Powerhouse Factories has been bridging the gap between the art and music scene since they began designing and screen printing gig posters for musicians ten years ago. This fall, Powerhouse continued that tradition through collaborations with the 21c Museum Hotel Cincinnati, Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center (CAC), MidPoint Music Festival (MPMF), SpringBoard and ArtWorks. The Greater Cincinnati-based print shop and brand-building agency’s presence kicked off with Flooded, a gig poster exhibit hosted at the 21c Museum Hotel Cincinnati, beginning September 20. The collaboration continued through September 26-28 with Powerhouse’s presence at the Poster Expo and the Powerhouse Print Lab at the SpringBoard Box Truck Carnival, both at MPMF.
“With this region’s creative community being so rich in local arts organizations, artists and musicians, we saw a big opportunity to unite them in one, unique experience around MPMF this year,” said Pat Jones, Powerhouse Factories co-founder. “Since screenprinting gig posters naturally positions us as a bridge of the art and music worlds, we were uniquely qualified to serve as a catalyst to lead the partnership of several of the region’s top creative organizations to bring this vision to life.”
The Flooded exhibit—co-curated by Michael Hurst and Eli Meiners of the 21c Museum Hotel Cincinnati; Joshua Mattie of the CAC; and Pat Jones, Emily Lang and Ben Nunery of Powerhouse Factories—highlighted the design and print process behind screenprinted show posters as the region prepared for the 12th-annual weeklong MPMF. The exhibit ran September 20-28 in the hotel’s first-floor galleries. It featured seven local artists and studios, including prints by Cryptogram, Feralmade, Keith Neltner, Andrew Neyer, Powerhouse Factories, Southpaw Prints and Rob Warnick.
The 21c Museum Hotel Cincinnati and Powerhouse Factories collaboration continued outside of the galleries with a series of five secret shows with regional musicians in and around the hotel, running September 24-27. To promote the exhibit and build anticipation leading up to MPMF, the shows featured musical performances by Joey Cook, The Halvsies, Daniel Martin Moore, Public and Young Heirlooms.
At MPMF from September 26-28, Powerhouse continued its annual tradition of displaying and selling prints alongside other gig poster artists at the MPMF Poster Expo. After getting inspired while browsing gig posters in the Expo, festival-goers were encouraged to explore the Powerhouse Print Lab box truck, part of SpringBoard and ArtWork’s Box Truck Carnival located in the MidPoint Midway. Inside, individuals could tie on an apron and try their hand printing their own MPMF 2013 poster.
For more Powerhouse Factories print shop projects and news, visit www.phfdesign.com.
Always Up—Powerhouse Bridges the Gap Between Art and Music at MPMF from Powerhouse Factories on Vimeo.
