Interview with Mark Lunning, owner of Open Press and Denver artist – 10/8/11

by Patricia Branstead

PB - Mark, you are a master printer and an artist, you own Open Press, an intaglio studio that works with artists to create their work and print their editions. How long have you been working in Denver and how did you get started as a printmaker and master printer?

ML-I am a Denver native and have basically lived here in Colorado all my life. I went to school at UNC and received a BFA in drawing and art history and also studied printmaking.

PB - How did you shift to printmaking?

ML - In 1984, when I returned to Denver after school I had the use of a friend’s press and started making collographs and woodcuts but when he moved and took his press, I needed to find another print studio. Meg Ingrahm had a lithography studio and my gallery, Inkfish Gallery, paid for time to work with her making monotypes.

My full time job was land survey work; I was trying to find a place to print, and wanting to change jobs. So after awhile I decided to open my own print studio, and I called it Open Press. I asked other artists if they would use the press if I opened it and they said yes, so I signed a lease and started working with other artists. My first artist was Dale Chisman, who was in the same gallery as I was at that time- Pirate Gallery. And the studio became very busy right away.

Joellyn Duesberry is an artist I started working with early on and still work with today.

PB – Mark, I believe, you were and still are the only professional print studio that works with artists in Denver.
You have been one of the founders of the print scene in Denver. How do you see its evolution and growth, and what place do you see prints and printmaking taking in the future?

ML - Well, the printmaking departments in the Denver colleges have grown and the Art Students League has grown and expanded their printmaking program. For many years I was the only print teacher there, now we have four. There are also a growing number of artists that have their own presses. The interest and knowledge about prints has expanded greatly and many boundaries have changed in how to make prints and the techniques available, including processes that are less toxic than the traditional methods.

The galleries still don’t show many prints and the general public doesn’t understand much about what a print is - that it is an original work and not a reproduction, and that reproductions are not prints.

It would be really great to have an active print co-op. Several have started but soon disappear.

PB - The Art Students League sort of takes that place-

ML - Why don’t you start a co-op, or have a monthly fee and designated time when the press is available?

PB – I have been thinking about that, and maybe a time for papermaking.

ML - If you could tap into the creative community, and facilitate using your space as a creative center, I think it would offer a place to expand Denver’s creative energy as a gathering place for professional level work and student exploration.

PB - You also have a gallery in your fantastic studio now. How did you start showing art, and what type of work do you show?

ML - I had several locations when I started, and some of these spaces had great showing spaces where I was able to show the prints. I showed the artists who I was working with, at Open Press.

The work was for sale- most of the artists were independent so I could show the prints without interfering with a publisher or gallery.

This has continued and I show prints and sometimes other special shows in cooperation with artists coming into town and I have organized shows that are in a group of galleries at the same time. One project, The Print Event really shows off the print community and builds a sense of pride in the diversity, quality and number of printmakers in the Denver area.

PB - This fall you are currently showing your own work in several places in the Denver area, where are they and what kind of work are you showing?

ML – First, there is a collaboration show at the Art Students League. There are 14 combinations of two or three artists each, who made the pieces together.

Second, I have one-person show at the O’Sullivan Gallery on the Regis campus- 38 pieces, all printmaking and it was an overview of 30 years of my work.

And the next show is at Space Gallery, which opens November Third, at 765 Santa Fe Drive.

I am in the main space; I will have 7 paintings and about 25 prints and 4 or 5 sculptures, and this is all current work.

I am so inspired right now, having the time to concentrate on my work. This is a situation I have wanted to be in, being able to focus on my work. I like to work in many mediums, and do, but because I have a print studio and making prints is such a familiar medium to me, with all the equipment there for me to use, I like to make prints mostly. I am working on some large-scale prints with several layers that are very exciting.

PB - You and I have known each other for 5 years now, you were the first person I met when I moved here, which has been a great bond as we are both master printers, and have a complete understanding and mutual respect of what that process is about. When I moved to Denver and opened KOZO, I took over your gallery space when you moved your gallery back into your studio.

There seems to be a growing printmaking community in Denver, how would you describe it and how would you like to see it develop?

ML – More networking and the printmakers in Denver expanding and talking to each other and building a community. Part of the ultimate goal is to educate the public to be inspired by prints, both in Denver and nationally, as printmaking has expanded so much.

PB - Thank you very much for talking with me and I would like to say it is great that you have been a pioneer in printmaking in Denver for over 22 years.