Utilizing the democratic and practical aspects of DIY printmaking on wearable textile items, I fuse the tradition of popular/social expression inherent in them with a fine arts sensibility, thereby keeping this art form accessible to the general public. Areas of personal interest and artistic influence include early and mid-20th Century advertising design, Pop Art, post-industrial urban architecture, and old machinery/found objects. Documenting antique printing presses has become a particular source of inspiration for me.

Under the name, LS-DrewGraphics, I design and hand-print a line of garment images, which have been seen at the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts as well as local venues, including All By Hand (Liberty Place), Chestnut Hill Yoga Studio, Tyler Art Market, Waldorf School of Philadelphia, High Point Sunday Market, The Print Center, and Mt. Airy Art Garage. My garments are also in several private t-shirt collections.

I earned a BFA in Printmaking from the Philadelphia College of Art and MFA in Sculpture from the University of the Arts, where I supervise the Book Arts/Printmaking Department shop and teach screen-printing. I will be participating at several arts and craft fairs in Philadelphia this fall / holiday season.

Claret Tiles Scarf is hand-dyed and discharge-printed cotton of infinity style (10″ x 54 ” circumference). It is a limited-edition small-batch piece, with hand-produced individual characteristics and is the only one available in this color and pattern at this time.

Laurel Schwass-Drew, jamadaru@aol.com, L•S•Drew•Graphics, Etsy Shop, Facebook