{"id":142129,"date":"2021-10-08T11:43:49","date_gmt":"2021-10-08T15:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=142129"},"modified":"2021-10-08T15:29:19","modified_gmt":"2021-10-08T19:29:19","slug":"free-press-printmaking-and-social-justice-amidst-peppy-pop-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2021\/10\/08\/free-press-printmaking-and-social-justice-amidst-peppy-pop-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Press: printmaking and social justice amidst peppy pop music"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Students milled around the tables, ink-stained hands searching for the perfect print block. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder, they took turns using the ink rollers and waited patiently for a space to lay their tote bag, T-shirt, or mask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The atmosphere outside the Benjamin E. Mays Center was happy and friendly, as students traded compliments and encouragement back and forth. Peppy pop music poured from the speakers, and despite the strong breeze threatening to blow paper and shirts everywhere, the event was a huge success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the third year the \u201cStringfellows\u201d \u2014 students working with Multifaith Chaplaincy in the spirit of William Stringfellow \u201949<\/a> \u2014 have coordinated their Free Press social justice printmaking event, and each time, more students participate. According to Brittany Longsdorf, Bates\u2019 multifaith chaplain, around 150 people came to the event to make prints this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Join
A student presses down an inked block onto a tote bag at the Free Press social justice printmaking event on Oct. 1, 2021. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just gotten bigger and bigger over the years,\u201d Longsdorf says. \u201cI\u2019m just sort of the memory keeper of how it runs, and then [the Stringfellows] choose whether or not they want to run it, and how they want to run it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stringfellows help organize opportunities for activists to connect with each other on campus, and reflect on their work. The events are all about \u201chelping them find practices and spaces to root and remind themselves why they do this important work that can transform the world,\u201d Longsdorf says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dianna Georges \u201922 of Clifton, N.J., is a Stringfellow, and was helping sign students in to the event. Georges has been attending the event since her first year. \u201cI feel like this is one of the first places that I started meeting different organizers on campus,\u201d Georges said. \u201cI think it\u2019s really cool because the sophomores and the first-years, they haven\u2019t had the chance to do something in-person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Join
Students make room for each other at the table as they decorate tote bags and T-shirts at the Free Press social justice printmaking event on Oct. 1, 2021.
(Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that symbols are important,\u201d Georges said. \u201cAnd I think this is an opportunity for people to put the symbols of what they believe up. It\u2019s kind of the same thing as hanging a flag; it shows what you believe in, so I hope people just make a bunch of shit and hang it everywhere, and it just becomes a part of the ethos of campus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The print blocks are handmade by Bates students and given to the event. The general theme of \u201csocial justice\u201d allows for artistic license, and means different things to different students. From images of trees evoking eco-justice, to phrases of self-empowerment and statements challenging social structures \u2014 \u201cF— White Supremacy\u201d \u2014 students shared their messages with each other and the Bates community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Join
“Less Locks More Keys” proclaims one block print at the Free Press event on Oct. 1, 2021. The social justice-themed print blocks were designed and carved by students. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Stella Santucci \u201822, a psychology major from Falmouth, Maine, has participated in the event every year. \u201cThis is my favorite event on campus,\u201d Santucci said. \u201cIt\u2019s super fun, and it\u2019s artistic freedom. The topic is \u2018social justice\u2019 but it\u2019s up to you to kind of build an idea and execute it. I think it\u2019s a place for students to connect and help each other, and be activists together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Multifaith Chaplaincy provides the rubber blocks and tools to students, who then come up with a design to carve, and give the finished block back to the organizers for students to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Santucci makes a block for the event every year, and then always attends. \u201cThe fact that I get to just choose what I do and then come here and see everyone else\u2019s, I think is really amazing,\u201d Santucci said. \u201c[It\u2019s] what Bates is really all about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\""This
Elena Valle \u201925 of Damascus, Md., displays a print with a message that’s “more than just three words,” she says. “To grow, evolve, and transform means to accept and embrace the path you were meant to be on in order to grow as an individual and change the world around you.” (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Outside the Benjamin E. Mays Center, students traded compliments and encouragement \u2014 all the while creating social justice prints \u2014 as the Bates “Stringfellows” held their third Free Press printmaking event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1422,"featured_media":142132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[11010,133,175,11012],"tags":[11227,6111],"class_list":["post-142129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-creativity","category-justice-poverty","category-student-life","tag-brittany-longsdorf","tag-multifaith-chaplaincy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1422"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142129"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142192,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142129\/revisions\/142192"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}