The Foundry Art Centre is excited to announce its 3rd Annual Block Party. Featuring a full day of family fun, this event is free and open to the public – interactive art projects, print demonstrations, live music, heavy machinery, a print fair, tattooing, food and drinks, axe throwing, and the main event – STEAMROLLER PRINTING!

The Block Party encapsulates the Foundry’s mission to engage the community through the arts. Not only that, but it does it in a BIG way, centering on a unique and over-the-top method of printmaking using steamrollers. Large-scale images created by regional artists, art collectives, and print shops are carved on five by three foot woodblocks. Grafik House USA’s team of inkers then roll ink onto these blocks, canvas is laid on top, and then the whole thing is run over with a steamroller, squishing the ink from the woodblock to the canvas. These fantastic completed prints are then taken to the Foundry’s Grand Hall to dry on display.

This year’s woodblock artists include JT Felix, Nina Marlotte, Emily Mohler, Liz Hermanson, Samantha Mendoza, Emmett Merrill, Neeka Allsup, Cullen Miller, Rachel Lebo, Mike Pennekamp, Alexis Kurtzman, Zack Smithey, Central Print, Webster University Art Department, and Brian Lathan.

While there are many steamroller printing events throughout the country, the Foundry’s Block Party is quickly growing to become one of the biggest in the nation!

In addition to the steamroller prints, the Foundry’s Block Party will feature live music, interactive art demonstrations by Craft Alliance, Central Print, and Zack Smithey, axe throwing with Hatchet Haus, food trucks and drink tents, and an interactive heavy machinery and vehicle display. Indoors, visitors are invited to shop the print fair by area makers and printers, get a steamroller-inspired flash tattoo by Frenchtown Tattoo Company, experience the Off the Block print exhibition in the Main Galleries, and visit with studio artists on the Mezzanine.

The Foundry would like to thank our growing list of sponsors and partners at Speedball, Grafik House USA, Zack Smithey, Hatchet House, St. Charles Police Department, St. Charles Fire Department, and St. Charles Public Works for their invaluable support.

For more information, please visit us at foundryartcentre.org, or email Jessica Mannisi at jmannisi@foundryartcentre.org.

About the Foundry Art Centre
As a vibrant home to the arts, the Foundry Art Centre raises awareness and appreciation of the arts throughout the region. Alive with activity, the Centre’s programming reinforces the importance of the arts and helps ensure that arts and culture remain vital. Artists, patrons, young people and the community at large continually find new ways to interact at this unique facility.