A space on 315 E Main Street was formerly filled by Bigfoot Creative, a print shop company based in Norman. Jenna Bryan and Eric Piper, printmaking and sculpture students from OU, worked as employees within the shop’s walls until its eventual closure toward the end of 2020.
Now, Bryan and Piper have reentered their old workplace, this time as owners of another print shop called Oscillator Press, and they said they are determined to use their space as a platform to showcase Norman’s fine arts community.
Bryan said the former owner came to her in October 2020 with news that he was ready to close Bigfoot Creative. She said although the transition from company to company in the same space was “fairly smooth,” it was difficult to figure out the transition from employee to owner.
“Since college, I’ve wanted to run my own press,” Bryan said. “It was definitely very exciting to get that opportunity.”
A printing machine used to bring the designs of Norman artists to life on T-shirts and prints.
The print shop primarily uses a process called screenprinting to make prints of drawings, custom-order t-shirts and t-shirts featuring designs from local artists. They utilize a manual press with six heads, meaning prints and shirts can be made in up to six different colors.
Both Piper and Bryan said they love what they do because they can express their passion for the creative arts community in Norman with more ownership.
“(The Norman arts community is) changing for sure. With these arts communities, something I’ve noticed is if you don’t just see it right in your field of view, it’s right underneath you,” Piper said. “Just trying to link stuff together and get it into view usually is the only kind of issue.”
Both owners see printmaking as an especially unique art form because of its ability to reach a wider audience.
“Printmaking is really cool, too, because it does, a lot of times, make your art more accessible because you have multiples,” Bryan said. “So you can try to sell them at a more affordable rate.”
The "Bootleggin" art show by Tyler Krasowski took place July 9 during the Norman Art Walk and featured his collection of shirts, posters and drawings. The show was Oscillator’s third following May 14 and June 11 exhibitions from Corporeal Ceramics.
Tyler Krasowski, a Montana-based artist, poses next to pieces of his art.
Krasowki said if he could choose one phrase to describe his work, it would be “brain vomit.”
“I have people who’ve tried to categorize what exactly I do, but I think that kind of thought limits what I could do, so I tried to just do whatever the hell I want to do,” Krasowski said. “That’s why, sometimes, the show looks like 20 different artists on one wall, but it’s all my work.”
Krasowski, Piper and Bryan are longtime friends who came to know one another through the creative arts community. Bryan and Piper met Krasowski through his work at traveling print workshop Drive By Press.
“Drive By Press came through maybe 2011 or something,” Piper said. “It was like nine to five, everybody’s in the shop carving and printing and kind of learning new techniques and stuff from each one of these teachers and professors and Tyler was one of them.”
Krasowski, like Bryan and Piper, said he is optimistic about the state of creative arts in Norman.
“I’d say the arts community is super strong and super welcoming,” Krasowski said. “I don’t think a lot of people around the country know what’s going on here. So they don’t think of Oklahoma as strong in the arts, but it really is. I think it attracts a lot of creative minds.”
Art pieces illustrated by Tyler Krasowski, a Norman-based artist, inside Oscillator Press.
In the future, Bryan said the print shop plans to host more artists once a month and offer printmaking classes for community members.
“We could run this simple screen printing workshop, and then, the public could sign up and you’d learn how to take your design into a one color screen,” Piper said. “And then maybe print a handful of shirts.”
Aside from business, Bryan and Piper said they want the shop to become a welcoming place for artists to come together and showcase their work.
“Of course, our main thing that we do is print custom shirts for organizations,” Piper said. “But also to bring in all these wild people that we’ve met, and share this art stuff, and provide a platform for T-shirt or flat-stock printing.”
Editor's note: This article was updated at 10:17 on July 24 to reflect that artist Tyler Krasowski is based out of Montana.
