If you’ve been to any of the ARTCRANK shows that have graced St. Louis for the past several years, you know how cool the formula is: challenge the community of creatives (read: “graphic designers”) to design posters that celebrate bicycling, print them up in a limited edition, and sell them for a reasonable $30-bucks-per at a one-night party. The designers love to see what their peers come up with, and the public snaps up the colorful posters like couture mistakenly put on the clearance rack.
Mike Glodeck of Foam, perhaps inspired by that idea, has transformed bicycles into coffee. His one-night “French Press” party, scheduled for the evening of Saturday, July 16, will showcase a group of vibrant, clever posters custom-made for the event by local creatives which celebrate the culture of coffee.
“A lot of people are passionate about their morning coffee,” said Glodeck. “It’s an acceptable vice.” And a lot of people enjoy it made in a French press, too, like they do it at Foam. (And for those who haven’t been, Foam gets its name from a menu that gives beer equal prominence with coffee drinks).
Glodeck is a rock-poster collector, and he co-curated the “Papercuts and Trackmarks” show of rock posters at the former Shaw Gallery (now Sasha’s on Shaw) in 2005. He said that, in particular, he’s happy to encourage the involvement of the printmakers that have flocked to the Cherokee Street area, including the Cherokee Print League, All Along Press, Firecracker Press, Paper Boat Studios, Stencil World, and the rockers/printmakers of Sleepy Kitty. French press will also coincide with the new Cherokee Stroll monthly Saturday-night gallery walk.
Each artist will print a run of just 30 coffee-themed posters, said the café owner. The best of them will probably have a certain panache that may bring to mind timeless European beverage posters.
If you’re a creative, think about accepting the French Press challenge, and telling your graphic-designer friends about it, too.
(Editor's Note: Or if you're like Relish (for whom stick figures present a challenge), just scribble "French Press event" across July 16.)
