Marilyn Manson – Seattle, WA 2013

Powerslide Design Co. is the brainchild of Seattle-based graphic designer Mike Klay. A musician and an outdoorsman, his collection of manually screen-printed posters and tees evokes the beauty of nature and the energy of music. Hailing from the South Bay Area in California, "I currently reside in Seattle where it doesn't rain as often as you think. The Pacific Northwest is a frequent backdrop for my art. What began as a silk-screened concert poster has turned into art prints, shirts and other various merchandise." Music has always been a driving force behind a lot of the ideas that Klay puts on paper. In high school he picked up a guitar and learned a couple of notes until he eventually starting laying down beats on a drum kit. After graduating from college and moving to Seattle, there was no way that Klay could play drums in an apartment. The drums were sold and the money was used to purchase a pair of Technics MK1200's. Turntables were Klay's natural progression in music and also a way to keep his neighbors happy. Eventually the turntables became singular and an acoustic guitar was added to the mix. Whether it be the music he listens to while working, Screen printing is a printing technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink-blocking stencil. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink or other printable materials which can be pressed through the mesh as a sharp-edged image onto a substrate. A roller or squeegee is moved across the screen stencil, forcing or pumping ink past the threads of the woven mesh in the open areas. Screen printing is also a stencil method of print making in which a design is imposed on a screen of silk or other fine mesh, with blank areas coated with an impermeable substance, and ink is forced through the mesh onto the printing surface. It is also known as silkscreen, seriography, and serigraph.