Johnny Plastini

My vocabulary of etched planetary plates has been growing over the past few months

In conjunction with the annual illumination event of our Old Town trees for the season in Fort Collins, myself and Robert DiGrappa [CSU alum] will be exhibiting some kindred works at the Center for Creativity. The show is a pop-up titled “Tree Ring Circus” that will be open just through this weekend only. We will be participating with first Friday walks November 7th and the Saturday 30th anniversary of Art in Public Places at the Center for Creativity on the evening of November 8th from 6pm-8:30pm. I’ll also be hosting a free public participatory frottage workshop from salvaged tree cookies as part of the event. @csu_artandarthistory @csuliberalarts

It’s hop season and I just harvested 18oz of fresh organic cascade and centennial cones for a 10 gallon batch of American Rocky mountain barley wine. I’m using el dorado spring water, regional amber and Munich malts paired with a diastatic Lithuanian farmhouse yeast. I’ll be aging this one in a rye whiskey barrel sourced from a local distillery. Lithographic labels and bottling to come in December! Should weigh in at around 9.2% ABV with toffee and caramel maltiness balanced by a bergamot/citrus hop character.

I’m very grateful to have some parental leave away from campus this semester and have been a real homebody recently. Between the constant cycle of diapers and dishes, I’ve been preparing for a suite of four regional exhibitions this fall. The first exhibition opens tonight at the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art! I’ll be displaying three new etchings printed with viscosity alongside a number of friends and colleagues. Join us tonight from 5pm-7:30pm for an opening reception! @csugregoryallicarmuseumofart More information about my other upcoming exhibitions below: “All or Nothing: Minimalism vs. Maximalism” The Laboratory on Santa Fe, Denver, CO. (Juror: Chris Bullock, Denver-based curator and multi-media artist) September 5th -28th /about-1 “Here and Now: Recent Work by the Department of Art and Art History” Griffin Foundation Gallery at the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art, Fort Collins, CO. (Curators: Suzanne Hale, Collection Manager at the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art and Cecelia Kreider, Digital Fabrication Technician and active artist with MFA from Alfred University). August 27th – December 12th 2025 https://artmuseum.colostate.edu/events/recent-work-by-csu-art-art-history-faculty-staff/ “Tree Ring Circus” Carnegie Center for Creativity, Fort Collins, CO. [large scale two-person exhibition alongside Robert DiGrappa] mid-November /creativecenter/gallery WATER” National Print Portfolio Exchange [National Invitational Collaboration] (Organizer: Melanie Yazzie, Professor of Printmaking at University of Colorado, Boulder) A consistent edition of 20 lithographic prints were produced exploring historic Fort Collins watershed maps and socio-political concerns in-line with the portfolio theme. This portfolio is being displayed in various institutions across the united states. Regionally, the portfolio is currently displayed at the University of Colorado, Boulder and at Colorado State Univeristy throughout fall semester.

I crafted a custom catio 🐈‍⬛ over spring break.

“Where the telescope ends, the microscope begins. Which of the two has the grander view?” -Victor Hugo This can be taken literally with physical lenses of perception in the sciences, but also I view this concept figuratively and philosophically in support of a simultaneous outward looking at societal concerns and inward looking within one’s own self – likewise — an examination of the “bigger picture” and “smaller details”. Sometimes it’s important to feel small. Too many people in the history of our planet have chased the feel of the big and neglected the importance of the small. I have been working on a series of tiny etchings printed with viscosity that explore these concepts through zinc plates beveled to the diameter of ancient Roman coins: Denarius: 19-20mm Sestertius: 33-34mm Dupondius: 28-29mm There exists a valuable currency in small moments, especially those derived from acts of kindness. Afterall, we are floating in space on the third planet away from a mid-sized star. Our sun is one speck in a pile of billions of other stars in a mid-sized galaxy amid a vastness comprising billions of other galaxies. On the other side of the coin, however, there will never again be anyone exactly like you or a moment exactly like this in the history of the universe. Life is precious. @csu_artandarthistory @csuliberalarts

The new studio and guest space is finally up and operational! The first project completed in the new stüũd was a thematic portfolio “Tracing Memory” organized by Melanie Yazzie. @artistmelanieyazzie “Phaistos Misterioso” Relief Print from Tree Stump on Neenah Smooth Finish and RISOgraph on Stenograph Paper with interference pigments edition of 20 layered prints at 8” x 10” Project Statement Biological memory and DNA can be traced through lineage, but there are intangible instincts and intuitions inherent to our individual personalities that cannot be traced as easily with hard science. I am interested in the mysteries of our subconscious, collective consciousness, and other ways of being that extend far beyond ego or individual memory. The Phaistos Disk is a mysterious object that was created circa 1700BC on the island now known as Crete, Greece. Although the language of the Phaistos Disk is unknown, it bears forty-five pictorial signs, arranged in different combinations into sixty-one groups that presumably represent words. The signs were stamped in a spiral configuration on both sides of the disc by seals on soft clay, then fired at high temperatures. Expert Art Historians and Archeologists have not come to any definitive conclusion regarding the contents of the inscription, but many believe it is either a hymn to be sung or poem to be read in order to connect more deeply with the spirits of the natural world in hopes of fertility and prosperity for future generations. @csu_artandarthistory @csuliberalarts

I recently completed a project linking familial heritage and “family trees” to impressions printed by hand from trees in both California and Colorado. The first layer of this project was created monochromatically directly from an old growth scrub oak that succumbed to heart rot on my grandmother’s property in Carmel Valley, California. She passed away in March of this year and was the last of my grandparents, so this tree shared an apt poetic connection to place and specificity of the moment. After the impressions on-site in California, I brought these prints to Colorado and decided to layer colorful impressions from a large regional cotton-wood elm stump. The application of scumbled velvet flocking to the second layer of ink provides vivacity, new growth, immediacy and a physical presence to the confluence of visual information on large mulberry papers. Twelve prints in total, each with their own story and nuance as a variable edition. I personally view these works as a lineage of California to Colorado, generation to generation, a filtering of good vibes and overall optimism about the future. ✌🏼@csu_artandarthistory @csuliberalarts

Recent Viscosity Intaglio works from the past few days. Confini del Minuscolo Mondo [2" x 4" , 2" x 3" or so each] Edges/lines/borders/boundaries/blurring confines. I'm not a flat-earther, but is there actually an edgelessness to our world? Where does ‘outer space’ begin and the earth stop. Perhaps we are not isolated on an island planet, but rather one tiny microbe of a larger celestial body. Isn't this true of the mind/soul/energy/anti-matter as well? What is the difference between a line and an edge? Geoflux #26 [14" x 18"] Geologic phenomena in geologic time. Gelling of time like flowing water into toothpaste. Minutes layered into stratified millennia compacted into milliseconds. Maps of eons and endless maps. @csu_artandarthistory @csuliberalarts

I love making art outdoors, especially when it seems appropriate for the work. This edition of 36 called for some handmade papers that were hibernating since 2008. I made them in Santa Cruz from recycled pulp with redwood fiber inclusions a long time ago (15 years!). The sheets were just waiting for the right project in the here and now. I recently mixed up a fresh batch of handmade ink from Colorado ash and decided to print from regional wood end-grains on the handmade paper with the handmade ink. The resultant edition of 36 makes me think of how resilient and flame retardant the giant redwoods are and how they can be metaphors for the artistic spirit. Trees are books, measures of time, and information repositories. @csu_artandarthistory @csuliberalarts

Some late night viscosity frames 🖼️ in motion

The stiff dopamine hit from this article in the CSU campus monthly newspaper today certainly surpassed the one that I got when I received my tenure letter 😅😂. We are about halfway through this collaboration and will have 300 cans or so of steam beer with custom labels ready by November 🍻. Thanks to Jeff Biegert @csu_fermentation Roberto Muntoreanu @robertomun_ And all the students @csu_prints for putting up with my indulgence in working together on this absolute dream ✨collab this semester merging history, art, and beer 🥹. @csu_artandarthistory @csuliberalarts So stoked 🤙🏼✌🏼