Scene print

Local music nourishes Pearl District’s Flash Flood

May Yang squeegeed ink through a screen for a poster for Thick as Thieves, a band that played Center of the Universe Festival this summer. Layers of flying birds were silhouetted against a huge sun, rays bursting through the flock. Yang had just changed into shorts. Outside, it was pushing 100 degrees; the 800-square-foot space that houses Flash Flood Print Studios lacks an air conditioner.

A table in the center of the room was littered with concert posters: The Avett Brothers, Lizard Police, Bandelier—all screenprints that have worked their way into the windows of the local hipster hangouts and the hands of famed musicians passing through town. Yang pointed to a poster of the performer who made twerking a household name. “We did this one for Miley that was super popular,” Yang said. “They are produced in a very small quantity—like, five to ten, and they are given as gifts to the artist and artist management.”

The studio makes posters for Soundpony, local bands, and Tulsa’s music festivals. Sometimes, Flash Flood produces specialized prints in partnership with the Art Directors Club of Tulsa and SMG Tulsa (the BOK Center management company). Posters aren’t available to the general public, but many designs for smaller, local venues are printed on t-shirts and are made available as merchandise. Flash Flood’s aesthetic stamp is becoming recognized not only by regular Brady and Blue Dome District concert goers, but it also reaches into the touring circuit that brings regional artists and superstars to Tulsa’s core. It’s part of a feedback loop that’s fueling a certain brand of art, music, and culture in the city.  

To get to Flash Flood, I had to walk through the storefront and art studio Manic Pixie. Off 6th and Peoria, the heart of the Pearl District, I made my way to the “back of the house,” filled with printing screens, drying racks, a T-shirt press, and a dark room. I found a bearded man in jeans in the rear of the shop—it was Yang’s business partner, Nick Nold—printing shirts for Mod’s Coffee and Crepes. The duo has worked together for two years and established the studio last summer. “It’s been steadily picking up more and more,” Nold said.

If Yang could split it, she’d have Nold do most of the shirts. “I was taught to print on paper,” Yang said. “That’s where I’m better.” Unlike a digital print, screenprints require touch. For the novice, Yang said the gist of screen printing is creating a stencil. Using light, a design in black ink on a film positive burns a stencil on a screen. Ink can then be pushed through the screen onto the desired surface. Yang’s work leans toward abstract. “If a metal band wants something, I would probably do it,” Nold said.

Yang’s and Nold’s aren’t the only faces there. “We let people rent out time. If they have a project they need to work on, they can come in here,” said Yang. Part of the business’ mission is to provide resources for screen printers. Every second Saturday, artists from high-school age and up can attend a workshop at Flash Flood that includes take-home screen printing basics booklet and their original prints.

A massive screen with a stencil of a male bust leaned on the back wall of the shop. Yang told me it belonged to journalist and artist Lee Roy Chapman. Chapman has been screenprinting for more than two decades. He told me that having a female co-owner is a rarity in this industry. It’s “a different vibe than some of the other silkscreen shops that feel more like a frat house,” he said. More art, less bullshit. May wastes no time is always pleasant, and highly productive.”

Even with business picking up, Nold and Yang still have their eyes on their dream client, the pinnacle outlet where local talent intertwines with national influence. They gave each other a look, nodded, and said, “Cain’s.”

ART HAPPENINGS

TAC@AHHA // Annual juried exhibition show of Tulsa Artist Coalition artists // 8/22 through 9/28; Hardesty Arts Center; 101 E. Archer Street; 918-584-3333

HARD TIMES, OKLAHOMA, 1939-40 // A display of Russell Lee’s documentary photography of Oklahomans during the last wave of the Dust Bowl // through 10/26; Philbrook Museum of Art; 2727 S. Rockford Road; 918-749-7941

AN EXHORTATION AND REVELATION // Artist John Bryant uses multiple approaches, including photos, print, and carving, to communicate through his work // through August; TAC Gallery; 9 East M.B. Brady Street; 918-595-0041

CALL FOR ARTISTS // Now is the time to submit your contemporary art proposals for 2015-2016 // through 10/1; Living Arts; 307 East M.B. Brady Street; 918-585-1234