Session: Protest + Print, spring 2024
Artists: 11 students
Materials: heat press, DTF transfers, paper, pencil, Adobe Illustrator, scissors, t-shirts
Description: We mixed it up in Protest + Print this spring session with the addition of a new tool: the heat press! Each student chose an image of a person—an artist, writer, or fictional character—they admired, as well as a quote. Instructor Bethany Kaylor took the images into Adobe Illustrator and edited them into stylized stencils, similar to the iconic Barack Obama poster from his 2008 presidential campaign, which were eventually turned into DTF transfers. Using Vocal Type Co’s Bayard font, our students designed the composition of the text + stencil portrait on their t-shirts, giving careful consideration to visual elements like size and line breaks. Once the composition was settled, it was time to heat press the transfers onto the t-shirt! Each shirt was pressed twice at 333 degrees F for 20 sec.