Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/141325
the new MEET FOUR WHO ARE CHANGING THE GAME OF STYLE IN HOUSTON. FROM STEAMROLLIN' CONTEMPORARY PRINTMAKING AND DRAMATIZING THE FABLED SHAKESPEARE AND COMPANY BOOKSTORE IN PARIS TO A PERUVIAN-BORN DESIGNER WHO'S NOW COLLABORATING WITH ANNA SUI AND THE POSTER KING FAVORED BY RADIOHEAD, WE BRING YOU A QUARTET OF CREATIVES YOU NEED TO KNOW. CATHERINE D. ANSPON AND STEVEN HEMPEL REPORT. PORTRAITS JACK THOMPSON. ART DIRECTION MICHELL AVIÑA. HAIR AND MAKEUP LINETTE RIVAS CARLOS HERNANDEZ CO-OWNER AND CO-PROPRIETOR, BURNING BONES PRESS; GRAPHICS KING; MAN ON A (PRINTMAKING) MISSION. T o say Carlos Hernandez is print obsessed is an outrageous understatement. He and colleague/biz partner/master printer Patrick Masterson propel the fine art of printmaking forward from their Houston Heights HQ, Burning Bones Press. Hernandez's background is rich, finely etched with the depth of the woodblock carvings that give his graphics business, Carlos Hernandez Prints, its appeal as a Mecca for branding. His dramatic sensibility with a side of edge has been tapped by Australian vintner McLaren Vale Winemakers, hometown brewer Saint Arnold, the Houston Zoo for numerous campaigns and Goode Company for its momentous 35th anniversary. Perhaps his most visible work graces the Montrose dining spots Hay Merchant (he devised the artistic scheme for the interior) and Underbelly (with printmaking colleagues Masterson and Cathie Kayser; the trio has crafted three art installations to date starring screenprints, woodcuts and copper etchings). And set to open possibly as early as July is a fantastic print-based installation for new downtown watering hole The Pastry War. "WITH EACH STEP IN THE PROCESS, YOU ARE GRADUALLY ABLE TO SEE THE IMAGE COME TO LIFE … THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT THE PHYSICALITY AND REPETITION OF THE PROCESS THAT I FIND FULFILLING." — CARLOS HERNANDEZ None of this counts the hundreds of concert posters Hernandez has designed for Live Nation, House of Blues and Continental Club, for headliners from Wanda Jackson and Arcade Fire to Florence + the Machine. Most recently, he's been named the official visual talent for the 2013 Austin City Limits Music Festival. Academia and institutions also embrace Hernandez's 20-year printmaking expertise: He's a guest lecturer in Rice University's art department and holds the first-ever fellowship at the Museum of Printing History (through 2013). The Lubbock native/Texas Tech grad is also a proponent of taking printmaking to the streets — literally. Each year, he produces "It Came from the Bayou," a showcase for printmakers from across America to descend upon Houston and sell their wares, capped by demonstrations including a multi-ton steamroller making prints on the street. Along with 14 other hometown printmakers, Hernandez and team recently brought the International Print Center New York's survey "New Prints" to town as part of this summer's PrintHouston (Art League Houston, through August 2). About his hands-on career with ink, copper plates and woodblocks, Hernandez says, "I like the aspect of discovering visual art through the process of printmaking." In the end, it's all about the big reveal and the tangibles of paper on block or plate. "With each step in the process, you are gradually able to see the image come to life … There is something about the physicality and repetition of the process that I find fulfilling," he notes. To savor or collect Hernandez's graphics, visit carloshernandezprints.com. Catherine D. Anspon Carlos Hernandez JESSE KAMM DRESS FROM LEAP MIRI WILKINS INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER; RECORDER OF A DISAPPEARING PARIS; FIRSTTIME-OUT-OF-THE-GATE FILM FESTIVAL FINALIST. For novice filmmaker Miri Wilkins, her divorce and a move back to Houston became the catalyst for inspiration. The mother of two young boys had worked in marketing and was interwoven in the Texas art community as a collector, patron and friend to many visualists. She hit on a very personal topic after a cathartic trip in 2008 to Paris, where she was brought into a circle of brilliant Left Bank eccentrics: the Latin Quarter octogenarian owner of Hotel Esmeralda, Michele Bruel, and its fascinating idiosyncratic inhabitants, alongside the neighboring Shakespeare and Company bookstore, owned by George Whitman and Miri Wilkins JULY | PAGE 32 | 2013