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Artists go on the road for annual Roll Out
Using a steamroller to create giant prints is well established. The Garrison Art Center held an event in 2014, and on Sunday (Oct. 18), the fourth annual Roll Out Beacon will take place at The Yard, where printmakers create large-scale works with heavy machinery otherwise used to flatten pavement.
The five-hour celebration is the culmination of a wood-carving marathon held in individual studios and classrooms in and around Beacon to prepare for the event. Artists applied months ago to bring large-scale panels to be inked and pancaked.
The Yard lends its forklift. Beacon High School alums, like Rosa Nunez, will provide printing instruction on smaller presses and oversee pop-up stations. Another amenity includes a spot for carving linoleum panels. Everything is free, thanks to an Arts Mid-Hudson grant.
Printing is in. The Garrison Art Center recently expanded its programming; a show at the Desmond-Fish Library in Garrison that includes pieces made at past Roll Outs continues through Oct. 25; and Lauren Adelman and Melissa Schlobohm, co-founders of Roll Out Beacon, just took down an exhibit of student work and other prints at Big Mouth Coffee on Main Street.
Adelman served as an artist-in-residence with fifth graders at J.V. Forrestal and South Avenue schools, who created composite "exquisite corpses" that will be completed at Roll Out and displayed in the halls. Middle schoolers create fish.
Schlobohm worked with young artists and teacher Sergio Pérez on expressionist self-portraits at Beacon High School, which acquired a press three years ago that gets rolled back and forth across Matteawan Road.
Plenty of quality work is produced. For the Boston Printmakers 2026 North American Biennial (up through Nov. 21 at Boston University), Esther Adler, curator for print and drawings at the Museum of Modern Art, chose work by Roll Out Beacon artists Adelman, Anette Millington and Jennifer Zwarich. Danielle McDonald, Polly Perkins and Judy Wolf also create intricate, sophisticated pieces.
"Printmakers are known to be a special breed of artists who build community and share tips and techniques," says Adelman. "We're total nerds and love talking about it."
Carving panels, where images are created in reverse, is labor-intensive and requires focus. Melissa Cooper, a painter and educator, attended Roll Out for the first time last year, which inspired her to wander from her comfort zone and carve a big block of wood with chisels.
"It brings me back to the intricate details I love exploring in charcoal drawings and the permanence and intention of using a ballpoint pen," she wrote on Instagram. "Surrounded by community, making art, watching my kids make art and seeing the incredible prints created by the artists, I mean, wow!"
Though people will converge on Roll Out Beacon from New York City, New Haven and upstate (there's a big scene in Troy), this is a local volunteer event at heart.
"Printing on this scale is collaborative and celebratory," says Adelman. "It's also kind of like magic. When pieces come off the steamroller, it's a big reveal on a massive scale with everyone watching, clapping and cheering. Even the fifth graders go nuts with the smaller presses. For any artist, that kind of reaction doesn't happen often."
The Yard is located at 4 Hanna Lane in Beacon. Roll Out Beacon begins at noon.
See instagram.com/roll_out_beacon.
Using a steamroller to create giant prints is well established. The Garrison Art Center held an event in 2014, and on Sunday (Oct. 18), the fourth annual Roll Out Beacon will take place at The Yard, where printmakers create large-scale works with heavy machinery otherwise used to flatten pavement.
The five-hour celebration is the culmination of a wood-carving marathon held in individual studios and classrooms in and around Beacon to prepare for the event. Artists applied months ago to bring large-scale panels to be inked and pancaked.
The Yard lends its forklift. Beacon High School alums, like Rosa Nunez, will provide printing instruction on smaller presses and oversee pop-up stations. Another amenity includes a spot for carving linoleum panels. Everything is free, thanks to an Arts Mid-Hudson grant.
Printing is in. The Garrison Art Center recently expanded its programming; a show at the Desmond-Fish Library in Garrison that includes pieces made at past Roll Outs continues through Oct. 25; and Lauren Adelman and Melissa Schlobohm, co-founders of Roll Out Beacon, just took down an exhibit of student work and other prints at Big Mouth Coffee on Main Street.
Adelman served as an artist-in-residence with fifth graders at J.V. Forrestal and South Avenue schools, who created composite "exquisite corpses" that will be completed at Roll Out and displayed in the halls. Middle schoolers create fish.
Schlobohm worked with young artists and teacher Sergio Pérez on expressionist self-portraits at Beacon High School, which acquired a press three years ago that gets rolled back and forth across Matteawan Road.
Plenty of quality work is produced. For the Boston Printmakers 2026 North American Biennial (up through Nov. 21 at Boston University), Esther Adler, curator for print and drawings at the Museum of Modern Art, chose work by Roll Out Beacon artists Adelman, Anette Millington and Jennifer Zwarich. Danielle McDonald, Polly Perkins and Judy Wolf also create intricate, sophisticated pieces.
"Printmakers are known to be a special breed of artists who build community and share tips and techniques," says Adelman. "We're total nerds and love talking about it."
Carving panels, where images are created in reverse, is labor-intensive and requires focus. Melissa Cooper, a painter and educator, attended Roll Out for the first time last year, which inspired her to wander from her comfort zone and carve a big block of wood with chisels.
"It brings me back to the intricate details I love exploring in charcoal drawings and the permanence and intention of using a ballpoint pen," she wrote on Instagram. "Surrounded by community, making art, watching my kids make art and seeing the incredible prints created by the artists, I mean, wow!"
Though people will converge on Roll Out Beacon from New York City, New Haven and upstate (there's a big scene in Troy), this is a local volunteer event at heart.
"Printing on this scale is collaborative and celebratory," says Adelman. "It's also kind of like magic. When pieces come off the steamroller, it's a big reveal on a massive scale with everyone watching, clapping and cheering. Even the fifth graders go nuts with the smaller presses. For any artist, that kind of reaction doesn't happen often."
The Yard is located at 4 Hanna Lane in Beacon. Roll Out Beacon begins at noon.
See instagram.com/roll_out_beacon.