IMAGES

Hard Rain Printing Collective Silk Screens

This is a sampling of a few of the large-format silk screen prints done by members of the Hard Rain Printing Collective. They were selected for their political themes. Except where noted, Don Martin designed them. They were printed with assistance form Greg Falxa, Grace Cox, and many other volunteers.

A simple hand-cut reproduction of an old Industrial Workers of the World song book cover. In 1973 it hung in the Food Co-op store on Pear St. and 4th Ave. and led to the meeting of Don Martin and Greg Falxa (Greg had done silk screens and asked who printed it). 50 years later Don and Greg regard each other as their oldest friend from Olympia.
Advertising a 1974 student-led examination of the US overthrow of the democratically-elected Allende government. Five colors, hand-cut stencil.
1978 protest poster against nuclear power plant construction at Satsop by WPPSS. Also used at demonstrations against the Trojan plant in Oregon and the Trident submarine base in Bangor.
Hard Rain produced a 1979 calendar with 6 original designs, each with 2 months of the year. The whole collective pitched in to screen print them. It was a huge amount of work.
This unique, hand-painted design was created by Mary Metzler. The 1979 calendar images focused on major struggles at the time, including feminism, Native fishing rights, worker safety, and LGBT relationships.
The print shop became a central location for people who organized to stop the overthrow of governments in Central America in the 70s and 80s. Many of the 1979 calendar pages decorated the walls of houses in Olympia for years after.
The printing collective had close ties to Family Circus Theatre in Portland. The theatre collective did a 4-day performance workshop in Olympia in 1979.
Take Back the Night March poster from 1980 to promote Rape Relief. Greg Falxa did the calligraphy. Don Martin did the poster design.
Lesbian poet Pat Parker performed at Evergreen in 1984, sponsored by the Gay Resource Center. David Crum collaborated with Don Martin on the design.
1980 benefit concert for the Sexual Minority Prisoners Caucus at Monroe Reformatory.
Printed in the Lab Building at Evegreen in 1975, this 3-color poster was commissioned by the Women’s Center and used a Chinese paper cut suggested by one of the event organizers.
1976 publicity poster for a benefit dance featuring local rockers Fruitland Famine Band. The work to establish a food distribution depot came just before the co-op storefront opened on Columbia St.
A series of workshop posters on issues of changing family relationships from 1975. Beth Harris organized speakers, panel discussions, and other presentations over the course of 3 months.
There were 9 workshops in this series. The images were intend to evoke a strong emotional response.
The main images for the series of posters were hand-cut from amberlith and used press-on letters for the text. We felt strongly about showing more people of color in print media.
The lesbian community in Olympia worked hard to forge ties with Native American women. This was a major event in 1981 at the Puyallup Nation featuring many respected elders and leaders as speakers. Mic Harper, a regular volunteer at Hard Rain, oversaw the design and printing.
An early attempt at screen printing an actual photograph taken by Grace Cox at a demonstration against the Trojan nuke plant on the Columbia River circa 1978.
This poster for a 1980 concert sponsored by the Gay Resource Center at Evergreen was printed on glossy metallic paper stock. Penny Martindale drew the hat. Don Martin did the design and typography.
Penny Martindale and Don Martin collaborated on this poster design for a protest march in 1983. Wars financed and supplied by the US were raging in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala against indigenous populations, unions, and student organizations.
Wolf Haven, the sanctuary near Tenino, received a grant from the Washington Commission for the Humanities to do a presentation to help people understand the way the wolf, nearly wiped out in the US, was treated in literature and oral tradition. 1984.
This poster, designed by Don Martin, was not a screen print, but incldued here because of it’s size and subject. It was offset printed by Greg Falxa and Grace Cox on a press in Seattle owned by members of the Washington Coalition Against More Prisons that was able to handle larger formats than Hard Rain’s equipment. 1983.