HAPPY HOUR with Visiting Artists Rich Dana and Leisha Stanek

Join us Friday, February 6th, 6-9pm
Free Admission. Space is limited. RSVP Below!

Join us for an informal gathering of the copier-curious. Due to the popularity of Obsolete Press’ workshops, ABAC decided have a party! Come on by to see demonstrations and make your own print. All are welcome! Refreshments will be served.

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Before social media, even before xerox-copied zines and flyers, marginalized communities used simple copying techniques– hectography (gelatin printing) mimeography (stencil printing) and spirit duplication (alcohol transfers, also known as “ditto”)– to make their voices heard. From political activists struggling for independence in India to the early gay rights activists in New York City, and from the dissident writers of Samizdat (self publishing) in the Soviet Union to the striking migrant farm workers of Southern California, these analog copiers were used to spread the word through words and pictures in the 20^th century.

Rich Dana and Leisha Stanek are setting out across the US on a series of in-person workshops to demonstrate these low-cost techniques and how contemporary artists and writers can use them to publish editions of zines, chapbooks, prints, and flyers.

Rich Dana is a copier artist and the founder of Obsolete Press. Author of Cheap Copies!: The Obsolete Press Guide to DIY Mimeography, Hectography and Spirit Duplication, Rich has been collecting, restoring and distributing mimeograph machines to book art programs and community art centers around the US. He holds an MFA in book arts and an MA in Library Science. Instagram: @ricardo.obsolete

Leisha Stanek is co-publisher and editor at Obsolete Press. She is a writer, performance poet and book artist who specializes in typewriter art,  DIY printing and chapbook production. Her current one-woman show, What We’re Doing in Iowa Instead of Church, is now available in a limited edition artist book and her unconventional mash-up memoir OBJECT will be released in 2026. Website: www.nudepoet.com IG: @nudepoet333