It is 6:30 p.m. on a brisk Tuesday in November. Women with close-cropped gray hair and college students in skinny jeans sit side-by-side at the Harvard University–owned Zone 3 in Allston. The crowd is somewhat unconventional, but as they line up enthusiastically, with fuchsia-colored screen prints in hand, it becomes clear they all share the same passion for art-making.
This is Test Print Tuesday (TPT), the free ten-week event series hosted by the local screen printing company AntiDesigns and organized by Jay LaCouture and Helen Popinchalk. The initial eight-week installment of the series took place in May 2024, but LaCouture has been dreaming of a community printmaking series for years. Now Test Print Tuesday is back with more printing screens, a fresh lineup of featured artists, and eager attendees, both returning printers and first-timers.
One of these returning printers is Marisa Negron. Shortly after graduating from Emerson College in May 2024, she discovered Test Print Tuesday. With prior experience as a digital artist, Negron was excited to try her hand at screen printing, but when she arrived at Zone 3 for the first session, her expectations were not initially met.
To expedite the event, TPT volunteers prep the screens and lay down stencils before attendees arrive. Volunteers then place a glob of brightly colored ink at the top of the screen, so the attendee’s only responsibility is to place their paper under it and drag a rubber squeegee over the screen to push the ink through the mesh.
“The setup was a little bit different than I imagined. All the designs were already pre-chosen,” Negron explained. “And as an artist, I was like, ‘Okay. I’m going to have to make this work for me, because I had my own ideas of designs and how I wanted to use the materials.”
But after brainstorming with the organizers, Negron figured out how to add newspaper cutouts to her paper pre-printing so she could somewhat customize the designs.
“I was trying to learn more about the process, but also I wanted to make the experience beneficial for me,” she said. “It was the environment, the helpfulness of everyone, that kept me coming back to Test Print Tuesday.” Now, for the series’s second installment, Negron is no longer a weekly participant. Instead, she works alongside the TPT team, welcoming guests, answering questions about the printing process, and taking videos for the event’s Instagram page.
Another artist who joined the TPT team this fall is Ava Pom, a graduate of MassArt who specializes in digital illustrations, zines, and Risograph printing—a similar printing process that utilizes a large electric machine instead of mesh screens. Unlike Negron, Pom had screen printed in school prior to attending the series.
“I took a semester of screen printing my last year of college, so I got to fall in love with it right before I didn’t have access,” Pom said. “So what was great about finding out about Test Print Tuesday was that I got to spend some more time with the medium.”
She also was drawn to the series because of its emphasis on inclusivity and accessibility. By supplying free print materials and hands-on assistance, funded by creative consulting agency Isenberg Projects, TPT makes screen printing available to the public by breaking down many of the barriers associated with the art form. Pom had wished for years to create her own community-based Risograph art space in Boston, so when LaCouture mentioned his plans for TPT, she was instantly hooked. “It’s expensive to get all of the materials and supplies, but screen printing is really fun when you can just go to Test Print Tuesday and all you have to do is pull a print,” she explained.
Not only does the series offer an accessible entry point into the world of printmaking, but it also connects the general public to independent local artists. Each week, participants hear from a different artist about their work. Then attendees are given the opportunity to print the artist’s designs. Pom herself introduced the group to the Risograph process as the featured artist for December 3. LaCouture sees these artist spotlights as a way to cultivate a sense of community and invites artists of diverse backgrounds who specialize in various mediums to participate. “But my guiding principle really is: If they’re an independent artist, I want to foster my relationship with them,” he said. “I want to keep them going.”
LaCouture, Negron, and Pom all agreed that although many consider Boston’s arts scene to be more “underground,” compared to other major cities like New York City or Los Angeles, events like TPT prove just how impactful the local arts community can be. “I’d love to see it connect with different people,” said LaCouture. “I just had a meeting with somebody last night about how we could potentially do this stuff with immigrants in Boston.” Looking to the future, LaCouture sees community-based printing as a powerful tool for connection and hopes to expand TPT to reach participants across Boston. “Even if we don’t speak the same language,” he said, “color and ink are both universal things.”
