James Milmoe Doesn’t Miss a Beat

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Jamming at the Cactus Club/Photo by Bob Reed

Reed Art & Imaging would like to extend belated happy birthday wishes to Denver photographer, teacher and lecturer, James O. Milmoe, who celebrated his 90th birthday at the Cactus Club in LoDo on April 21st.

“Jim was playing the drums when we walked in — I had no idea that he was a drummer!” said longtime friend, Barb Pullin “…and he was pretty good!”

Although the party wasn’t a surprise, the drum kit that Milmoe’s daughter, Robin, had waiting for him, was. It didn’t take any coaxing on her part for James to sit down and start jamming with the piano player. “I haven’t played in years!”, he told Betty Reed “It’s just like riding a bike!”

James Milmoe is good at a lot of things. Known for his trademark bolo ties (handmade by the man himself!) the photographer is equally well known for his outgoing personality and easy sense of humor and, of course, his many roles in the Denver creative community. His body of work is well-represented in practically every facet of modern media, including books, catalogs, magazines, newspapers, calendars, note cards, postcards, motion pictures and television.

In addition to being recently named as one of Westword’s 100 Colorado Creatives in Denver, Milmoe is a Fellow of the Photographic Society

At the Hal Gould Vision in Photography Awards/Photo by Sara Milmoe

of America, a recipient of the Colorado Governor’s Award, and a member of the American Society of Magazine Photographers. He also helped found the Colorado Photographic Arts Center (CPAC), so it should come as no surprise to anyone that he was honored this year with the 5th Annual Hal Gould Vision in Photography Award.

James is still working and exhibiting, with two recent shows, Up Close and Far Away: The Photographic Art of Jim Milmoe at The Pattern Shop Studio on Blake Street, Denver, and Stop/Look/See Photography by James Milmoe, at The Arvada Center.

Don’t forget to catch Jame’s appearance on the Arts District show on RMPBS, where he talks about what ‘Stop, Look and See’ can mean to the experience of looking at, not just the art of photography, but art and life in general.

Congratulations all around, James!

 

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Reed Art & Imaging’s New Space Has Been Acquired in the 40 West Arts District.

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After much searching, we have found a new home.

Due to expansion of Federal Blvd., we are losing our entire front parking lot. To maintain an environment of safety and convenience, we have to change locations. That’s the not-so-great news.

But the amazing news is that we will be relocating to the 40 West Arts District in Lakewood, Colorado. The new location is a mere five minutes west of our current

40 West is one of the fastest growing art districts, and we will be proud to call it home.

location in Denver, Colorado.

We are eager to start a new chapter in a city that fully supports the creative arts, and in an art district that is rapidly growing its ranks. The historic building, located at 8000 West Colfax Ave., was once the Lakewood Movie Theater. Listed in the Film Daily Yearbook of 1951 as seating 900. The Lakewood Theater was still open in 1955, but had closed by 1956. Eventually the theater housed a Volkswagen dealership, a furniture store, Yamaha motorcycles, then Harley Davidson motorcycles. We’re excited to bring the vibe of visual creativity back to this building.

As of the date of this post, the Harley Davidson dealership still resides in our soon-to-be-new location at 8000 West Colfax, Lakewood, CO while the finishing touches are being applied to their new building in Golden, Colorado.

We cannot begin our tenant improvements until the HD dealership vacates, and city permits for our changes are taking time. We’ll broadcast our grand-opening date as soon as we have it locked-in. Stay tuned by subscribing to our newsletter and following us on our social channels.

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Westword Article by Patricia Calhoun

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Patricia Calhoun of Westword penned a great article about our upcoming move to the 40 West Arts District:

http://www.westword.com/arts/reed-photo-moving-to-west-colfax-as-lakewood-snags-another-arty-enterprise-9099173

Stay tuned by <a href=”https://reedphoto.com/receive-our-e-info-newsletter/”>subscribing to our newsletter</a> and following us on our social channels. [social_web_link][/social_web_link]

We Have Moved!

by with No Comment FeaturedLatest ArticlesReed Art & Imaging is Moving

For the last four decades, Reed Art & Imaging has owned and occupied the building at 888 Federal Blvd., in Denver, Colorado. That is about to change for us.

Due to a roadway widening project, by the City and County of Denver, we will be losing our entire customer parking lot.

“Staying was simply not an option. Our customers often need to pick up large and extremely valuable prints. Without on-site parking , and little street

Soon to be our new location at 8000 West Colfax Ave., Lakewood Colorado.

parking available, there was no way we could accommodate them safely and conveniently,” said Owner Bob Reed, who in 1976 founded Reed in the basement of his Lakewood home with wife and business partner, Betty Reed. “Our goal now is to turn this challenge into an opportunity that will better serve our customers and increase our contribution to the local art communities.”

With this in mind, we are excited to introduce our soon-to-be location in the heart of the fast-growing 40 West Arts District in Lakewood, Colorado. Given their own Lakewood beginnings and love for the arts, Bob, Betty and the rest of the Reed family feels like the move is a coming home of sorts.

Board Chairman and Executive Director of the Lakewood West Colfax Business Improvement District, Bill Marino feels likewise: “We are thrilled to have Reed join one of the state’s fastest growing arts districts and help us continue our mission of revitalizing West Colfax.”

Added one of Reed’s managers, John Harris: “We are eager to start a new chapter in a city that fully supports the creative arts, and in an art district that is rapidly growing its ranks. The historic building was once the Lakewood Movie Theater and we’re excited to bring visual creativity back to this building.”

40 West is one of the fastest growing art districts, and we will be proud to call it home.

At over 20,000-square feet, our new home will have room for a gallery area that will allow us to display work from our amazing family of clients, like renowned fine artists Kathy Beekman, Carrie Fell, Karmel Timmons, and photographers such as David Muench, John Fielder, and Jeff Mitchum. There are just too many to mention.

We also plan to use the parking lot along the front of historic Colfax Avenue for pop-up galleries or art markets, where artists can set up booths to sell their work. The new building will also be an ideal space for hosting fundraising events for arts and culture-focused non-profits.

To best serve our clients, we plan to stay open at the 888 Federal location throughout the transition to our new home, less than five miles

We are working closely with the City of Lakewood to preserve the historic signage on the building.

and just a few minutes away. Minor renovations are being made to the new site and we’re currently working with the City of Lakewood to keep the building’s important historic signage intact.

Through the many chapters of Reed’s history, we’ve seen a great deal of change, but we have always been a team of artists and creatives who have striven to bring success to our client’s endeavors. As ‘Artists Working for Artists‘, that will never change.

As we near our move, we will announce our grand opening event. Stay tuned!

Family-owned and operated Reed Art & Imaging is a nationally recognized fine art printmaker based in Lakewood, Colorado. Established in 1976 to create elite-level photographic and fine art prints, the company is dedicated to helping professional artists grow successful careers by providing the finest quality editions and reproductions. To better realize this goal, Reed has developed the “TrueArt Process,” a methodology focused on maximizing the creative equity that artists of all skill levels invest in their work. Reed also provides mounting and lamination services, large format pigment, metal and photographic prints, graphic design services and final installation.

Reed Art & Imaging Announces Move to Lakewood’s 40 West Arts District

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NEWS RELEASE
June 13, 2017
For more information contact:
Lu Stasko, The Stasko Agency
303/477-9902 (Office)
720/404-4507 (Mobile)

For Immediate Release

Reed Art & Imaging Announces Move to Lakewood’s 40 West Arts District

— Long-running printmaker has acquired a new home on West Colfax Avenue —

DENVER, CO – Reed Art & Imaging, one of Denver’s oldest fine art printmakers, has purchased a new home in Lakewood’s 40 West Arts District. The company will move later this summer into an historic former movie theater at 8000 West Colfax, which currently houses a Harley-Davidson dealership. The move will provide Reed with more space and the ability to better showcase the work of their extensive client base.

Reed has operated out of its current location at 888 Federal Blvd. since 1979, but changes caused by the City of Denver’s Federal Boulevard Improvement Project, prompted the move. The project, which will add a third northbound lane between 5th Avenue and 14th Avenue on Federal and widen both the northbound and southbound lanes in that corridor, will eliminate Reed’s front parking lot, leaving it with insufficient parking for its customers and more than 30 employees.

“Staying was simply not an option. Our customers often need to pick up extremely valuable large format prints, so without on-site parking and with little street parking available, there was no way we could accommodate them safely and conveniently,” said Reed Owner Bob Reed, who founded the company in 1976 with his wife and business partner, Betty Reed. “Our goal now is to turn this challenge into an opportunity to better serve our customers and increase Reed’s contributions to the local art communities.”

At over 20,000-square feet, Reed’s new home has room for a gallery to display client artwork, some of which include such renowned artists and photographers as Karmel Timmons, John Fielder and Jeff Mitchum. Reed also plans to use its new parking lot along Colfax Avenue for pop-up galleries or art markets, where artists can set up booths to sell their work. Using the new building to host fundraising events for arts and cultural-focused non-profits is also a possibility.

“We are thrilled to have Reed join one of the state’s fastest growing arts district and help us continue our mission of revitalizing West Colfax,” said Bill Marino, Board Chairman and Executive Director of the Lakewood West Colfax Business Improvement District.

Reed plans to stay open throughout the transition to its new home, which is less than five miles from its current location. The company will be making minor renovations to the new site and is currently working with the City of Lakewood to keep the building’s historic signage intact.

“Many of Reed’s employees are artists and are passionate about pursuing their craft, so moving to an area that is focused on advancing artists and creative entrepreneurs feels like coming home,” added Bob Reed.

Family-owned and operated Reed Art & Imaging is a nationally recognized fine art printmaker based in Lakewood, Colorado. Established in 1976 to create elite-level photographic and fine art prints, the company is dedicated to helping professional artists grow successful careers by providing the finest quality art editions and reproductions. To better realize this goal, Reed has developed the “TrueArt Process,” a methodology focused on maximizing the creative equity that artists of all skill levels invest in their work. Reed also provides mounting and lamination services, large format pigment, metal and photographic prints, graphic design services and installation.

For more information visit www.reedphoto.com/moving

###

Reed Celebrates 40 Years

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anniv40th-fbbanner

We’ve seen great change in the decades since we opened our doors.

Some creative mediums have shifted away from slower technologies into faster methods that allow artists to move faster into distribution of their editions.  Forty years ago, the internet was used exclusively by educational and government institutions and the idea and personal computing was limited to geeks and hobbyists.   Every print we made was exposed in total darkness and editions required very long hours (and sometimes days) of repetitive burning and dodging.

Modern technology has simplified some aspects of printing but some things haven’t changed at Reed.

Today, because your hard-earned reputation hangs in the balance,  every print is still hand-inspected for quality assurance and carefully hand-packaged prior to shipping to you or your buyers.  We continue to package as eco-friendly as we can because the planet we share deserves our respect. You wont’ find excess inks, plastics, or manufacturing in our packaging – just for the sake of making it prettier. We strive to eliminate excess material waste from the beginning of your job through delivery to your door. And we source from recycled and reclaimed materials when it’s appropriate.

Holding on to the old-ways is a good thing.

We think that old-school craftsmanship still has a place in the world of fine-art editions – that technology should be seen as a tool and not a primary focus in doing business.  While many vendors in our industry push further into electronic automation, we continue to keep the human element of craftsmanship in the areas where it matters most.  And like the old-days, you’ll find we welcome open conversations between you the artist and those who make your prints, because your artistic vision is more important to us than putting up barriers. Yes we actually see you as important – not as an inconvenience.  Some values are worth holding onto.

Thank you for everything you have done to help our continued success in this industry!

Sincerely,

  The staff and family at Reed Art & Imaging.

Art Lenses and the Photographic Print – are you wasting money?

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Lightjet versus Lambda – are you wasting the money you spent on expensive art lenses?

Large format printing and why the LightJet is superior: It’s in the details – literally, The construction of the Lightjet is superior to the Lambda due to the ways that each device projects it’s laser light onto the photographic paper.

The LightJet loads it’s chromogenic print paper into a perfectly round, precision engineered drum with the laser beam that travels dead center along the axis of the drum’s circle.  This means the laser always strikes perfectly LightJetLamdaLaserCompareperpendicular to the paper, a perfectly round laser dot across the entire image area. The result is maximum sharpness and detail across the entire print – corner to corner, edge to edge.

Unfortunately the Lamda uses a stationary laser that swings in an arc as the paper moves along a track. This causes the laser to be “bologna cut” as it moves away from the center of the print towards the edges – creating longer and longer oval pattern. So the only perfectly sharp area of this print is precisely down the middle. As the laser moves towards the edges, the print increasingly suffers detail and sharpness loss. While this design allows for extremely long prints over ten feet, the loss of quality is substantial and noticeable.  Such print lengths provide productivity benefits to the company making the print, but not to the fine artist customer looking for the finest print available.

“For photographers who have invested in expensive art lenses to get edge to edge sharpness and enhanced IQ, it’s clear that the flat-transport technology is taking away the benefits you paid a bundle to get.” ~ John Harris: 30 year industry veteran.

We are a nationally recognized leader in fine-art grade large format archival printing for the professional Creative. We price competitively whether you need one print or a full edition, and our TrueArt™ Process guarantees your satisfaction.

Learn more about our chromogenic print options. 

Are you on trend with metal prints?

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You’ve heard about them, you’ve seen a few, but you’re still wondering what it’s all about.

Metal prints are exploding on the art scene and consumers are loving it!  Images printed on aluminum are modern, stylish and impactful and add a higher perceived value than flat prints.

So what’s the deal with metal prints?

I want to help you understand the differences in your choices.

The home version of metal prints

The craft version of metal prints is done with an ink jet printer.  Ink is printed on either a transfer paper or on an aluminum sheet.  (Not to be confused with metallic ink jet papers.)  The paper sheets are adhered to aluminum (or other materials) with heat.  The aluminum sheets are specially prepared to receive the ink.  The aluminum sheets are fragile being only from .005” up to .025” thick and should be mounted to another material to create a rigid piece.  This method compatible with most ink jet printers and while inexpensive is prone to fading.  This is a great option for craft projects.  There are strict size limitations based on the printer’s abilities and limited purchase options.

Dye Sublimation or Infused Metal Prints

This technology starts when a high-resolution full-color mirror image is printed on specialized transfer paper – sometimes called a carrier sheet.  This carrier is then is carefully aligned and heat infused with a specially coated aluminum sheet.  Through heat and pressure the inks are vaporized and drawn into the coating on the metal. When the transfer process is completed, the metal print is allowed to cool and the dyes are now locked into the coating.

The coating is applied in different surface textures and a choice of opaque white, or clear that allows the metal to show through. Currently Reed provides you with four choices of finished surfaces: white matte and white gloss as well as clear matte, and clear gloss. The white metal print options are the most popular as they look like most like a normal photograph.  Clear allows the metal to show through in the highlights for a distinct and eye catching effect.

The metal print coatings are quite durable, resistant to moisture and abrasion, making them an excellent choice for humid or high traffic areas. They are also more fade-resistant than ink jet prints and can be easily cleaned with non-ammonia glass cleaner. They can be used outside but should be kept out of direct sun light.

Dye sublimation by many accounts is considered an improvement over traditional ink-jet printing as it has higher saturation and contrast with a much richer black, and no visible dots.

This is a great print for the artist looking for quality, speed and affordability. Approximately 1/16”;  we have sizes available up to 48”x96”.

Finally, the metal product with the highest sharpness is called a Contemporary Metal Print.

This is a photographic print created by exposing latent image photo-sensitive polyester media to laser light, and then developing in a photo chemical bath. The print is archivally mounted to a rigid 1/8” thick aluminum plate using cold press adhesive and an amazing and eye grabbing glossy laminate that improves contrast, apparent sharpness and color that looks very high-end.

Because the media is polyester and not paper it is not prone to peeling like large paper prints can. Being a photographic process using lasers, there are no visible dots in the final print.

With the high level or sharpness and amazing visual depth, the contemporary is the ideal option for artists and their buyers with discriminating tastes.  Rigid 1/8″ thick aluminum available in dimensions up to 48″x96″

If you have further questions the group of talented artists at Reed will be glad to assist you.  We know how to collaborate with you and see your visions become reality.

The Difference Between Pigment Prints and LightJet Digital C-Prints

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Q: What is the difference between lightjet digital c-print and Giclee? Which is better quality? Thanks! ~ A. A.

LightJet uses laser light to expose chromogenic photographic paper, which is then chemically developed and fully cleansed to create the archival dyes that render the fine-art image.

Giclee printing uses electrical impulses to deposit archival pigments onto fine art substrates such as canvas or watercolor papers, similar in the way a home ink-jet sprays inks.

As for your question about which has better quality: Though you will find fans on both sides of the fence, neither is really lesser to the other for “quality” but they each have their differences that can be appreciated. Fine art photographers tend to prefer the LightJet Digital C-Print because the photographic print has a certain look and feel that works very well with the art-form and the color tends to be less artificially saturated and thus feels natural. Giclee Pigment Prints are often favored by fine artists due to the substrate selections of watercolor paper or canvas being closer to that of their original artwork. They both posses extremely high sharpness and wonderful color, contrast and detail. The Lightjet is continuous-tone and does not use dots, allowing for smoother tones and detail in highlights with richer saturation in the shadows. The Giclee Pigments allow for more mid-tone color saturation, especially in the yellows and magentas.

Lightjet and Giclee Pigment are both for reproduction of fine art, and exceed the quality of consumer level printing by significant margins. When combined with professional archival fine art substrates and the skills of a master printer the result is a genuine fine art print. Both prints are museum quality and as such, certificates of authenticity may be used with integrity.

Our LightJet and Giclee Pigment prints have been hung in fine art museums and the Smithsonian, so rest assured you are getting the “real deal’ in a fine art grade print regardless of your choice.

Staff Wheat-pasting for Month Of Photography 2015.

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Every two years the highly energetic creatives here at Reed turn things up to 11 when Month Of Photography(MOP) comes around. This bi-annual event has gone global in its reach and this year was no exception. MOP 2015 has seen large-scale gallery participation in support of photography as an art form, and the outdoor attraction of wheat-pasting is exploding in popularity. We’ll have a several posts covering activities around this event, but this bit of fun is one of our own.  This is the second time that we have made the exterior of our building available for wheat-pasting artists during MOP. An art form traditionally using black and white images on inexpensive paper, this year our team decided to go bold with a splash of color. We had a great time hanging the work of our in-house artists with a special section reserved for winners of our social media competition. This show’s curation and direction was handled by our own Barb Pullin and Gary Reed.

The reviews for this show have been mixed. Traditionalists don’t care for the color – some quite adamantly against it, while those willing to step outside of tradition are looking to embrace it in their works for the next MOP.   Have a look and let us know your thoughts. Should wheat-pasting be black and white only, or do you appreciate the color?

Update: We’ve had five pieces stolen from this show – peeled right off the walls!