Drive-By Press cruises onto campus

In a world where art can be made in Photoshop and pictures can be sent across the Internet instantly, three University of Wisconsin grad school alumni are still doing it the old-fashioned way. Lugging a several-hundred-pound printing press across the country in a van, the three printers will print T-shirts for the public, either with the prints the group has brought along or prints the public can bring. They also lecture on the art and history of printmaking. "They always joke that they are the first of their kind, and I think they may also be the last of their kind," said Casey Schroeter, head of Art Agency, the student organization responsible for bringing Drive-By Press to campus. It takes a unique person to want to drive across the country and make prints for people, but Greg Nanney, one member of the trio, said there is nothing he would rather do. "I grew up in a house without art," Nanney said. "I didn't want other people to end up the same way." "Printmaking is all about Democracy", said UW-Green Bay Associate Professor of Communication and the Arts Christine Style. "It is art for the people". Nanney shares this ideology. "I love printmaking because of the idea of the multiple," Nanney said. "I can make a print and put it on hundreds of shirts, so people all over the country can experience the same art. Art shouldn't be about standing in a museum feeling alienated because you don't understand the piece or you can't afford it. No one should have to feel that way." Nanney is very passionate about his cause and he puts that same focus into his lectures. "My favorite part about having the group come here is the energy that they have," Style said. "We always have a lot of fun and learn a lot when they come around. I found out about them about three years ago, and this is their third time visiting here, it's always great to have them come here." The group is always a hit with students and the public, partially because of the amount of amazing stories they have due to being on the road all the time. "I've been lost in 100 different American cities," Nanney said. Some of the group's adventures include the time they were pulled over by police. The officers were totally mystified at first as to why someone would be carrying a printing press in their van. "They were absolutely positive that we had to be trafficking drugs or doing some other illegal act," Nanney said. "So I pulled out the press and showed them exactly how we do everything, and by the end of the whole ordeal I think I had won them over." The group has also been a part of several collaborative efforts with other traveling artists, including a group of mobile glass blowers. "Sometimes we get people asking us if they can ride with us in the van, and we always have to turn them down because there isn't enough space," Nanney said. Drive-By Press has also been touring with a lot of bands as of late, making prints for the bands they tour with and selling them at shows. "It was crazy the first time we went on tour," Nanney said. "We would ride on the bands' tour busses and we would have roadies running around at shows, setting up all of our stuff for us." Drive-By Press fits perfectly with Art Agency's goal of teaching art students about how to use what they've learned to make a living. "Here you have two guys who took what they learned in school and took it out into the real world and are making a living doing what they love," Schroeter said. "We want our art students to be able to do the same." Students are encouraged to join Art Agency, which will begin meeting after OrgSmorg in the Studio Arts building.