Rebecca Loyche visits Keystone Editions, Berlin’s newest and most adventurous lithography practice…

Across from Maybachufer and on the northern banks of the Landwehrkanal, nestled quietly within one of the Hinterhöfe or back courtyards, is the Keystone Editions print shop.

There is something magical about walking into a light-filled shop, being greeted by the slight smell of pigmented inks and large, beast-like printing presses. Such smells and sights give the impression that one is witnessing the history of printed matter, starting from its early years.

The digital age has spoiled us with its immediacy, removing the simple pleasure of a print that has been drawn, transferred, developed, inked, and pulled entirely by hand. Yet, the resurrection of analog art, such as lithography, is acting as a counterpoise to technological advancement.

Lithography is a medium dating back more than two-hundred years. It utilizes water, oil, and a chemical-based resistant system to spread an image onto heavy, flat stone surfaces and plates. As one of the early workhorses of the graphic and mechanical age, it was once used to mass-produce a majority of printed pictorial material.

In the knowledgeable hands of Keystone Editions, the medium of lithography continues to thrive. Lithography plays a central role as break-out, respected and diverse art form. It keeps its relevance to the modern era alive, marking an old medium’s rebirth into a new age.

The founders and master printers of Keystone Editions, Sarah Dudley and Ulrich Kühle, opened their shop in Berlin in May of 2010. After traveling the world for close to ten years, Berlin offered the right combination of an international art scene, affordability, and a receptive art community to convince them to stay a while.

There were already other well-known, established print shops in Berlin, but Dudley and Kühle knew they could offer something unique and different. Since founding Keystone Editions, they use their printing expertise to work collaboratively with local artists, placing a distinct emphasis on changing the perception of lithography as a medium.

The pair are well-known in the printmaking community for “pushing the envelope” and seeking out non-traditional ways to shake up a medium that is deeply steeped in tradition. They have added sound elements to prints, used automated car equipment to draw on litho stones, and have plans to collaborate with some of Berlin’s slimy, little friends – the snails in the park.

Before starting their own business, the duo travelled the world, gaining experience in many different print shops. They quickly learned the ways in which printmaking can engage and interact with the local community. Their nomadic lifestyle brought them to Northern Ireland, Munich, Germany, the Kalahari Desert in Bostwana, Lowveld near the Kruger National Park in South Africa, and to the outback of Australia’s Northern territory.

By immersing themselves in local communities, they learned about the culture and the creative scene from an inside perspective, participating and observing local artists with whom they shared a home. From their travels and experiences abroad, they witnessed how printmaking enables and empowers people to tell their stories – stories of loss of a way of life due to the privatisation of public lands, for example, or stories about an inherent awareness of the earth that comes from living symbiotically with the land.

Dudley and Kühle spent time, during their travels, bringing the print shop to local artists, working with them, often in isolation in the countryside, desert, bush, and outback.  Working with the San artists in South Africa, Sarah Dudley explained this much more rural form of printmaking, commenting on the similarities of working with indigenous artists on stone from her experiencing with the San people in South Africa:

“It was an interesting experience for them to draw on the stones because where they are from in the Kalahari Desert, there are plenty of rock drawings, done by their ancestors. We took them on a tour of some of the best rock drawings in the Kruger National Park at the beginning of the project, so they could see how other tribes of their people made images.

None of them had ever made a drawing on a stone before, and the work they were doing was largely inspired by how their lives had changed since no longer being able to live nomadically – it made for an interesting juxtaposition of ancestral connections through the stone with portraying life for a “modern” San person.”

Working abroad helped the pair develop a vision for their print shop practice. While waiting for the final details of a new job that would bring them back to Australia, the duo had a lengthy lay-over in Berlin and discovered the city. For years, the couple had lovingly been rescuing equipment from closing print shops around Europe.

Kühle, originally from Germany, was beginning to acquire quite a collection of machines and tools at his parents’ home in Soest. When news came that they would not be traveling to Australia, it led them to the next logical step – perhaps now was the right time to set up their very own print shop.  They debated over the location, asking themselves which country, which city, they should choose.  They thought about North America, which would have meant a sort of home-coming for Sarah Dudley, originally from Montreal, Canada.  In the end, the pair decided on Berlin, a city rightly known as a Mecca for “creatives” of all types. As icing on the cake, they found the perfect space in Kreuzberg.

Not yet even two-years old, Keystone Editions has broken quite a bit of ground. Keystone Editions print shop has published the artwork of many local and international artists, hosted artist exchanges, and collaborated with local street artists. Many well-known artists, such as Jim Dine, Liliana Porter and William Kentridge, to name just a few, have sought out the service and expertise of Keystone. Keystone Editions houses a broad collection of works on paper for viewing and for sale.  To keep up to date on future events, sign up for the Keystone Editions mailing list. If you are interested in finding out more about fine art printmaking or wish to purchase original art prints, visit Keystone’s multi-language website.

In terms of the Slow Movement, lithography is the slowest medium in printmaking; it is a true labour of love, requiring patience and a will to nurture. In turn, lithography offers the fruitful reward of a beautiful, fine art print. This is the central goal of Keystone Editions and, like their namesake – the keystone, the print shop is the final stone that brings the whole image together.

Keystone Editions’ two-year anniversary celebration will be on June 9^th from 5-9pm and will feature an exhibition of the works that have been printed in the shop. In addition, there will be printmaking demonstrations, live music, a vernissage of neighboring Boehmers Produzentgalerie, and of course food and drinks for the celebration.

About The Author

Rebecca Loyche is an artist, curator and writer from New York. She first came to Berlin for a 2-week performance piece where she lived as Ingmar Bergman’s characters from his film Persona. Shortly after that she fell in love with a German in Reykjavik and got an invite from a South African to come study in Germany. Her artwork can be found at www.rebeccaloyche.com and in 2010 she was the curator and Co-Director of the one-year project MMX Open Art Venue. The newest project she’s working on Co-Verlag just opened the end of April.

 

 

Rebecca Loyche visits Keystone Editions, Berlin’s newest and most adventurous lithography practice…

Across from Maybachufer and on the northern banks of the Landwehrkanal, nestled quietly within one of the Hinterhöfe or back courtyards, is the Keystone Editions print shop.

There is something magical about walking into a light-filled shop, being greeted by the slight smell of pigmented inks and large, beast-like printing presses. Such smells and sights give the impression that one is witnessing the history of printed matter, starting from its early years.

The digital age has spoiled us with its immediacy, removing the simple pleasure of a print that has been drawn, transferred, developed, inked, and pulled entirely by hand. Yet, the resurrection of analog art, such as lithography, is acting as a counterpoise to technological advancement.

Lithography is a medium dating back more than two-hundred years. It utilizes water, oil, and a chemical-based resistant system to spread an image onto heavy, flat stone surfaces and plates. As one of the early workhorses of the graphic and mechanical age, it was once used to mass-produce a majority of printed pictorial material.

In the knowledgeable hands of Keystone Editions, the medium of lithography continues to thrive. Lithography plays a central role as break-out, respected and diverse art form. It keeps its relevance to the modern era alive, marking an old medium’s rebirth into a new age.

The founders and master printers of Keystone Editions, Sarah Dudley and Ulrich Kühle, opened their shop in Berlin in May of 2010. After traveling the world for close to ten years, Berlin offered the right combination of an international art scene, affordability, and a receptive art community to convince them to stay a while.

There were already other well-known, established print shops in Berlin, but Dudley and Kühle knew they could offer something unique and different. Since founding Keystone Editions, they use their printing expertise to work collaboratively with local artists, placing a distinct emphasis on changing the perception of lithography as a medium.

The pair are well-known in the printmaking community for “pushing the envelope” and seeking out non-traditional ways to shake up a medium that is deeply steeped in tradition. They have added sound elements to prints, used automated car equipment to draw on litho stones, and have plans to collaborate with some of Berlin’s slimy, little friends – the snails in the park.

Before starting their own business, the duo travelled the world, gaining experience in many different print shops. They quickly learned the ways in which printmaking can engage and interact with the local community. Their nomadic lifestyle brought them to Northern Ireland, Munich, Germany, the Kalahari Desert in Bostwana, Lowveld near the Kruger National Park in South Africa, and to the outback of Australia’s Northern territory.

By immersing themselves in local communities, they learned about the culture and the creative scene from an inside perspective, participating and observing local artists with whom they shared a home. From their travels and experiences abroad, they witnessed how printmaking enables and empowers people to tell their stories – stories of loss of a way of life due to the privatisation of public lands, for example, or stories about an inherent awareness of the earth that comes from living symbiotically with the land.

Dudley and Kühle spent time, during their travels, bringing the print shop to local artists, working with them, often in isolation in the countryside, desert, bush, and outback.  Working with the San artists in South Africa, Sarah Dudley explained this much more rural form of printmaking, commenting on the similarities of working with indigenous artists on stone from her experiencing with the San people in South Africa:

“It was an interesting experience for them to draw on the stones because where they are from in the Kalahari Desert, there are plenty of rock drawings, done by their ancestors. We took them on a tour of some of the best rock drawings in the Kruger National Park at the beginning of the project, so they could see how other tribes of their people made images.

None of them had ever made a drawing on a stone before, and the work they were doing was largely inspired by how their lives had changed since no longer being able to live nomadically – it made for an interesting juxtaposition of ancestral connections through the stone with portraying life for a “modern” San person.”

Working abroad helped the pair develop a vision for their print shop practice. While waiting for the final details of a new job that would bring them back to Australia, the duo had a lengthy lay-over in Berlin and discovered the city. For years, the couple had lovingly been rescuing equipment from closing print shops around Europe.

Kühle, originally from Germany, was beginning to acquire quite a collection of machines and tools at his parents’ home in Soest. When news came that they would not be traveling to Australia, it led them to the next logical step – perhaps now was the right time to set up their very own print shop.  They debated over the location, asking themselves which country, which city, they should choose.  They thought about North America, which would have meant a sort of home-coming for Sarah Dudley, originally from Montreal, Canada.  In the end, the pair decided on Berlin, a city rightly known as a Mecca for “creatives” of all types. As icing on the cake, they found the perfect space in Kreuzberg.

Not yet even two-years old, Keystone Editions has broken quite a bit of ground. Keystone Editions print shop has published the artwork of many local and international artists, hosted artist exchanges, and collaborated with local street artists. Many well-known artists, such as Jim Dine, Liliana Porter and William Kentridge, to name just a few, have sought out the service and expertise of Keystone. Keystone Editions houses a broad collection of works on paper for viewing and for sale.  To keep up to date on future events, sign up for the Keystone Editions mailing list. If you are interested in finding out more about fine art printmaking or wish to purchase original art prints, visit Keystone’s multi-language website.

In terms of the Slow Movement, lithography is the slowest medium in printmaking; it is a true labour of love, requiring patience and a will to nurture. In turn, lithography offers the fruitful reward of a beautiful, fine art print. This is the central goal of Keystone Editions and, like their namesake – the keystone, the print shop is the final stone that brings the whole image together.

Keystone Editions’ two-year anniversary celebration will be on June 9^th from 5-9pm and will feature an exhibition of the works that have been printed in the shop. In addition, there will be printmaking demonstrations, live music, a vernissage of neighboring Boehmers Produzentgalerie, and of course food and drinks for the celebration.

About The Author

Rebecca Loyche is an artist, curator and writer from New York. She first came to Berlin for a 2-week performance piece where she lived as Ingmar Bergman’s characters from his film Persona. Shortly after that she fell in love with a German in Reykjavik and got an invite from a South African to come study in Germany. Her artwork can be found at www.rebeccaloyche.com and in 2010 she was the curator and Co-Director of the one-year project MMX Open Art Venue. The newest project she’s working on Co-Verlag just opened the end of April.

 

Rebecca Loyche visits Keystone Editions, Berlin’s newest and most adventurous lithography practice…

Across from Maybachufer and on the northern banks of the Landwehrkanal, nestled quietly within one of the Hinterhöfe or back courtyards, is the Keystone Editions print shop.

There is something magical about walking into a light-filled shop, being greeted by the slight smell of pigmented inks and large, beast-like printing presses. Such smells and sights give the impression that one is witnessing the history of printed matter, starting from its early years.

The digital age has spoiled us with its immediacy, removing the simple pleasure of a print that has been drawn, transferred, developed, inked, and pulled entirely by hand. Yet, the resurrection of analog art, such as lithography, is acting as a counterpoise to technological advancement.

Lithography is a medium dating back more than two-hundred years. It utilizes water, oil, and a chemical-based resistant system to spread an image onto heavy, flat stone surfaces and plates. As one of the early workhorses of the graphic and mechanical age, it was once used to mass-produce a majority of printed pictorial material.

In the knowledgeable hands of Keystone Editions, the medium of lithography continues to thrive. Lithography plays a central role as break-out, respected and diverse art form. It keeps its relevance to the modern era alive, marking an old medium’s rebirth into a new age.

The founders and master printers of Keystone Editions, Sarah Dudley and Ulrich Kühle, opened their shop in Berlin in May of 2010. After traveling the world for close to ten years, Berlin offered the right combination of an international art scene, affordability, and a receptive art community to convince them to stay a while.

There were already other well-known, established print shops in Berlin, but Dudley and Kühle knew they could offer something unique and different. Since founding Keystone Editions, they use their printing expertise to work collaboratively with local artists, placing a distinct emphasis on changing the perception of lithography as a medium.

The pair are well-known in the printmaking community for “pushing the envelope” and seeking out non-traditional ways to shake up a medium that is deeply steeped in tradition. They have added sound elements to prints, used automated car equipment to draw on litho stones, and have plans to collaborate with some of Berlin’s slimy, little friends – the snails in the park.

Before starting their own business, the duo travelled the world, gaining experience in many different print shops. They quickly learned the ways in which printmaking can engage and interact with the local community. Their nomadic lifestyle brought them to Northern Ireland, Munich, Germany, the Kalahari Desert in Bostwana, Lowveld near the Kruger National Park in South Africa, and to the outback of Australia’s Northern territory.

By immersing themselves in local communities, they learned about the culture and the creative scene from an inside perspective, participating and observing local artists with whom they shared a home. From their travels and experiences abroad, they witnessed how printmaking enables and empowers people to tell their stories – stories of loss of a way of life due to the privatisation of public lands, for example, or stories about an inherent awareness of the earth that comes from living symbiotically with the land.

Dudley and Kühle spent time, during their travels, bringing the print shop to local artists, working with them, often in isolation in the countryside, desert, bush, and outback.  Working with the San artists in South Africa, Sarah Dudley explained this much more rural form of printmaking, commenting on the similarities of working with indigenous artists on stone from her experiencing with the San people in South Africa:

“It was an interesting experience for them to draw on the stones because where they are from in the Kalahari Desert, there are plenty of rock drawings, done by their ancestors. We took them on a tour of some of the best rock drawings in the Kruger National Park at the beginning of the project, so they could see how other tribes of their people made images.

None of them had ever made a drawing on a stone before, and the work they were doing was largely inspired by how their lives had changed since no longer being able to live nomadically – it made for an interesting juxtaposition of ancestral connections through the stone with portraying life for a “modern” San person.”

Working abroad helped the pair develop a vision for their print shop practice. While waiting for the final details of a new job that would bring them back to Australia, the duo had a lengthy lay-over in Berlin and discovered the city. For years, the couple had lovingly been rescuing equipment from closing print shops around Europe.

Kühle, originally from Germany, was beginning to acquire quite a collection of machines and tools at his parents’ home in Soest. When news came that they would not be traveling to Australia, it led them to the next logical step – perhaps now was the right time to set up their very own print shop.  They debated over the location, asking themselves which country, which city, they should choose.  They thought about North America, which would have meant a sort of home-coming for Sarah Dudley, originally from Montreal, Canada.  In the end, the pair decided on Berlin, a city rightly known as a Mecca for “creatives” of all types. As icing on the cake, they found the perfect space in Kreuzberg.

Not yet even two-years old, Keystone Editions has broken quite a bit of ground. Keystone Editions print shop has published the artwork of many local and international artists, hosted artist exchanges, and collaborated with local street artists. Many well-known artists, such as Jim Dine, Liliana Porter and William Kentridge, to name just a few, have sought out the service and expertise of Keystone. Keystone Editions houses a broad collection of works on paper for viewing and for sale.  To keep up to date on future events, sign up for the Keystone Editions mailing list. If you are interested in finding out more about fine art printmaking or wish to purchase original art prints, visit Keystone’s multi-language website.

In terms of the Slow Movement, lithography is the slowest medium in printmaking; it is a true labour of love, requiring patience and a will to nurture. In turn, lithography offers the fruitful reward of a beautiful, fine art print. This is the central goal of Keystone Editions and, like their namesake – the keystone, the print shop is the final stone that brings the whole image together.

Keystone Editions’ two-year anniversary celebration will be on June 9^th from 5-9pm and will feature an exhibition of the works that have been printed in the shop. In addition, there will be printmaking demonstrations, live music, a vernissage of neighboring Boehmers Produzentgalerie, and of course food and drinks for the celebration.

About The Author

Rebecca Loyche is an artist, curator and writer from New York. She first came to Berlin for a 2-week performance piece where she lived as Ingmar Bergman’s characters from his film Persona. Shortly after that she fell in love with a German in Reykjavik and got an invite from a South African to come study in Germany. Her artwork can be found at www.rebeccaloyche.com and in 2010 she was the curator and Co-Director of the one-year project MMX Open Art Venue. The newest project she’s working on Co-Verlag just opened the end of April.

 

Rebecca Loyche visits Keystone Editions, Berlin’s newest and most adventurous lithography practice…

Across from Maybachufer and on the northern banks of the Landwehrkanal, nestled quietly within one of the Hinterhöfe or back courtyards, is the Keystone Editions print shop.

There is something magical about walking into a light-filled shop, being greeted by the slight smell of pigmented inks and large, beast-like printing presses. Such smells and sights give the impression that one is witnessing the history of printed matter, starting from its early years.

The digital age has spoiled us with its immediacy, removing the simple pleasure of a print that has been drawn, transferred, developed, inked, and pulled entirely by hand. Yet, the resurrection of analog art, such as lithography, is acting as a counterpoise to technological advancement.

Lithography is a medium dating back more than two-hundred years. It utilizes water, oil, and a chemical-based resistant system to spread an image onto heavy, flat stone surfaces and plates. As one of the early workhorses of the graphic and mechanical age, it was once used to mass-produce a majority of printed pictorial material.

In the knowledgeable hands of Keystone Editions, the medium of lithography continues to thrive. Lithography plays a central role as break-out, respected and diverse art form. It keeps its relevance to the modern era alive, marking an old medium’s rebirth into a new age.

The founders and master printers of Keystone Editions, Sarah Dudley and Ulrich Kühle, opened their shop in Berlin in May of 2010. After traveling the world for close to ten years, Berlin offered the right combination of an international art scene, affordability, and a receptive art community to convince them to stay a while.

There were already other well-known, established print shops in Berlin, but Dudley and Kühle knew they could offer something unique and different. Since founding Keystone Editions, they use their printing expertise to work collaboratively with local artists, placing a distinct emphasis on changing the perception of lithography as a medium.

The pair are well-known in the printmaking community for “pushing the envelope” and seeking out non-traditional ways to shake up a medium that is deeply steeped in tradition. They have added sound elements to prints, used automated car equipment to draw on litho stones, and have plans to collaborate with some of Berlin’s slimy, little friends – the snails in the park.

Before starting their own business, the duo travelled the world, gaining experience in many different print shops. They quickly learned the ways in which printmaking can engage and interact with the local community. Their nomadic lifestyle brought them to Northern Ireland, Munich, Germany, the Kalahari Desert in Bostwana, Lowveld near the Kruger National Park in South Africa, and to the outback of Australia’s Northern territory.

By immersing themselves in local communities, they learned about the culture and the creative scene from an inside perspective, participating and observing local artists with whom they shared a home. From their travels and experiences abroad, they witnessed how printmaking enables and empowers people to tell their stories – stories of loss of a way of life due to the privatisation of public lands, for example, or stories about an inherent awareness of the earth that comes from living symbiotically with the land.

Dudley and Kühle spent time, during their travels, bringing the print shop to local artists, working with them, often in isolation in the countryside, desert, bush, and outback.  Working with the San artists in South Africa, Sarah Dudley explained this much more rural form of printmaking, commenting on the similarities of working with indigenous artists on stone from her experiencing with the San people in South Africa:

“It was an interesting experience for them to draw on the stones because where they are from in the Kalahari Desert, there are plenty of rock drawings, done by their ancestors. We took them on a tour of some of the best rock drawings in the Kruger National Park at the beginning of the project, so they could see how other tribes of their people made images.

None of them had ever made a drawing on a stone before, and the work they were doing was largely inspired by how their lives had changed since no longer being able to live nomadically – it made for an interesting juxtaposition of ancestral connections through the stone with portraying life for a “modern” San person.”

Working abroad helped the pair develop a vision for their print shop practice. While waiting for the final details of a new job that would bring them back to Australia, the duo had a lengthy lay-over in Berlin and discovered the city. For years, the couple had lovingly been rescuing equipment from closing print shops around Europe.

Kühle, originally from Germany, was beginning to acquire quite a collection of machines and tools at his parents’ home in Soest. When news came that they would not be traveling to Australia, it led them to the next logical step – perhaps now was the right time to set up their very own print shop.  They debated over the location, asking themselves which country, which city, they should choose.  They thought about North America, which would have meant a sort of home-coming for Sarah Dudley, originally from Montreal, Canada.  In the end, the pair decided on Berlin, a city rightly known as a Mecca for “creatives” of all types. As icing on the cake, they found the perfect space in Kreuzberg.

Not yet even two-years old, Keystone Editions has broken quite a bit of ground. Keystone Editions print shop has published the artwork of many local and international artists, hosted artist exchanges, and collaborated with local street artists. Many well-known artists, such as Jim Dine, Liliana Porter and William Kentridge, to name just a few, have sought out the service and expertise of Keystone. Keystone Editions houses a broad collection of works on paper for viewing and for sale.  To keep up to date on future events, sign up for the Keystone Editions mailing list. If you are interested in finding out more about fine art printmaking or wish to purchase original art prints, visit Keystone’s multi-language website.

In terms of the Slow Movement, lithography is the slowest medium in printmaking; it is a true labour of love, requiring patience and a will to nurture. In turn, lithography offers the fruitful reward of a beautiful, fine art print. This is the central goal of Keystone Editions and, like their namesake – the keystone, the print shop is the final stone that brings the whole image together.

Keystone Editions’ two-year anniversary celebration will be on June 9^th from 5-9pm and will feature an exhibition of the works that have been printed in the shop. In addition, there will be printmaking demonstrations, live music, a vernissage of neighboring Boehmers Produzentgalerie, and of course food and drinks for the celebration.

About The Author

Rebecca Loyche is an artist, curator and writer from New York. She first came to Berlin for a 2-week performance piece where she lived as Ingmar Bergman’s characters from his film Persona. Shortly after that she fell in love with a German in Reykjavik and got an invite from a South African to come study in Germany. Her artwork can be found at www.rebeccaloyche.com and in 2010 she was the curator and Co-Director of the one-year project MMX Open Art Venue. The newest project she’s working on Co-Verlag just opened the end of April.

 

Rebecca Loyche visits Keystone Editions, Berlin’s newest and most adventurous lithography practice…

Across from Maybachufer and on the northern banks of the Landwehrkanal, nestled quietly within one of the Hinterhöfe or back courtyards, is the Keystone Editions print shop.  There is something magical about walking into a light-filled shop, being greeted by the slight smell of pigmented inks and large, beast-like printing presses. Such smells and sights give the impression that one is witnessing the history of printed matter, starting from its early years.

The digital age has spoiled us with its immediacy, removing the simple pleasure of a print that has been drawn, transferred, developed, inked, and pulled entirely by hand. Yet, the resurrection of analog art, such as lithography, is acting as a counterpoise to technological advancement.

Lithography is a medium dating back more than two-hundred years. It utilizes water, oil, and a chemical-based resistant system to spread an image onto heavy, flat stone surfaces and plates. As one of the early workhorses of the graphic and mechanical age, it was once used to mass-produce a majority of printed pictorial material.

In the knowledgeable hands of Keystone Editions, the medium of lithography continues to thrive. Lithography plays a central role as break-out, respected and diverse art form. It keeps its relevance to the modern era alive, marking an old medium’s rebirth into a new age.

The founders and master printers of Keystone Editions, Sarah Dudley and Ulrich Kühle, opened their shop in Berlin in May of 2010. After traveling the world for close to ten years, Berlin offered the right combination of an international art scene, affordability, and a receptive art community to convince them to stay a while.

There were already other well-known, established print shops in Berlin, but Dudley and Kühle knew they could offer something unique and different. Since founding Keystone Editions, they use their printing expertise to work collaboratively with local artists, placing a distinct emphasis on changing the perception of lithography as a medium. The pair are well-known in the printmaking community for “pushing the envelope” and seeking out non-traditional ways to shake up a medium that is deeply steeped in tradition. They have added sound elements to prints, used automated car equipment to draw on litho stones, and have plans to collaborate with some of Berlin’s slimy, little friends – the snails in the park.

Before starting their own business, the duo travelled the world, gaining experience in many different print shops. They quickly learned the ways in which printmaking can engage and interact with the local community. Their nomadic lifestyle brought them to Northern Ireland, Munich, Germany, the Kalahari Desert in Bostwana, Lowveld near the Kruger National Park in South Africa, and to the outback of Australia’s Northern territory.

By immersing themselves in local communities, they learned about the culture and the creative scene from an inside perspective, participating and observing local artists with whom they shared a home. From their travels and experiences abroad, they witnessed how printmaking enables and empowers people to tell their stories – stories of loss of a way of life due to the privatisation of public lands, for example, or stories about an inherent awareness of the earth that comes from living symbiotically with the land.

Dudley and Kühle spent time, during their travels, bringing the print shop to local artists, working with them, often in isolation in the countryside, desert, bush, and outback.  Working with the San artists in South Africa, Sarah Dudley explained this much more rural form of printmaking, commenting on the similarities of working with indigenous artists on stone from her experiencing with the San people in South Africa:

“It was an interesting experience for them to draw on the stones because where they are from in the Kalahari Desert, there are plenty of rock drawings, done by their ancestors. We took them on a tour of some of the best rock drawings in the Kruger National Park at the beginning of the project, so they could see how other tribes of their people made images.

None of them had ever made a drawing on a stone before, and the work they were doing was largely inspired by how their lives had changed since no longer being able to live nomadically – it made for an interesting juxtaposition of ancestral connections through the stone with portraying life for a “modern” San person.”

Working abroad helped the pair develop a vision for their print shop practice. While waiting for the final details of a new job that would bring them back to Australia, the duo had a lengthy lay-over in Berlin and discovered the city. For years, the couple had lovingly been rescuing equipment from closing print shops around Europe.

Kühle, originally from Germany, was beginning to acquire quite a collection of machines and tools at his parents’ home in Soest. When news came that they would not be traveling to Australia, it led them to the next logical step – perhaps now was the right time to set up their very own print shop.  They debated over the location, asking themselves which country, which city, they should choose.  They thought about North America, which would have meant a sort of home-coming for Sarah Dudley, originally from Montreal, Canada.  In the end, the pair decided on Berlin, a city rightly known as a Mecca for “creatives” of all types. As icing on the cake, they found the perfect space in Kreuzberg.

Not yet even two-years old, Keystone Editions has broken quite a bit of ground. Keystone Editions print shop has published the artwork of many local and international artists, hosted artist exchanges, and collaborated with local street artists. Many well-known artists, such as Jim Dine, Liliana Porter and William Kentridge, to name just a few, have sought out the service and expertise of Keystone. Keystone Editions houses a broad collection of works on paper for viewing and for sale.  To keep up to date on future events, sign up for the Keystone Editions mailing list. If you are interested in finding out more about fine art printmaking or wish to purchase original art prints, visit Keystone’s multi-language website.

In terms of the Slow Movement, lithography is the slowest medium in printmaking; it is a true labour of love, requiring patience and a will to nurture. In turn, lithography offers the fruitful reward of a beautiful, fine art print. This is the central goal of Keystone Editions and, like their namesake – the keystone, the print shop is the final stone that brings the whole image together.

Keystone Editions’ two-year anniversary celebration will be on June 9^th from 5-9pm and will feature an exhibition of the works that have been printed in the shop. In addition, there will be printmaking demonstrations, live music, a vernissage of neighboring Boehmers Produzentgalerie, and of course food and drinks for the celebration.

About The Author

Rebecca Loyche is an artist, curator and writer from New York. She first came to Berlin for a 2-week performance piece where she lived as Ingmar Bergman’s characters from his film Persona. Shortly after that she fell in love with a German in Reykjavik and got an invite from a South African to come study in Germany. Her artwork can be found at www.rebeccaloyche.com and in 2010 she was the curator and Co-Director of the one-year project MMX Open Art Venue. The newest project she’s working on Co-Verlag just opened the end of April.

 

Rebecca Loyche visits Keystone Editions, Berlin’s newest and most adventurous lithography practices…

Across from Maybachufer and on the northern banks of the Landwehrkanal, nestled quietly within one of the Hinterhöfe or back courtyards, is the Keystone Editions print shop.  There is something magical about walking into a light-filled shop, being greeted by the slight smell of pigmented inks and large, beast-like printing presses. Such smells and sights give the impression that one is witnessing the history of printed matter, starting from its early years.

The digital age has spoiled us with its immediacy, removing the simple pleasure of a print that has been drawn, transferred, developed, inked, and pulled entirely by hand. Yet, the resurrection of analog art, such as lithography, is acting as a counterpoise to technological advancement.

Lithography is a medium dating back more than two-hundred years. It utilizes water, oil, and a chemical-based resistant system to spread an image onto heavy, flat stone surfaces and plates. As one of the early workhorses of the graphic and mechanical age, it was once used to mass-produce a majority of printed pictorial material.

In the knowledgeable hands of Keystone Editions, the medium of lithography continues to thrive. Lithography plays a central role as break-out, respected and diverse art form. It keeps its relevance to the modern era alive, marking an old medium’s rebirth into a new age.

The founders and master printers of Keystone Editions, Sarah Dudley and Ulrich Kühle, opened their shop in Berlin in May of 2010. After traveling the world for close to ten years, Berlin offered the right combination of an international art scene, affordability, and a receptive art community to convince them to stay a while.

There were already other well-known, established print shops in Berlin, but Dudley and Kühle knew they could offer something unique and different. Since founding Keystone Editions, they use their printing expertise to work collaboratively with local artists, placing a distinct emphasis on changing the perception of lithography as a medium. The pair are well-known in the printmaking community for “pushing the envelope” and seeking out non-traditional ways to shake up a medium that is deeply steeped in tradition. They have added sound elements to prints, used automated car equipment to draw on litho stones, and have plans to collaborate with some of Berlin’s slimy, little friends – the snails in the park.

Before starting their own business, the duo travelled the world, gaining experience in many different print shops. They quickly learned the ways in which printmaking can engage and interact with the local community. Their nomadic lifestyle brought them to Northern Ireland, Munich, Germany, the Kalahari Desert in Bostwana, Lowveld near the Kruger National Park in South Africa, and to the outback of Australia’s Northern territory.

By immersing themselves in local communities, they learned about the culture and the creative scene from an inside perspective, participating and observing local artists with whom they shared a home. From their travels and experiences abroad, they witnessed how printmaking enables and empowers people to tell their stories – stories of loss of a way of life due to the privatisation of public lands, for example, or stories about an inherent awareness of the earth that comes from living symbiotically with the land.

Dudley and Kühle spent time, during their travels, bringing the print shop to local artists, working with them, often in isolation in the countryside, desert, bush, and outback.  Working with the San artists in South Africa, Sarah Dudley explained this much more rural form of printmaking, commenting on the similarities of working with indigenous artists on stone from her experiencing with the San people in South Africa:

“It was an interesting experience for them to draw on the stones because where they are from in the Kalahari Desert, there are plenty of rock drawings, done by their ancestors. We took them on a tour of some of the best rock drawings in the Kruger National Park at the beginning of the project, so they could see how other tribes of their people made images.

None of them had ever made a drawing on a stone before, and the work they were doing was largely inspired by how their lives had changed since no longer being able to live nomadically – it made for an interesting juxtaposition of ancestral connections through the stone with portraying life for a “modern” San person.”

Working abroad helped the pair develop a vision for their print shop practice. While waiting for the final details of a new job that would bring them back to Australia, the duo had a lengthy lay-over in Berlin and discovered the city. For years, the couple had lovingly been rescuing equipment from closing print shops around Europe.

Kühle, originally from Germany, was beginning to acquire quite a collection of machines and tools at his parents’ home in Soest. When news came that they would not be traveling to Australia, it led them to the next logical step – perhaps now was the right time to set up their very own print shop.  They debated over the location, asking themselves which country, which city, they should choose.  They thought about North America, which would have meant a sort of home-coming for Sarah Dudley, originally from Montreal, Canada.  In the end, the pair decided on Berlin, a city rightly known as a Mecca for “creatives” of all types. As icing on the cake, they found the perfect space in Kreuzberg.

Not yet even two-years old, Keystone Editions has broken quite a bit of ground. Keystone Editions print shop has published the artwork of many local and international artists, hosted artist exchanges, and collaborated with local street artists. Many well-known artists, such as Jim Dine, Liliana Porter and William Kentridge, to name just a few, have sought out the service and expertise of Keystone. Keystone Editions houses a broad collection of works on paper for viewing and for sale.  To keep up to date on future events, sign up for the Keystone Editions mailing list. If you are interested in finding out more about fine art printmaking or wish to purchase original art prints, visit Keystone’s multi-language website.

In terms of the Slow Movement, lithography is the slowest medium in printmaking; it is a true labour of love, requiring patience and a will to nurture. In turn, lithography offers the fruitful reward of a beautiful, fine art print. This is the central goal of Keystone Editions and, like their namesake – the keystone, the print shop is the final stone that brings the whole image together.

Keystone Editions’ two-year anniversary celebration will be on June 9^th from 5-9pm and will feature an exhibition of the works that have been printed in the shop. In addition, there will be printmaking demonstrations, live music, a vernissage of neighboring Boehmers Produzentgalerie, and of course food and drinks for the celebration.