A recent article from The New York Times has struck a chord with us. One man has dedicated his life to an art that can sometimes be viewed as a commodity in today’s culture, paper. Meet papermaker, Timothy Barrett. He “has dedicated his life to unlocking the mysteries of paper, which he regards as both the elemental stuff of civilization and an endangered species in digital culture.” Today, Barrett creates his own exquisite paper each year—a handmade homage to days before the modern paper machine. Barrett explains the history of paper and its importance to civilization as a whole in the article, “Can a Papermaker Help to Save Civilization?” Read this, and then ask yourself: What does paper mean to you?

Photo by Samatha Contis for the The New York Times    New York Times Article author: Mark Levine

Published on Februaray 17, 2012

Allow us to introduce you to a local Dallas design and printing talent. Meet Brian Cvejanovich, an artist that creates original art via hand-cut stencils and an incredibly unique method of spray paint “screen printing”. Brian began using this method in college as a result of not having the appropriate space required to screen-print at home. His special hand-crafted printing process is highly detailed and gives each piece a unique look, as spray paint tends to “have a mind of its own”.

Brian recently created a poster for the Granada Theater performance of Robert Randolph and the Family Band on Neenah, Classic Crest 100 Cover, Epic Black, Stipple. His designs begin on the sketch pad and are then transferred into Adobe Illustrator. Once the design is ready to implement, Brian enlarges and prints the design on poster-sized paper before beginning the cutting process. With X-acto in hand, he cuts each element of the poster, including teeny, tiny type; forming a stencil. Because this particular poster required multiple colors, a separate stencil was cut for each layer of color. Next is “printing”. Brian sprays each poster one color layer at a time. The process is time consuming, however, the results are certainly impressive.

We commissioned Brian to create a one-of-a-kind art print for Olmsted-Kirk Paper also on Classic Crest, Epic Black, Stipple. It features the likeness of the man in black, Johnny Cash. We have a limited quantity available—contact your O-K Specifications Representative for yours today!