Vibrant silk screen art at Edmonds fest

It’s really too bad for Steve Harmston that his artwork is just a little too good.

The colors are too bold, too sharp. The quality, just too satiny. As a result, people can’t believe he’s done it all by hand.

“People look at it and say, ‘Who does your printing? Where are your originals,’” Harmston said, almost chuckling. “Graphic design students in college come around and they might ask what computer program I use so they can replicate what I’ve done, and I tell them, I use a Number 11 X-Acto blade.”

Harmston’s work is, indeed, all hand-made in a labor-intensive process that produces almost 3-D looking serigraphs or silk screens.

Last year, Harmston won first place in print-making at the Edmonds Arts Festival. He will be back at the festival for his fifth time this year, hoping to make some sales and earn more kudos, though he modestly joked, “It helps when you are in a medium nobody else does.”

Harmston’s beautiful landscape scenes and wildlife art — some pieces have a wonderful art-deco appeal — will be among the offerings of the more than 230 artists exhibiting and selling their work at the Edmonds Arts Festival this weekend.

The free festival, in its 51st year, is among the oldest and largest in the region where visitors can discover booths filled with watercolors, pastels, drawings, mixed media, photography, sculpture, fiber arts, jewelry, glass, metal, pottery and ceramics, toys, collectibles and furniture.

Besides the art, the festival offers lots of fun stuff for families. Crafts include Kids ‘N’ Clay, jewelry and mask making, finger painting and a chance for kids to make their own picture frames for Father’s Day photos.

There’s also a variety of music and dance events — ballet, blues, jazz. Hungry? No problem. There are 25 food and beverage booths at the ready.

Harmston, of Sammamish, who also has a full-time “day” job, does lots of festivals and shows throughout the summer because he hasn’t really been able to break into the Seattle-area gallery market, though he sells in galleries in Montana and Arizona. The shows give his silk screens their best public exposure.

At 52, Harmston has made silk-screen prints for more than 20 years, starting out abstract and simple and ending up now using between 30 and 40 different colors for one print to capture a moment in nature like a jumping salmon or a landscape such as a large sky, distant mountains or a stand of aspens.

Serigraphy, or screen printing, is a stencil-making process that became accepted as fine art in the 1950s with the help of Andy Warhol. Harmston hand-cuts stencils for each color he uses; sometimes that requires 25 to 40 different stencils and screen set-ups for each image.

The process is complicated to explain, so Harmston sometimes runs a video of him at work so visitors can appreciate and understand the steps to producing these original pieces. Harmston said it takes him between one and three months to finish each image. He makes very limited editions of one image.

“I use the same stencil over and over; it’s called reduction printing. I don’t make reproductions,” Harmston said. “I wouldn’t collect art that wasn’t original so why would I make art that wasn’t original? So I’ll probably starve to death.”

With prices ranging from $250 to $1,200, Harmston calls his work comparatively low in price considering the amount of time involved.

He added: “They’re all originals, so people are getting into original art without having to break the bank.”

Reporter Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424 or goffredo@heraldnet.com.