Kem McNair Creates Custom Surfboards as Wall Art

A well-crafted surfboard is a work of art—especially when it’s embellished with images that evoke the awesome power and beauty of nature that surfers experience while riding the waves.  That’s why surfer/artist/photographer/musician Kem McNair of New Smyrna Beach FL came up with the idea of creating limited-edition Surf Artboards. Each Artboard incorporates a giclée reproduction of one of McNair’s surf paintings and is custom-manufactured by McNair himself. The boards can be ordered through Kem McNair’s website (www.kemmcnair.com) along with limited-edition canvas prints and posters of some of the thousands of paintings, illustrations, and photographs McNair has created over the past 40 years.

Kem McNair combines his surfboard-manufacturing experience and art talents to reproduce his paintings on wall-art replicas of longboards. Shown here: Shane Smith helps with some of the fiberglass work.

Kem McNair started surfing when he was a child, and is so passionate about the sport and the surfing culture that he has built his career around it.  He has won regional and East Coast championships, surfed and photographed waves in exotic locations all over the world, and worked in a surfboard manufacturing studio.

Since he began painting surfboards in the mid-60s, he has airbrushed and hand-painted over 10,000 surfboards and created thousands of surfing-related T-shirt designs and illustrations.  Recently, some of his watercolor and oil paintings were accepted for inclusion in a regional juried art show. Plus, he shoots photographs of local surfers—primarily in the inlet where he continues to surf as often as possible.

The first Surf Artboards McNair produced were hand-painted, 42-in. miniature surfboards that were time-consuming and expensive to produce. But thanks to the wide-format Epson Stylus Pro 7600 inkjet printer he uses and the 3P Universal Light inkjet-receptive polyester fabric that he purchased from LexJet, McNair has discovered that he can scale up the size of each Surf Artboard while keeping the selling price affordable enough for many surfing enthusiasts. Now, he can make the Artboards in whatever size a client might want.

For a client in Colorado, he recently custom-made a longboard decorated with a reproduction of his “Rainbow Tube” painting. At 6 ft., 6 in. long, the Surf Artboard is 2/3 the size of a real longboard and packs a more powerful visual punch than the 42-in. miniature surfboards.

“What made the whole thing work was the fabric I bought from LexJet,” says McNair.  Not only was the fabric more durable than some of the inkjet art and rice papers he had previously tried with his ArtBoards, but “The colors were insanely great!” On the 3P inkjet fabric, the colors didn’t look muted or subdued as they had on some of the inkjet papers that McNair had tried. 

Plus, the polyester material held together nicely when the resins were squeegeed on top of the print. Nor did the inks on the 3P fabric run as they had on some of the art papers.  Even when the print is encapsulated in resin, which is then laminated with fiberglas, sanded and polished, the 3P Universal Light fabric still displays a subtle bit of tooth that makes the finished art look more like a painting than a print. McNair signs and numbers each print before coating it with the clear resin. 

This 78 in. board, which features an encapsulated, signed and numbered reproduction of one of McNair’s paintings, now decorates one of the office walls of surfing enthusiast in Colorado. “It looks like a fine piece of furniture,” says McNair. “It’s highly glossed and polished, like we used to produce boards in the old days.” (www.kemmcnair.com)

Custom-imaged ArtBoards are just one example of the type of innovative, custom products that you can create with some of the dozens of different inkjet-printable materials available from LexJet. If you have an idea for a new product you might like to create with your inkjet printer, call a LexJet account specialist at 800-953-9538.

“Tell us what you have in mind, and we can recommend some options for getting the job done—including some inkjet-printable materials you might not have considered,” says LexJet account specialist Katie Rizi, who recommended using the 3P Universal Light fabric for Kem’s ArtBoard project.

You can read more about the steps used to create surfboard art in the next issues of LexJet’s Expand and In Focus newsletters. See more of McNair’s artwork by visiting his online gallery at www.kemmcnair.com

When you visit Kem McNair’s website, be sure to check out his famous “shark jumping the waves” photograph that went viral online and was featured on CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, Inside Edition, and many other media outlets. Some skeptical bloggers speculated that the shark-jumping image was a clever bit of Photoshop trickery. But McNair insists he just happened to be taking action shots of some surfers when he captured a natural phenomenon that he and his fellow surfers at New Smyrna Beach see more often than they might like.

Designing Trade-Show Displays with Your Images

When you exhibit in a basic 10 x 10 ft. booth at a trade show, you only have about 3 to 5 seconds to grab the attention of each attendee strolling the aisles. That’s why it’s better to use a big, eye-catching visual in your booth graphics than multiple lines of small text.

Because trade-show graphics rely so heavily on high-res, high-quality visuals, they can represent a real opportunity for professional photographers who know how to print big.   

Photographer Clark Marten created these multi-panel and single-panel displays with LexJet’s I-Banner Spring Back Banner Stands and Water-Resistant Satin Cloth (www.clarkmarten.com)

If you already have a wide-format printer in your studio, we can teach you how to use it with LexJet materials and portable banner stands to create free-standing displays for bridal fairs, sports events, seminars, and other gatherings. You can also produce ready-to-go displays and sell them to business clients who hire you to shoot their product images or to seniors, athletes, or executives who want attention-getting ways to display their portraits.  

LexJet knows a lot about trade-show graphics because that’s how we got our start. In 1994, LexJet started selling new combinations of materials that could help exhibit producers fabricate more durable inkjet-printed trade-show graphics and exhibits. We continue to sell dozens of different materials and display systems for producing multiple types and sizes of graphics for trade shows, stores, museums, and events.

Whether you want a low-cost portable system for occasional use or a display rugged enough to endure a multi-stop event tour, we can help you choose the most cost-effective combination of print materials and display systems.

As for designing the graphics themselves, check out this great article entitled 10 Small-Booth Graphic Mistakes on Exhibitor Online.

The article starts out by emphasizing that the graphics “must clearly communicate who you are, what you’re selling, and what benefits your company’s product or services can offer.” Then, the article’s author Linda Armstrong explains how to avoid the 10 most common mistakes people make when creating graphics for 10 x 10 ft. booths. Here are the most common mistakes: 

• Too Many Words
• The Wrong Words
• Competing Colors
• Artsy Fonts
• Tiny Type
• Text Below Eye Level
• Too Many Images
• Poor Image Quality
• Bad Lighting
• Nicks and Dings (Damaged Graphics)

Fine Balance Imaging Studios displays banners stands both in their studio (above) and trade-show booth (below). (www.fbistudios.com)

Exhibit designers quoted in the article recommend using one large main image to fill the display instead of a smattering of small images. And, they say the graphic will be more eye-catching if the image is cropped to eliminate distracting details. 

The experts also advise graphic buyers not to use low-quality images that don’t have sufficient resolution to be enlarged without becoming blurry or grainy.

Many LexJet customers who are converting their images into displays like using  Water-Resistant Satin Cloth with an economical I-Banner spring-back banner stand. The fabric graphics are lightweight, don’t require lamination, and can easily be shipped and stored.  But LexJet offers dozens of options, including a retractable banner stand made of environmentally friendly bamboo and tabletop systems for set-up at smaller shows.

So call a LexJet account specialist at 800-453-9538 whenever you’re ready to get started. We’ll be happy to tell you more about how to convert your images into attractive, portable displays.

Photo Mural Creates Buzz in Hudson Valley Coffee Shop

Many photographers know that visitors to popular scenic and outdoor recreation areas like to browse through area galleries and gift shops to buy framed or matted prints, notecards, or calendars to remind them of their trip. But enterprising professional photographers such as Robert Rodriguez Jr. of Beacon, NY are discovering that owners of local businesses like buying photographs of the natural surroundings too.

Rodriguez, who specializes in landscape images of the scenic Hudson River Valley, has started producing large canvas prints and photo murals that can help patrons of local businesses see the natural wonders of the area in a whole new way. “Being able to show people how it feels to stand on top of a scenic overlook at sunrise, and feel the emotion I get when beautiful light enters the Valley is so much more convincing in a large, almost life-sized, print,” says Rodriguez.

For example, Robert Rodriguez, Jr. recently created this 54 x 128 in. photo mural for the Bank SQ Coffee Shop in Beacon, NY. The mural is an enlargement of a panoramic photo he shot of Storm King Mountain, the dominant landmark of the region on the banks of the Hudson River. The mountain is located about five miles from the coffee shop. 

Robert Rodriguez created this photo mural for the Bank Sq Coffee Shop at 129 Main St. in Beacon, NY.

According to Rodriguez, “The response to the mural has been phenomenal. Locals recognize the scene immediately and it makes them feel more connected with the region, and proud of its natural beauty.”

Rodriguez used the 44-in. Canon ImagePROGRAF iPF8100 printer in his studio to output the mural in three sections on Photo Tex PSA fabric from LexJet. Photo Tex PSA is an inkjet-printable fabric with a repositionable, pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA). In addition to reproducing a surprisingly high level of image quality, the wrinkle-resistant, adhesive-backed fabric panels are relatively easy to install on flat, non-porous surfaces. No specialized training is required. If you make a mistake when aligning the printed panels, simply remove and reposition it until you get it right. When it’s time to remove the mural, the adhesive removes cleanly without gummy residue.

After installing the mural, Rodriguez added a 3 x 4 in. plaque with his name and website and notes about how and when the image was captured.

Storm King Mountain Photo: Robert Rodriguez, Jr.

“This is one of my favorite locations to photograph in the Hudson Valley, and I never get tired of finding different angles, lighting and weather conditions, and times of the year to find new and exciting interpretations.” he explains. “Storm King Mountain is also historically significant in the environmental movement and where Scenic Hudson got its start to becoming a major force in the Valley for conservation. I’ve donated this and many other images for their use in this cause. I wouldn’t have the opportunity to enjoy this resource if it weren’t for the work that Scenic Hudson has done in my ‘backyard’.”

You can read more about Robert Rodriguez, Jr. in Vol. 4, No. 11 of LexJet’s In Focus newsletter. Or, check the images on his website and read his excellent blog, entitled Beyond the Lens.

How Wide-Format Printing Has Helped a Framing Shop Diversify

Somers, NY is a small Westchester County community about an hour’s commute from Manhattan. Because it is home to a number of artists and residents who appreciate good art, it is an ideal location for Somers Custom Framing, the full-service framing business run by custom-framing specialist Ken Ryan and his artist wife Ginny. Like many well-run framing businesses, the company has diversified in recent years.

Along with expertise in conservation framing, Somers Custom Framing now offers an artful array of graphic design, photo-restoration, and wide-format printing services. For example, in addition to giclee printing, Somers Custom Framing can print photo enlargements on canvas which Ginny Ryan can hand embellish with over-painting or texturing.

The Ryans also run a retail gift shop as well as an art gallery that sells Ginny’s work, original oil paintings by other local artists, plus limited editions, giclees, custom prints, and posters. As they explain on their website, “We provide our clients with top-quality products and services to address all of their personalized decorating needs, from picture framing to mural printing.”

The 13 x 5 ft. photo mural that Somers Custom Framing printed on Photo Tex PSA fabric from LexJet helped restaurant consultant Bonnie Saran set the design stage for the Bollywood Bistro in Fairfax, VA.

Somers Custom Framing has also gotten involved in some retail décor projects. Recently, the Ryans worked with restaurant consultant Bonnie Saran to set the design stage for the new Bollywood Bistro Indian restaurant in Fairfax, VA.  Working with Saran’s ideas, the Ryans created several film-themed murals using stills of some of the best-known stars in Bollywood.

Using their Epson Stylus Pro 9800 wide-format inkjet printer, Ginny printed the murals in panels onto Photo Tex PSA, an inkjet-printable fabric that produces great image quality and is easy to put up and remove. No wall paste is needed and the material is water- and fade-resistant when used with the pigment inks.

The largest mural in the Bollywood Bistro is 13 ft. wide and 5 ft high. “We printed the large scene in strips, which Bonnie hung side-by-side in a seemingly seamless fashion,” explains Ginny Ryan.  Along with the main wall mural, Ginny produced seven additional 97 x 31-in. movie-ticket-themed prints on Photo Tex that decorate the entrance hallway and restaurant interior.

She used other materials from LexJet to print a menu board and window signs with the same Bollywood filmstrip motif as the wall prints.  For example, an Open/Closed sign was printed on a semi-matte photo paper from LexJet and mounted to foamboard with grommets at the top so it could be hung with a chain.

The graphics on the backlit cubes in the bar area of Bollywood Bistro are printed on LexJet 7 Mil Absolute Backlit film.

For the menu board, Ginny used LexJet’s 8 Mil Production Gloss Photo Paper which was then mounted to foamboard for display in the restaurant’s front window.

In addition, Ginny printed backlit graphics that complement the multi-colored lights that hanging from the ceiling from the restaurant. She printed the designs on LexJet’s 7 Mil Absolute™ Backlit film, which was then placed in several lit cubes that decorate the bar area.

The Bollywood Bistro project wasn’t the first store-design art project that Ginny Ryan had produced for Bonnie Saran. Ginny hand-painted a mural for a gift store in Croton Falls, NY and helped produce indoor and outdoor signage for several other restaurant ventures.

“For Bollywood Bistro, Bonnie described her vision to us and we came up with the best printing solution for her ideas,” explains Ginny. Whenever she was unsure which material to use for certain projects, Ginny Ryan called on LexJet account specialist Jennifer Hepner for advice.

“Whenever we have a new product idea, Jennifer is always available to troubleshoot the possible printing material choices with us.” says Ginny. “The wealth of knowledge she has about the materials LexJet offers is invaluable.”

In their gift shop, the Ryans sell custom photo pillows created with inkjet-printable 3P Country Cotton FR from LexJet.

Somers Custom Framing also uses inkjet-printable 3P Country Cotton FR from LexJet to produce three different sizes of photo pillows that they sell in their gift shop. Since launching the pillow designs eight months ago, they have sold more than 200 pillows.

 

 

“Our ability to create, new exciting products using different materials by LexJet is a fantastic asset to the store,” says Ginny Ryan.

You can some of the other products Ginny has created using LexJet materials in the next issue (Vol. 4, No. 9) issue of LexJet’s In Focus newsletter.

If you ever happen to be in northeastern Westchester County, stop by Somers Custom Framing and see just how creative they have been in diversifying their services. Westchester Magazine recently named Somers Custom Framing a winner of a Best of Westchester® award in the category: Best Place to Frame (or Buy) Art.

To learn more about some of the ways you can use a wide-format inkjet printer and materials from LexJet to diversify your imaging business, call one of the helpful account specialists at LexJet at 800-453-9538.

Photographers Get Creative with Photo Mural Fabric

Photo mural at Fine Balance Imaging

Last month, we published a post showing the beautiful black-and-white photo murals that Lizza Studios had created on Photo Tex PSA fabric for the Dietrich Theatre in Tunkhannock, PA. Photo Tex is an inkjet-printable fabric backed with a repositionable adhesive that makes it easy to make adjustments if you make a mistake when you are installing the printed panels.

Here are a few other examples of the creative ways other LexJet customers are using the user-friendly display material. 

WALL SIGNAGE: To help welcome visitors to the new studios of Fine Balance Imaging in Whidbey Island, WA, Joe Menth used PhotoTex PSA to create this 5 x 8 ft. wall mural of a photo he had taken of a local musician. The mural has sparked a wave of interest in the printable fabric among consumers and exhibit designers. Fine Balance Imaging has since produced a floor-to-ceiling mural in the newly remodeled kitchen of a local bed-and-breakfast.

TRADE SHOW GRAPHICS:  At a trade show for local businesses, Joe Menth and Nancy MacFarland of Fine Balance Imaging used Photo Tex PSA to create easy-to-install/easy-to-remove graphics for the side wall of their trade show booth. One of the purposes of the booth was to show some of the creative possibilities of printing images on non-traditional materials. The table drape for the booth was printed on LexJet Water-Resistant Satin Cloth and the graphics in the I-Banner stands were printed using Water-Resistant Satin Cloth and Polypropylene. According to Joe, using the banner stands and the PhotoTex PSA Fabric for booth graphics made it quick and easy to take down the booth when the show was over. You can read more about Fine Balance Imaging on this blog, or in the July issue (Vol. 4, No. 7) of LexJet’s In Focus Newsletter.

Trade-show graphics show what Fine Balance Imaging can do.

 

OFFICE DÉCOR: While working on a yearbook to help the J&B Group of Minnesota celebrate its 30^th anniversary, portrait photographer Chris Lommel suggested enlarging one of the company’s historic 8 x 10 prints into a 168 in. x 9 ft. mural the reception area of one of the company’s production facilities. When they agreed to give it a try, Lommel printed the image in four 42 in. x 9 ft. pieces on Photo Tex PSA on the Canon imagePROGRAF iPF8100 he bought from LexJet.  He installed the panels with the help of the graphic designer who had worked with him on the mural. The company has received a lot of nice comments on the mural from visitors as well as employees. You can read more about Chris Lommel Photography and some of the other creative ways he is using LexJet materials in the August issue of LexJet’s In Focus newsletter.

 

  

Chris Lommel's mural-size enlargement decorates the reception area of a facility of the J&B Group.

 

  

Photographer Norman Gilbert printed golf course imagery onto PhotoTex PSA, then used the fabric to decorate his "Buddy Dog." The sheen comes from the automotive clearcoat that was sprayed on all the dogs so they could be displayed outdoors.

PUBLIC ART:  PhotoTex PSA fabric is designed to be applied to non-porous flat surfaces. But photographer Norman Gilbert of Memphis, TN decided to see if the fabric would work for something more complex. 

He used PhotoTex to wrap his 44-in. tall “Buddy Dog” statue in golf-themed imagery for the Dog Daze in Memphis public art project/fundraiser being conducted to commemorate the 75^th anniversary of The Humane Society of Memphis and Shelby County, TN.  

The statue is modeled after Buddy, a three-legged Black Labrador that was rescued during Hurricane Katrina.Gilbert’s dog, named DogLeg, is one of 75 artistically enhanced dogs that are being display throughout the city and will be auctioned off later this month. Gilbert is the official photographer for the Dog Daze in Memphis project. You can read more about Gilbert’s unorthodox use of PhotoTex PSA fabric in the August issue of LexJet’s In Focus newsletter.

Easy-Install Fabric Photo Posters Honor Movie Theater’s History

The black-and-white posters in the new lobby of The Dietrich Theater in Tunkhannock, PA were printed on Photo Tex PSA, an inkjet-printable fabric with a respositionable adhesive for easy installation.

Going to the movies was more of a community experience in the decades before national corporations started building huge, multiplex movie theaters at shopping malls. If the weather was nice, you could pile your friends into a car and head off to a drive-in. But most of the time, you had to go downtown to the local theatre to see the latest releases from Hollywood.

Civic leaders in small towns across America are hoping to recapture some of that sense of community by restoring old theaters and reinventing them as community arts centers.

Such is the case at the Dietrich Theater in Tunkhannock, PA.  The Dietrich Theater first opened in 1937 with just one screen. That was fine until the mid-1980s when the Dietrich Theater couldn’t compete with the new breed of corporate-run multiplex theaters at malls.  After being closed for well over a decade, the Dietrich Theater reopened in 2001—this time with two screens to meet the changing expectations and diverse tastes of moviegoers.  And earlier this summer, the Dietrich Theater opened a new addition to the theater that includes two additional screens as well as space for arts classes and community events.

One of the most eye-catching features of the addition to the theater is the series of larger-than life black-and-white photographs hanging above the new lobby. The photo posters were designed by Stephen Hendrickson, a NY-based production designer for television who helps design special events and displays for the Dietrich Theater.  The posters were printed by Lizza Studios, a Tunkhannock-based business that provides large-format, fine-art reproduction services for artists.

The posters were printed on Photo Tex PSA fabric for solvent printers and an Epson Stylus Pro GS6000 solvent inkjet printer from LexJet. The posters were  installed by Bob Lizza, Doug Wilson, and Betsy Green of Lizza Studios.  

The seven posters in the series include three 80 x 82-in. posters on each side of the lobby and a 106 x 80 in. poster at the center. The posters feature some of iconic stars you would have seen in movies at the Dietrich Theater in the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s, such as Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman, John Wayne, Cary Grant, and Katherine Hepburn.

According to studio manager Betsy Green, this was the first time Lizza Studios had ever attempted a project like this, but they were more than happy to help The Dietrich Theater succeed as an arts center.  She said Lizza Studios typically uses the Epson Stylus Pro GS6000 for reproducing art that features bright, saturated colors. But she reports that everyone was extremely pleased by how well the printer reproduced the black-and-white movie stills.

Lizza chose to print on Photo Tex PSA because it is so easy to hang that it doesn’t require any specialized training in installation.  Photo Tex is an inkjet-printable fabric, backed with a repositionable adhesive. The adhesive cures over time so that the mural will stay put, but if you make a mistake when you are installing the printed panels, it’s easy to fix. And, because the fabric “breathes,” you don’t have to spend a lot of time removing the trapped pockets of air.  The adhesive removes cleanly from the walls when it’s time to take the mural down.  Photo Tex PSA is available for both aqueous-ink and solvent-ink printers.   

“If we hadn’t used the Photo Tex material, the job would have been nearly impossible for us.” Green admits.  During installation, they had to work from a high lift and precisely align each panel in the recessed areas the architect had included in the lobby walls.

They had to take the posters on and off a few times to get each poster installed exactly right. But they succeeded, and Green now calls Photo Tex PSA a miracle material: “Whoever invented it is genius. It is user-friendly in every way.”

The addition the Dietrich Theater opened in June and everyone agrees that the black-and-white images look stunning. The prints provide a striking, historic contrast to the ultra-modern design of the lobby below. Hildy Morgan, of the Dietrich Theater, says “It’s the most beautiful visual tie-in that you can imagine.”

At LexJet, we love hearing how customers such as Lizza Studios are using their inkjet printers and alternative materials to contribute to community projects. We’ve published other stories about Photo Tex murals in our In Focus newsletter and we’ll be showing some other examples in upcoming posts on this blog.

For example, you can read about the photo mural Advanced Signs & Graphics installed in a health-care facility or the wrap-around photo murals Tom Grassi of Image-Tec installed as a scenic backdrop at a rehabilitation facility.

If you have any questions about the material or how to use it, please call one of the helpful account specialists at LexJet at 800-453-9538.

You can read more about the extraordinary art-reproduction services offered by Lizza Studios on a separate post on this blog or by visiting their website: www.lizzastudios.com

Desk-Front Displays for Photo, Art, and Promotional Prints

By Darren Vena

Fine Balance Imaging Studios uses changeable panels in their desks to exhibit their clients' art and promote their own services. (www.fbistudios.com)

At LexJet, we love it when photographers and artists send us pictures that show some of the creative ways they are using some of the inkjet-printable materials we sell.

In two previous posts on this blog (about photographers Leslie D. Bartlett and David DeJonge), we’ve shown you why LexJet’s Water-Resistant Satin Cloth is quickly becoming a popular option for printing photo and art exhibitions. For one thing, the inkjet-receptive coating on this smooth, lustrous, wrinkle-resistant cloth is designed for high-resolution, full-color imaging. And, because prints on Water Resistant Satin Cloth don’t need to be framed or mounted, shipping exhibition prints from one site to another is a breeze.

But here’s one use of Water-Resistant Satin Cloth that we hadn’t seen until now. The clever, desk-front display system shown here was devised by Joe Menth of Fine Balance Imaging on Whidbey Island, Washington, a mecca for artists, photographers, and nature-lovers about 25 miles north of Seattle.

Joe built the desktop display system earlier this year when Fine Balance Imaging moved into a spacious new studio, which was more than twice the size of their original working quarters. He says the desks from the old location simply looked out of place in their new surroundings.

So he customized the desks with fixtures designed to hold changeable graphic panels made from satin-cloth prints attached to recycled door moldings. (The door moldings are used like stretcher bars in canvas gallery wraps.) The panels can be slid in and out of slats in the desk fixtures whenever Fine Balance Imaging wants to feature something new.

“In the desks, the panels looks seamless and permanent because we’ve put trim over the top,” says Menth. “But we simply pull up the trim, pull out the frame, and drop the new prints in.”

The images are printed onto LexJet Water Resistant Satin Cloth using the ImagePrint RIP and the Epson Stylus Pro 9800 printer.

The desktop graphic panels are just one of the ways that Menth shows clients what’s possible with high-resolution inkjet printing and different types of materials. As you can see from Joe’s panoramic shot below, when clients walk into Fine Balance Imaging they see bold splashes of color almost anywhere they look.

Along with promotions for the studio’s services, visitors can see small exhibitions of the work produced by clients such as Michael Foley. His macrophotography series Miracles in Minutiae was printed on LexJet’s Sunset Select Matte Canvas and is displayed for everyone to see.  In the corner of the studio is a print on an aluminum sheet made possible with Golden Digital Grounds for Non-Porous Surfaces.  Hanging above the desk are paintings enlarged to 400% and printed onto Color Textiles Habotai Silk.  Most of the framed photographs were printed on Epson UltraSmooth Fine Art paper.

As for promotional graphics, a front counter sign is printed on LexJet Water-Resistant Polypropylene and the graphics in the I-Banner Stands are printed on either Water-Resistant Polypropylene or Water-Resistant Satin Cloth.

Fine Balance Imaging was founded in 2004, a couple of years after Nancy McFarland and her son Joe Menth had moved to Whidbey Island intending to start a small, family-run art gallery. Nancy and Joe are both photographers and artists at heart, but had worked mostly in technology-related careers that they never were fully passionate about.

At the art gallery, they started making small art prints for a few of their new artist friends. They opened Fine Balance Imaging in direct response to what the artists in the area said they needed. The fine-art business has since expanded to include an extensive array of capture, design, finishing, and marketing-support services for artists, photographers, small businesses, and consumers. These services include: high-end film and flatbed scanning; photography; graphic design; panorama stitching of multiple images; and photo restoration, color correction, and retouching.

But the bulk of the studio’s business revolves around wide-format printing of fine art, photographs, posters, banners, and displays. The studio uses the Epson Stylus Pro 4800, 7600, and 9800 printers with ColorByte Software’s ImagePrint RIP for consistent color from print to print.

For artists who want prints ready to sell at local festivals, Fine Balance will provide shrink-wrapped or polybagged mounted prints. Finishing options include UV-coating, hand deckling, or custom trimming.

As their services have expanded, so has their base of customers. And that’s why they needed to move to a bigger space and chose to do something more creative with their desks.  When more customers see for themselves the type of images that can be produced on Water-Resistant Cloth, Menth says, “More and more clients are using it to create frame-free, ready-to-hang art.” Fine Balance Imaging sells the prints complete with a simple hanging system made from dowels and satin cord.

This type of ingenuity in producing ready-to-hang prints that has made Fine Balance Imaging very popular with their clients. Plus, “Doing work that we truly love motivates us to uphold incredibly high standards,” says Joe.

He adds that, “Our clients don’t care what equipment is used to create their prints. They just care that we spend time with them personally to make sure that they’re happy when they leave, so they will come back to us again and again.”

You can read more about Fine Balance Imaging and how they find ways to help artists succeed in LexJet’s In Focus Newsletter (Vol. 4, No. 7) and in future posts on Studio LexJet. Or visit the Fine Balance Imaging website: www.fbistudios.com

Rock-Solid Art Exhibited on Lightweight Fabric

©Leslie D. Bartlett, http://www.followthegleam.com

By Kelly Price

Arrive, to look. An artist’s statement can’t get much simpler than this. And these three little words accurately express the philosophy of Leslie D. Bartlett, the accomplished landscape photographer who now creates painting-like photographs of the beautiful natural stone formations that can be found deep in the historic quarries near Cape Ann in Massachusetts.

The formations are all that remains of the region’s once-thriving granite industry. In the early 1800s, Cape Ann inhabitants started cutting the peninsula’s 450-million-year-old granite into blocks at stone for the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, parts of the Statue of Liberty, and thousands of streets worldwide. 

Now, using the natural light reflecting off the Atlantic Ocean, Bartlett captures the richly textured stone motifs that have been forged by extreme weather, salt air, and the colors bleeding out from the oxidizing granite.

He then prints these images onto Water-Resistant Satin Cloth from LexJet using ImagePrint RIP software with his Epson Stylus Pro inkjet printers. The prints look so dimensional and detailed that many viewers feel as if they can almost reach out and touch the textured surface of the rock. The lightweight, wrinkle-resistant fabric makes it easy and economical for Bartlett to transport the prints from one site to another and hang them in different-sized gallery spaces.

Multiple Exhibitions: After he showed a few of his rockscapes at the Park Ave. Armory in New York, Bartlett was invited to present a four-month solo exhibition at the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester, MA. Entitled Chapters on a Quarry Wall, the exhibit shown above contained 40 large images, including the series of five vertical panoramic prints (24-in. wide and 77-in. high) shown below. These prints show how the colors on the surface of a rock face changed in spring, summer, fall and winter.

These five images show the seasonal changes in the rockscapes from one spring to the next. ©Leslie D. Bartlett.

The Chapters on a Quarry Wall images were so extraordinary that Bartlett was invited to show some of them at the Soho/Photo gallery in New York in May, 2009. Now, he is preparing to present an updated, more extensive exhibition at the Vermont State Capitol this summer.

When the Chapters on a Quarry Wall images were shown at the Cape Ann Museum, Bartlett knew that many visitors to the Cape Ann Museum would like them, simply because they had lived near or grown up near the quarries where many of the images were shot. But he wasn’t sure if the images would evoke the same type of quiet contemplation when they were shown in New York. The Soho/Photo gallery in TriBeCa was established by a group of photojournalists from the NY Times and focuses more on extraordinary photography than local landmarks and history.

When visitors to the New York gallery reacted the same as people who saw the images in the Cape Ann museum, Bartlett realized that he had unearthed a real niche for himself as an artist.  Although his photographs aren’t actually paintings, he has since had them critiqued as if they were. This willingness to seek advice from artists has helped him bridge the gulf that sometimes separates those who use paint to create art from those who use cameras.

Bernard Chaet, the artist and well-known art professor at Yale University, wrote about Bartlett’s rockscapes in the show at the Cape Ann Historical Museum. Chaet commented “In the rocks of Cape Ann, he gives us a long extended trip of time and space. He must know that the viewer cannot scan his images; We must see his images slowly. His photographs hold amazing secrets.”

©Leslie D. Bartlett, http://www.followthegleam.com

Rebecca Reynolds, curator of the John and Margaret Manship Sculpture collection, noted that “Bartlett’s stonescapes are a sensitive tribute to the basic elements of earth, air, fire, and water. Demonstrating how careful documentation can become poetry, Bartlett records the world as he finds it, but with a frame of vision that intends to act upon the viewer and shift one’s perception.”

The power of each image comes partly from Bartlett’s willingness to watch and wait for that perfect gleam of light – often immediate light. He visits sites repeatedly to observe how the exposed surfaces of the stone warm and cool as the light shifts and the seasons change.

He meticulously edits each captured image to replicate the light, color, and details exactly as he saw them.  He uses the Nik Sharpener Pro plug-in to Photoshop to adjust how the large prints will appear from a viewing distance of 20 to 25 feet—the same distance from which he photographed the rockscapes.

To render the exquisite shadow and highlight detail when he prints the images, Bartlett uses ImagePrint RIP software with the correct printing profiles for the LexJet Water Resistant Satin Cloth. The images are then output one of the two pro-model inkjet printers he purchased from LexJet:  a 44-in. Epson Stylus Pro 9800 and 17-in. Epson Stylus Pro 3800.

When Bartlett first began specializing in natural stone photography six years ago, he printed exclusively on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper and framed the images behind glass. But framing quickly became impractical after he started shooting vertical panoramas and horizontal prints as large as 40 in. x 13 ft. He prints big because he wants viewers to experience the rockscapes in way that’s very real. The glass used in framing distracted from the dimensionality and distorted the look of his meticulously sharpened prints.

Byobu Folding Screen

Printing on LexJet’s Water-Resistant Satin Cloth now proves to be the perfect solution.  The inkjet-receptive material produces the rich detail his images demand and is ultra-easy to transport and install. Plus, there are no insurance and liability issues related to shipping the prints from one locale to another.

Bartlett is so pleased with the versatility of LexJet’s Water-Resistant Satin Cloth that he is using it to convert his rockscape artwork into a new line of byobu folding screens, and privacy screens for indoor and outdoor use. To learn more how to print superb photographic and art prints, you can contact Leslie Bartlett for a personalized printing consultation.

To learn more about the exceptional versatility of LexJet’s Water-Resistant Satin Cloth, call me or one of my associates at LexJet at 888-873-7553. We can recommend a variety of ways to turn your images into products that can help you expand your photography business.

Easy-to-Ship Photo Exhibition Honors World War I Veterans

An exhibition of extra-large photographs can be a powerful way to tell  important stories. Large, professionally produced photographs have the power to make people stop, look, and think. 

When a photo exhibition is particularly well done, it’s wonderful when people in other cities can also enjoy the experience of viewing it.  But the costs of shipping large, framed prints from city to city can quickly add up, making it impractical for photographers and non-profits or publicly funded groups to produce as many traveling exhibitions as they might like.    

An article entitled Education in Fabric in  Vol. 4,  No. 5 of LexJet’s In Focus newsletter describes how photographer David DeJonge used an inkjet-printable fabric from LexJet to create a lightweight, easy-to-ship photo exhibition that honors veterans of of World War I. The exhibit is scheduled to visit 1,000 school districts and be seen by as many as 2.5 million schoolchildren, teachers, and other viewers.

Photo banner honoring James Russell Coffey

DeJonge, who owns DeJonge Studio in Grand Rapids, Mich., started photographing the remaining veterans from World War I about 14 years ago as part of his Faces of Five Wars series, which depicts veterans from World War I through Desert Storm.  The initial project led to vast amounts of press coverage, an exhibit in the Pentagon, and the drive to build a national WWI monument. 

When the first exhibition was shown at Creekwood Middle School in Humble, Texas, DeJonge’s images were printed and framed. All together, the images weighed around 400 pounds and cost nearly $1,000 to ship round-trip.

The first exhibit was viewed by 3,000 people and raised more than $14,000 for the restoration and expansion of the World War I Memorial on the National Mall. Still, DeJonge realized that packing and shipping the framed prints to multiple sites would not only be expensive but cumbersome.

After DeJonge started researching ways to make it more feasible to present his photo exhibition at multiple sites, he chose LexJet Water Resistant Satin Cloth. He used the fabric to print 14 large banners that showcase the images and life stories of 13 Allied World War I veterans, including 108-year-old Frank W. Buckles who is the last living American veteran of World War I.

DeJonge printed the banners on his 44-in. Epson Stylus Pro 9880 wide-format inkjet printer. Each banner is 42 in. x 6-1/2 ft.  By presenting the photos as fabric banners instead of framed prints, DeJonge eliminated about 330 pounds from the shipping weight of the exhibition.  Plus, the banners can be rolled up for shipping, making it easy to transport the exhibition from school to school within the 1,000 school districts the tour is scheduled to visit.

As for the quality of the image reproduction, DeJonge says he was very pleased with LexJet’s Water Resistant Satin Cloth: “It provides good flesh tones and smooth transitions between the shadow and highlight areas.” He also praised the clarity of the text reproduction on each banner, adding that, “I have never experienced anything like it with a similar printable material.” 

To read the full story in LexJet’s In Focus newsletter, click here.  

To learn more about how to use Water-Resistant Satin Cloth to produce easy-to-hang photo banners, contact a LexJet account specialist at 888-873-7553. 

For other creative ideas for using inkjet-printable materials and pro-model wide-format inkjet printers, subscribe to LexJet’s In Focus newsletter.