wonder’neath Art Society, and the MacPhee Centre for Creative Learning

  • Katarina Marinic for exhibition and picnic documentation