On tap Aug. 14 in Columbia: Arts and Draughts

Andy Warhol was the prince of prints.

Using screenprinting, he would pick a photograph, blow it up, transfer it onto a silk screen and then roll ink across it onto his chosen canvas.

At the time, this assembly-line process was used for things like T-shirts and greeting cards, but never fine art.

Until Warhol came along.

See the process for yourself, from 7 to 11 p.m. Friday at Arts and Draughts at the Columbia Museum of Art.

The University of South Carolina’s printmaking group Ink & Paper will be on hand, making screenprints throughout the night. Ask them questions, try it out, and create instant art to take home.

“When you create it by hand, it’s exciting,” Ink & Paper’s faculty adviser Mary Robinson said. “We’re used to printing things from a computer printer, and you don’t see the process. You just see paper come out with the image on it.”

With screenprinting, one color is printed at a time, so several screens are used to produce a multicolored image or design. That’s how Warhol got his colorful grid of Marilyn Monroe, one of his first screenprints.

“We all get a sense of what happens with painting, but less is known how printmaking works,” said Joelle Ryan-Cook, the museum’s director of external affairs.

Several Ink & Paper students put their skills to work and created five large-scale screenprints of Columbia community members for “Identity,” a show opening Friday in the community gallery.

The show features works by local artists Michaela Pilar-Brown, Ed Madden, Betsy Newman and Alejandro Garcia-Lemos, with whom the students worked.

Once you’ve gotten your printing fix, there’s still plenty of fun to be had. We’re talking scavenger hunts, figure-drawing, food and specialty beer.

Oh, and don’t forget to wish The Whig a happy birthday, as this is their night, too. Check out the schedule, and plan your night accordingly.

This story was originally published August 11, 2015 at 5:12 PM.