CROWN HEIGHTS — It's a place where aspiring poster artists and wannabe Warhols can try their hand at old-school printing techniques.
Shoestring Press, a new membership-based workshop that will celebrate its grand opening in Crown Heights this Saturday, specializes in the arts of copper plate etching, screen printing, woodcutting and stone lithography, as well as ultra-modern digital printing.
"Our ethic around here is sort of cheap and improvisational," said owner Lane Sell. "We're a little bit of an artists' collective."
Part studio, part gallery and part performance space, the 663 Classon Ave. storefront will be offering $160-a-month memberships to artists as well as student workshops and the occasional live show.
"We’re having a salon-style show of member work that’s been mostly done in the past couple of years," Sell said of the opening. "We’re also having performances by some of our friends."
Other events will include a weekly figure-drawing meetup and monthly classes. But what sets Shoestring apart from similar outfits like the Gowanus Print Lab or the Lower East Side Printshop, Sell said, is the affordable price.
"One of the issues with print making is that when you’re in college you think this is way fun, and it’s cheap, and then you leave college and you realize that it’s cheap except for that’s a $5,000 press," the artist explained.
"The atmosphere around here is really one of ‘let’s find out how to do the things you want to do, let’s figure out how to do it on a budget and make it look awesome, and let’s have some fun with it.’"
Shoestring Press' grand opening party will be held Saturday at 7 p.m. at 663 Classon Ave. between Bergen and Dean streets.
