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Platemark s3e40 the print ecosystem: Luther Davis

In s3e40, Platemark host Ann Shafer talks with Luther Davis, master printer and director of Powerhouse Arts, Brooklyn. This is a two-parter. For this interview, Platemark collaborated with its sister podcast Hello, Print Friend. Miranda Metcalf, Hello, Print Friend’s host and creator interviewed Luther about his background and early career; Ann Shafer spoke with Luther about the present and future at Powerhouse Arts, a new non-profit arts center in a renovated transit power station on the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. Both Hello, Print Friend and Platemark’s episodes will be available on both podcast channels.

Luther has been in the biz for a long time and has great stories about the printing industry in Brooklyn. We talk about industrial printing and ask what the differences are between "art" and everything else. We talk about how important accessible shops are for artists to fabricate large projects (in addition to a print shop, Powerhouse has a ceramics studio, and a large sculpture fabrication shop). We talk about the state of print publishing today.

Luther has brought his prodigious experience to bear at Powerhouse Arts, a fairly new player in the field. He is taking the reigns of the Print Shop and running with it.