Tamarind- AB UNO!

Meet Lorena Pradal, owner AB Uno print workshop in Buenos Aires

Lorena will be attending the Summer Aluminum Plate workshop, and helping us host A TASTE OF ARGENTINA. Her work is included in Telling Stories: Contemporary Prints from Argentina.  

Tell me a little about your background and connection with Tamarind.

I graduated from the National School of Fine Arts Prilidiano Pueyrredón, Buenos Aires, Argentina as a professor in printmaking in 2002, and a few years later began studying lithographic techniques. In 2004 I met Marjorie Devon though a mutual friend, and so began a beautiful friendship as we shared our passion for printmaking.

I´m very excited about my trip to New Mexico and the opportunity to work and study at Tamarind.  Bill Lagattuta, Tamarind´s Master Printer, is a legend in Argentina, and I had the opportunity last March to share my studio with him as he taught a workshop here in Buenos Aires. The class was attended by ten printers--eight from Argentina, one from Chile, and one from Brazil. The workshop was sponsored by the Embassy of the United States in Argentina, Graphic Chemical and Ink, and Takach Press Corp.

How did AB UNO get its start? And, what's behind the name?

I chose the name AB UNO from a book of alchemy andmysticism and it means "all things from one" which relates to the way in which printmaking allows the artist to print several images from the matrix.

In 2007 I started the workshop, AB UNO, and we have collaborated with several Argentine and foreign artists. We are dedicated to the formation, development, and production of graphic artwork for students and artists. We offer professional technical support to students and artists, meeting their individual requirements; experimenting with lithography, photolithography, etching, woodcut, and other techniques. These collaborative projects allow artists who are not primarily printmakers to work with a new vocabulary of image-making.

 What projects are you currently working on?

This summer (winter in North America) we worked on a project of artists' books, and I had eight artists who had never worked in printmaking, only painting and drawing. This was an extreme experience! We did a lot of photolithography, creating tentwelvepage books. It was an exhausting experience, but in the end everybody was happy with the results.

What's in the future for AB UNO?

I am currently working on books for book collectors, and in the future I hope to make a connection between graphic artwork and writers. This project excites me, and creates the possibility of reorganizing the space and extending my field of work. Also, since we believe that it is important to reinforce technical specialization, I would like to train a group of students to work at the studio. Most art schools and universities in Argentina no longer teach lithography, so we could fill an important role teaching students who want to learn the lithographic technique and apply it in their artwork. 

Tamarind prints traveled to Buenos Aires for the exhibit "Narrando historias".  What impact did this exhibit have on you?
 The exhibition gave me the opportunity to get close to fine art prints that I had only seen in books.  Seeing the prints up close, I could see a rich repertory of techniques, and how the artist and the printer made the print. The exhibit also made it clear how a cultural exchange between the United States and Argentina can be so enriching to both,offering diverse landcapes and a promising future for graphic artwork.

 

http://tamarind.unm.edu/