The Printing Grounds is Making Ground

The Printing Ground is not your proper print shop. It’s a series of calculated guesses. It’s three roommates and friends who threw their dreams onto the wall to see what sticks. Newly graduated from college, Will Cushman, Kruz Karstedt and Nicholas Nicome wanted to get serious about making something creative work for them. After their opening in September, they’ve learned a lot about what it means to be working creatives. 

Their basement studio in the 2010 building on Hennepin is a sanctuary for friends, illustrators and printmakers. “Three of us imagined it and shuffled off into the darkness to where we thought it might be and we arrived somewhere we love,” said Kruz, an illustrator and videographer. Seeing their friends achieve in artist side hustles inspired Will and Kruz to start a project of their own. 

When they began, they were welcomed and encouraged by the community of artists and musicians they’d been enmeshed with throughout their college careers. The majority of work they currently receive is through word of mouth and social media. Nick Nicome is their assigned web designer and social media manager. They all fit the gaps left by the other person, and together, “busting absolute ass,” Will said, they make it work.

All working other jobs, all pursuing this creative outlet outside of them, they aim to make it their main gig, push art practices, gather people around printmaking and “build a portfolio with the homies,” Kruz said, moving forward with the belief that “if you have enough commitment to something, you can make it happen, somehow.”