Every Sunday, NEPA Creative turns the spotlight on some awesome creatives. This week, we have Christine Medley!
Christine Medley is a printmaker, graphic designer and educator who owns The Workshop, a community letterpress studio in Scranton. Since the pandemic hit, she’s been very active in creating to keep focused and keep her sanity. Because letterpress workshops were cancelled, she had to find a way to keep The Workshop going during the shutdown. The “Scranton is Real” letterpress poster fundraiser evolved as a response to shocked fans of The Office, who believed Scranton was a made up place. More reactive letterpress posters came from the daily assault of politics, unrest and breaking news. BLM, Vote, John Lewis, Shut Up Man and other posters were all a reaction to current events.
Her most exciting personal achievement this year was the release of her new book, Printmaking—How to Print Anything on Everything published by Dover Publications. Because of the virus, planned book signings were cancelled, but she intends to hold one in November or December at The Workshop during a group pop-up Holiday Market featuring local artists and crafters.
Other fun summer projects included painting a mural on the Lackawanna Heritage Trail as part of a Girl Scout badge project for a high school student, painting a portrait of a 33-year-old horse for a friend, and experimenting with direct printing from nature on textiles and handmade indigo paper. Christine also sells her work at On&On Marketplace in Scranton and has been busy keeping her products in stock.
Christine is currently on sabbatical this fall from Marywood University where she teaches graphic design, printmaking and is chair of the art department. Aside from her creative work, a new project plan is underway for a pop-up holiday market at The Workshop which will open on November 6th during First Friday in Scranton. Local artists and crafters will participate with special Saturday events until Christmas.
To see more of Christine’s work, visit her website, Instagram and her Facebook. Her book Printmaking How to Print Anything on Everything by Christine Medley is available online from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, Walmart or directly from Christine.If you are interested in being featured as part of our Sunday Spotlight series, click here!
