'A great vibe to it': Getting Athens print shop Flat File started proved a community effort

Flat File Print Shop officially opened in June for business.

Named for the flat file cabinets used for storing artwork in a printmaking studio, the shop aims to provide printmaking services, studio space, equipment and classes for the local community.

“It’s just been really cool hanging out. The shop has a great vibe to it,” said Ben Reese, who’s taken two of the shop’s printmaking classes. “It’s been really neat to see what I’ve come up with and physically created.”

Flat File also provides screen-preparation services, where clients can drop off their blank silkscreens and the images they want printed on them. The process requires a darkroom, an exposure unit and two days for the stencils to fully dry in the Georgia humidity.

“I like the idea of helping people who want to DIY at their house,” Amanda Burk, the shop’s founder, said. “The idea of helping artists create was really interesting to me and teaching people who don’t know [the printmaking process] yet was really exciting.”

A printmaking comeback tour

Flat File Print Shop isn’t Burk’s first brick-and-mortar endeavor. In 2012, she founded Double Dutch Press, a Normaltown print shop, with Katherine McGuire. The shop ran until 2016.

Since Double Dutch closed, Burk has been teaching college art courses and helped set up printmaking facilities at the Lyndon House and Piedmont College. She said people continued to regularly approach her for printmaking services.

“I was thinking I might get back into the printmaking business and the town really seemed to support it when Double Dutch was open, so I felt like there was still interest there,” Burk said.

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At first, the possibility seemed unlikely. Commercial real estate prices were high. Burk had trouble finding a space that fit the needs of the shop until a friend put her in touch with a property at 919 N. Chase St., recently vacated by Shadebeast record shop.

“It’s kind of like the universe opened up,” Burk said. “The space is perfect … and the landlords are really excited about having an Athens-based business.”

Flat File Print Shop a local effort

Once Burk had the space, she needed the funding to get it up and running. Having operated a similar business before, she already had a lot of the necessary equipment and experience, but didn’t feel like she was an ideal candidate for a bank loan.

“Because Double Dutch existed and people already understood what I was trying to do, Kickstarter made sense,” Burk said.

When setting up her Kickstarter, Burk approached local artists and community stakeholders, and soon she’d set up a fundraising campaign that offered printmaking classes in the new facility, limited-edition prints from local artists, coffee roasting classes by Jittery Joe’s and donuts from Ike and Jane (since closed).

“It was really awesome to have people coming together like that to make it happen,” Burk said.

However, the process wasn’t without its highs and lows.

“The day I launched the Kickstarter, I did not stop shaking,” Burk said. “It was a roller coaster, and I don't know that I'd recommend it to everybody, because [even when you’re supported] every day you're watching your worth measured in dollars … it was pretty harsh.”

If Burk didn’t meet her funding goal in a month, she’d lose the funds she raised. But in the end, the community came through, pushing her past her funding goal. Despite waves of self-doubt, Burk described the experience as “really awesome”.

“The fact that I was able to get crowdfunding to open was super heartwarming and made me feel like I've been living in the right town for as long as I have been,” Burk said.

'A community-oriented art process'

According to Burk, “Printmaking is a community-oriented art process.”

“A print shop is a very inspiring space where people help each other and there's a lot of creativity,” she said. “So that in itself is really awesome to have access to. But then the other thing is just the equipment.”

Presses, supplies and space are expensive, so these resources are typically shared among a group of people.

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“Not everyone can have access to a press in their house,” Burk said. This poses a particular challenge to art school graduates who lose access to their studio space once they finish school. Burk has even worked with clients who haven’t printed in 10 or 20 years who want to get involved again.

Zoe Daniel, a student in one of Burk’s Saturday workshops, remembers how difficult the screen-printing process was in college.

“I have memories of painstakingly painting resist onto screens and then setting them out in the sun and praying they don’t overexpose,” Daniel said. “I was really surprised at how streamlined the screen-printing process has become.”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Flat File Print Shop in Athens a product of community support