Everything seems to become art under Spencer Hansen’s hands. His collaborative efforts with other Richmond artists, known as Team 8, have turned out painstakingly gorgeous, illustrative screen-printed posters, t-shirts, comics, book covers… even the how-to PDF that Spencer prepared as a silk screening tutorial features vector drawings artful enough to be reincarnated for the wall. (And they were! There’s a triptych of the squeegee process layered over an angiogram in the Team 8 portfolio; it’s called “Serigraphy.” Guess what that word means, boys and girls.) The “team” is actually made up of all the artists who have joined Spencer in making print work—it started in 2003 as a group of four VCU art students who, as they were nearing graduation, realized that it was going to be difficult to find the motivation to create once they had no due dates or group feedback. Since then, it’s grown and reshaped into a “publishing company for screen printed materials,” Spencer says. He’s essentially the backbone of the operation now, especially since the action takes place largely in his basement. “It’s a very good excuse to have people over and get excited about doing work.”

Basically, Team 8 is a collective through which artists from all disciplines can learn to screen print, share ideas during the process, and get that work shown at shows and conferences. If a member of the group gets good press, that helps pull everyone else along, too. “It’s such a Richmond thing, really,” Spencer notes. “A lot of people here have that group-oriented energy...they’re always up for the team effort.” Apparently, since he’s up to his neck in printing projects until November. From time to time, he throws in activities like in-house screening workshops or demos in the community—Team 8 participated in the Repressed show at Gallery 5 in March, squishing ten people into the basement studio where their newfound print giddiness carried them two hours over schedule. That kind of thing is totally in line with the Team’s philosophy that everyone should be able to learn and make; it’s why the Web site (http://www.team8press.com) and the blog (http://www.team8press.blogspot.com) offer information on how to get started as a screen printer, process tips and tricks, and other artists’ projects and experiences.

The latest group-based project were comics: the “Mini Comic Creator Showcase Series One,” as their site delineates, comprised of six books with color-screened covers by Team 8 members James Callahan, Meg Gandy, Patrick Godfrey, Rawn Gandy, Mariyah Pantyukhina, Tom Batten and Matt Deans. Get ‘em at Velocity while they’re still around—they’re all different, all beautiful, and awfully cheap. If you’re interested in talking to Spencer about his projects or the possibility of working with Team 8, email him at . “Everyone who makes something with us becomes a part of the team. That relationship never stops.” That’s the spirit.