Imperfect Pixels: Inspiring Students with the Art of Screen Printing
City College Art Gallery's opening reception held a printmaking class for visitors.
When guests walk into the City College Art Gallery, their eyes are met with screen prints made by faculty and visual artist Anthony Ryan.
An opening reception was held on March 19 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Amongst the guests were students of Ryan’s screen printing classes.
Screen printing itself is a popular art medium with close to 10 techniques. Common techniques used to make prints are spot color, plastisol and CMYK process.
(L-R) Belinda Hahn is using a screen printing machine to print their image onto a stencil. Janice Tauscher washes her screen printing stencil. March 20, 2026. (Alejandra Cardenas/ The Guardsman)
Ryan’s students were inspired by the collection of work up in the gallery. “There are a couple that I really liked from his work that make me want to try their lino cut," said City College student Lisa Bishop.
Ryan has memories of using his mom's Macintosh in high school. He first discovered the MacPaint simulator on the Internet Archive, then later an iPad version of the application. Ryan made use of MacPaint tool limitations to create the illustrations for the prints.
“The constraints the program imposes: the limited tool menu, the pattern palettes, and the flat, two-dimensional space,” he said, allowed him to create shapes, lines, and patterns for the carvings in his woodblock. Each art piece on display incorporates abstract shapes and patterns. The patterns are used to fill the spaces within the illustration.
It is often difficult to create carvings for certain woodcuts. Patterns with grids were more challenging for him to carve.
“Pool Cut” was the print that caught everyone's attention. It was created by mirroring the same carving on the paper with a different paint color. Ryan had to be spot on with making sure the markings of the print were aligned without any overlapping of the paint.
The new studio in the STEAM Building gives students access to plenty of material to create their screenprints. The students and faculty demand the improvement of accessibility and extended time in the studio.
This summer, Ryan will be teaching beginning, intermediate and advanced screen printing classes. All classes will be taught at the same time on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 1:10 -5:45 p.m. Ryan Anthony says his screen printing classes are in high demand and fill up quickly. The exhibition will be on display until April 23.
