Crafty Christmas card-making at RedLine Milwaukee

Holiday cards are one of the few ways people regularly communicate via paper and post, sans high technology. Sure, a blinking Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer e-card with animated, singing elves popping up on your iPhone is fun, but it’s kind of hard to prop it up on your mantelpiece.

RedLine Milwaukee is offering a hands-on approach to holiday greetings with a drop-in workshop this Saturday between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Stop by for an hour, or stay for the whole afternoon; they’ll supply cardstock, envelopes and plenty of ways to decorate them. The workshop is $5 per person, and children, age 10 and under, is free.

Silkscreen and linoleum-cut designs with Christmas, Hanukkah and seasonal themes will be available, with experienced artists to show you how to print with them. Collage materials will be on hand to add to your holiday creations. The fee includes enough stuff to make three cards, and you can also bring your own materials. Think not just of paper, but photographs, old Christmas cards, wrapping paper, ribbon – you bring it, and you can print, collage and draw to your heart’s content.

It’s a great opportunity for everyone, from the creatively challenged to the artistic geniuses among us. Kari Couture, co-manager of RedLine’s print shop, says, “It will be a playful workshop where people can experiment and have fun.”

RedLine is a fairly recent addition to the Milwaukee art scene, having opened in the autumn of 2009. It’s a community art resource founded by Steve Vande Zande and Lori Bauman that hosts classes, workshops, mentoring programs for emerging artists, and open studio access where individuals and members can make use of the printmaking facilities.

Couture and her print shop co-manager, Kim Weiss, both graduates of the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, find the RedLine atmosphere energetic and collaborative.  Couture says, “Every time I’m here there’s someone making something. It’s such a creative environment, and it’s really welcoming; everybody’s really collaborative.”

Weiss agrees, and finds that “printmaking is very communal – it’s a great way to work with other artists.”

In addition to the card-making workshop this Saturday, visitors can see the current exhibition in RedLine’s gallery space, featuring giant puppets from the All-City People’s Parade, on view through Dec. 23.

RedLine
Holiday Card-making
Saturday, Dec. 5
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

1422 N. 4th St., Milwaukee
414-491-9088
$5 per person; children 10 and under free