Alday, who prefers Christopher, is in the final stretch of his two-week residency. His work treats printed paper not merely as a surface for images but as a three-dimensional object to be cut, folded, sanded, collaged, or even frozen.

“I really want to help artists understand that the medium we use ultimately is paper, and that paper is an object,” he explained during a recent interview in the cool cellar studio.

Cellar Press, located in the basement of The Grand, is a fully equipped letterpress and printmaking studio featuring a 1938 Kluge Press, multiple Vandercook proofing presses, a Takach etching press, platen presses, and extensive cases of wood and metal type. The studio was dedicated to the late Mary Anne Gross and established with help from local donors and experts including Andy and Zach Kahmann of A-Z Letterpress.

Alday discovered the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) through National Portfolio Day while working part-time reading gas meters in Montclair, California. He earned a BFA in Print Paper Book, drawn to the program’s focus on printmaking, paper making, and bookbinding without mandatory painting classes.

Cristopher Alday (left) with Cellar Press Program & Studio Coordinator Tegan Daly and intern Eliza Ploghoft in the studio at The Grand. The team works together in the historic letterpress space during Alday’s two-week residency. Photo by Amy Zents

“I was also interested in not learning how to paint,” he said.

He remained in Minnesota since 2010 and serves as assistant director of admissions at MCAD. As part of his job he travels to high schools across the country.

“It’s funny how many high schools you attend and how few want to go to school for it,” Alday observed. “Even in art class, maybe five students will actually pay attention to what you have to say about an art education.”

He appreciates Minnesota’s supportive arts ecosystem.

“The amount of support that all the arts have, whether it’s performance, visual arts, music, or writing, is all so encouraged,” he said. “There’s just too much opportunity with fewer people in Minnesota than there are in Los Angeles or California.”

In the studio, Alday immersed himself in The Grand’s type collection.

“I really like letterforms as objects or shapes,” he said. “I sometimes think about setting the type in the press bed as creating small, impermanent sculptures that I then print as evidence of that sculpture.”

He prints small editions of about 10 approved pieces.

“It feels like an ouroboros, the ancient symbol of a snake eating its own tail, to constantly make stuff and destroy it,” Alday said. “I find discarded things really charming.”

His experimental practice includes printing on both sides of paper and adding balloons to the corners so that, at the opening of a show, the print flips up and viewers can see both sides. “As the day progresses, the balloons deflate and you only see one side of it,” he explained.

“So if you didn’t get there early enough, you don’t get to see both sides of it,” he said.

Last Saturday he led a popular free drop-in collage workshop at the New Ulm Farmers Market where he provided materials and challenged participants to create a collage in just 5 minutes.

Cellar Press Program & Studio Coordinator Tegan Daly praised having a dedicated letterpress artist in the space.

“We don’t get as many letterpress printers applying to the residency as people working in other kinds of printmaking,” Daly said. “We have some really great equipment here, so it’s nice to see someone using it” in such a distinctive way.

Cellar Press intern Eliza Ploghoft of Lake Crystal is gaining valuable hands-on experience during the summer.

Alday encourages locals to stop by The Grand.

“If you don’t know what’s at the Grand, I think it’s worth stopping by and walking through at the very least,” he said. “When you get to Celler Press, you will see machines that all work that anyone can use at any time.”

Joe Weckworth, from administration at The Grand, describes the Artist in Residence program as an essential initiative.

“It’s wonderful,” he said. “It’s just a great way for us to be able to live out our mission of actually reaching and providing opportunities for artists. It’s just one of those core programs that makes sense in place.”

The program gives artists accommodation and two weeks of uninterrupted time to focus on their work.

The two-week Artist-in-Residence program at Cellar Press gives artists dedicated studio time and encourages a community project. For more information, contact cellarpress@thegrandnewulm.org or visit thegrandnewulm.org/cellar-press.