The Stencil (Self Publishing)
Workshop One - The Stencil Information -
Inspired by the events of May 1968, student revolt that began in a suburb of Paris and was soon joined by a general strike eventually involving some 10 million workers, spurred an artistic movement, with songs, imaginative graffiti, posters, and slogans but also intense violence. Students and faculty staff took over the Ecole des Beaux Arts to establish the Atelier Populaire (the Popular Workshop). The organisation went on to produce hundreds of silkscreen posters in an unprecedented outpouring of political graphic art. In a statement, the Atelier Populaire declared the posters “weapons in the service of the struggle… an inseparable part of it. Their rightful place is in the centres of conflict, that is to say, in the streets and on the walls of the factories.”
Inspired by the events of May 1968, student revolt that began in a suburb of Paris and was soon joined by a general strike eventually involving some 10 million workers, spurred an artistic movement, with songs, imaginative graffiti, posters, and slogans but also intense violence. Students and faculty staff took over the Ecole des Beaux Arts to establish the Atelier Populaire (the Popular Workshop). The organisation went on to produce hundreds of silkscreen posters in an unprecedented outpouring of political graphic art. In a statement, the Atelier Populaire declared the posters “weapons in the service of the struggle… an inseparable part of it. Their rightful place is in the centres of conflict, that is to say, in the streets and on the walls of the factories.”
This poster titled, Return to Normal, describes the twin diseases of complacency and apathy. Since it was widely felt by striking students and workers that their paralyzing strikes should continue until the conservative government fell, this image mocked those who sought a quick end to the strikes and a restoration of "business as usual." Like many of the best Paris '68 posters, the message resonates in the present and continues to comment on those who refuse to participate in anything except consumerism.
The heart of the worker's struggle was brilliantly conveyed by this image. The poster calls for a militant plan of action in opposition to corporate control, and exhorts workers to seize their workplaces with the slogan, Yes To Occupied Factories! Here a factory building has been cleverly reduced to an immediately recognizable abstraction, the factory's chimney serving as the third letter in the word "yes". A companion poster exists that shows a bosses cigar as the smoking chimney. That poster, emblazoned with the word "no," is a clear rejection of a workplace notunder direct worker's control.
In this workshop, combing some of the imagery of those posters and graphic art, with the lyrics of The Stone Roses ‘Bye Bye Badman’, a song referencing the uprising, using the lyrics as typographic content for the stenciled prints creating new content, language and meaning through an arbitrary process. To start this project, I researched some of the posters created during this event and what the poster was about. After choosing an image at random, I received "Police", I started to sketch a stencil of a police badge in the shape of a shield to represent this word. I cut out this stencil, along with the stencil of the randomly selected lyrics from the song, then painted stencils on a new composition in red and blue to create a printed poster.
After this workshop, I experimented with digital print screening using the colours blue and red, using images as well as lyrics from the same song, I created another poster reflecting back at the events.
The heart of the worker's struggle was brilliantly conveyed by this image. The poster calls for a militant plan of action in opposition to corporate control, and exhorts workers to seize their workplaces with the slogan, Yes To Occupied Factories! Here a factory building has been cleverly reduced to an immediately recognizable abstraction, the factory's chimney serving as the third letter in the word "yes". A companion poster exists that shows a bosses cigar as the smoking chimney. That poster, emblazoned with the word "no," is a clear rejection of a workplace notunder direct worker's control. 
My police badge stencil.
Lyric Stencil.
My final poster created in the workshop.
In this workshop, combing some of the imagery of those posters and graphic art, with the lyrics of The Stone Roses ‘Bye Bye Badman’, a song referencing the uprising, using the lyrics as typographic content for the stenciled prints creating new content, language and meaning through an arbitrary process. To start this project, I researched some of the posters created during this event and what the poster was about. After choosing an image at random, I received "Police", I started to sketch a stencil of a police badge in the shape of a shield to represent this word. I cut out this stencil, along with the stencil of the randomly selected lyrics from the song, then painted stencils on a new composition in red and blue to create a printed poster.
After this workshop, I experimented with digital print screening using the colours blue and red, using images as well as lyrics from the same song, I created another poster reflecting back at the events.
I then experimented with vector images and text.
