Church Street Press is the latest studio to open in downtown Warren, and owner Deb Kostisin is excited to be part of the town’s arts community. With over 30 years experience in various artistic practices including working at the Newport Art Museum, Kostisin established the location-named venture to offer workshops, classes, and studio space rentals.
Kostisin decided to set up shop in the seaside location because of its growing reputation as a safe haven for artists and other creatives. “I had my own studio in my house and recently downsized,” she explains. “I found this beautiful space for a studio in Warren,” says Kostisin, who also owns an Edible Arrangements in town. “I’m very familiar with doing business here; it’s just such a nice town, and so full of artists.”
Taking center stage at the studio is a Conrad Machine Co. combination etching and lithography press, which can be used for both mediums. “The printing press has this big wheel, and it’s what makes my space unique,” says Kostisin. “We are the only studio in the area that offers adults the opportunity to use a fully equipped print studio dedicated to the fine art of the hand-pulled print.”
Kostisin says that the studio is available for both beginners and professionals, offering lessons and ongoing support to produce high-quality works. “The advantage of this studio is that it is not open to other forms of art, so you won’t have to set up a workspace and clean up a spot to begin work. My studio is just for adult printmakers; you just walk in and you can start printing. Everything is right there. It’s meticulous, it’s clean, and it’s organized,” says the self-described control freak.
At Church Street Press, Kostisin uses mainly natural products, and offers workshops using interesting methods and sourced materials. On a recent trip to the Red Rock Desert in Colorado, she collected different types of rock and sand, which she uses to make unique pigments. “I do that in the summer because I like to go outside with mortar and pestle, stones and grinding,” she explains. “You create the ink and paint from that. I also make handmade paper from the dried grasses and reeds, which I saved from last year.”
She also enjoys bringing students outdoors for solar printing, where a photo is placed on a piece of metal. “You paint on it and then take it out into the sun where the image is burned into the plate, and then you print from that,” she explains. She also has beeswax for encaustic painting, a technique that involves adding colored pigments to heated wax.
“Print making is very social, there are just so many ways to do it,” she notes. “There’s dry point, there’s lithography, there’s encaustics, there’s monoprints and more.” Learn more at Instagram: @church.street.press
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