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Christopher Kardambikis on the Power of Print, Publishing, and Possibility

Lakin Raybuck — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 17:27:21 +0000

Christopher Kardambikis on the Power of Print, Publishing, and Possibility Lakin Raybuck Mon, 06/02/2025 - 13:27

In This Story

Christopher Kardambikis never set out to create work that would sit behind glass or live in private collections. Instead, he found his voice and purpose through publishing zines, artist books, and prints—things people could hold, trade, collect, and care about without needing a trust fund.

Now an associate professor and director of studio art at George Mason �鶹��'s School of Art, Kardambikis brings that same ethos into the classroom. He teaches printmaking, book arts, and a deeply collaborative publishing minor that opens students up to something much more tangible than the "starving artist" cliché.

"I want the work to be distributed," he says. "I want normal people to actually access it."

It's a perspective shaped not just by art school or gallery walls but by real-world experiences that most students never hear about. Before coming to George Mason, Kardambikis worked as an artist's assistant and then at an art shipping warehouse in Long Island, New York. His job? Packaging up expensive artwork and preparing it for storage, sometimes indefinitely.

"There's so much work that just sits in crates," he recalls. "These paintings get bought by wealthy collectors, but no one ever sees them. They're not even being enjoyed. They're investments, sitting on shelves."

With print-based art, he found a medium that could move freely, outside the confines of exclusivity.

Christopher Kardambikis of George Mason's School of Art. Photo provided

His long-running podcast Paper Cuts was born from that same spirit of access. Launched initially during his artist residency at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, the project started as a way to interview zinesters and small press artists as an excuse to talk to people about the books they make. Over the years, it's grown into a traveling platform for community, collaboration, and archival storytelling.

It also gave him a way to connect. "When I moved to new cities—Pittsburgh, San Diego, LA, New York—I always started a publishing project. That's how I made friends. That's how I met people and became part of a scene."

At George Mason, he's helping students see how print and publishing can do the same for them.

Students team up with working artists, presses, and organizations across the region through the School of Art's Dynamic Publishing minor. They produce real books, collaborate with local creatives, and watch their work move from concept to finished product—all while developing a skill set that's adaptable, entrepreneurial, and community-focused.

And while he's quick to point out that not everyone needs to start their own press, he wants students to understand the range of what's possible. He introduces them to people building careers through small studios, cooperative print shops, local arts education, and community-centered creative work.

"You're not limited to being in a gallery," he says. "You don't have to wait for someone to give you permission."

One of his goals is to help students see just how resourceful they already are. In his classes, students don't just learn the techniques. They learn how to plan, produce, and problem solve, often using materials or processes far outside traditional expectations. "You learn to do the research, figure it out, and follow your vision wherever it leads. That's not something you can teach in theory. You have to live it."

He also believes deeply in the relevance of physical work in a digital-first world. Books, he says, still matter. Maybe now more than ever.

"Websites disappear. Apps go away. But books can last hundreds of years. They're solid. They hold stories. They're touchable, tangible, real."

It's not about resisting technology. It's about remembering that the physical and the digital don't have to be at odds. In fact, for many of his students, learning how ink interacts with paper changes how they think about design altogether.

"Once they've made something by hand. Once they've printed it, folded it, held it, it shifts how they understand what they're doing," he says. "It gives it weight."

And for Kardambikis, that's the point: helping students create work that carries weight not just on the page but also in the world.

Topics

School of Art

College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA)

innovative classes

Campus News

minors

Engineering, Carter School students give peace a chance

Nathan Kahl — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 18:51:26 +0000

Engineering, Carter School students give peace a chance Nathan Kahl Tue, 07/23/2024 - 14:51

Learn More About the Minor

In This Story

Incoming college students are increasingly concerned with social justice, conflict resolution, and sustainability. These are byproducts of being raised in an interconnected, interdisciplinary world, where they’ve been taught to consider the downstream consequences of their actions and decisions.

Engineering students like the Engineers for International Development group pictured here on a clean drinking water project in Ecuador served as inspiration for the new minor. Photo provided

In response, the George Mason �鶹�� College of Engineering and Computing (CEC) and Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution are now collaborating on a minor in peace engineering. The minor’s germination comes from numerous places but was pushed forward initially by Liza Wilson Durant, CEC’s associate provost for strategic initiatives and community engagement, and Alpaslan Özerdem, dean of the Carter School.

"I advised students in Mason’s Engineers for International Development chapter on developing engineered solutions to community problems in remote lands in Central America,” said Durant. “The engagement with community members and the work to understand the needs of a vast number of community stakeholders was as important as the final engineered solution. It occurred to me that we could bring that kind of understanding to the classroom for more engineering students through collaboration with the Carter School.”

Jane Walker, director of undergraduate student services for the Carter School, said the minor is ideal for students of both colleges. “The engineering students will better understand culture, people, and the complexity of their interactions, and Carter School students will better understand systems thinking and engineering design. Understanding design process helps with problem solving.”

Walker noted that their students have shown interest in adding to their expertise in conflict analysis with skills in project management and technical considerations, which they could get from classes that make up this minor.

Durant was inspired watching students tackle problems in Central America.

According to the university website, the minor “brings together expertise in systems-level science, engineering principles, and conflict resolution practice to support conditions for peace. It prepares students to engage in projects with conflict sensitivity and to understand the engineering technologies and approaches impacting human systems.”

“When I pursued my civil engineering degree in Istanbul during the late 1980s, our curriculum offered limited engagement with socio-economic and cultural issues,” said Özerdem. “Although we had the opportunity to select a few electives that touched upon these topics, the primary focus remained on the technical and structural aspects of civil engineering.”

Rajesh Ganesan, an associate professor in the Systems Engineering and Operations Research Department, explained how systems engineering approaches are useful. “As we look at conflict on the whole from a global perspective, and think of all the huge factors that play a role in any crisis, we want to incorporate systems thinking into conflict analysis," he said. "It’s important for our students to have those systems thinking approaches.”

Özerdem, an engineer by training, wants students to develop holistic approaches to problems.

Özerdem said, “The disciplinary focus has evolved from a narrow technical lens to a more holistic approach that embraces flexibility and interdisciplinary learning. This shift has been a response to the growing recognition that the challenges we face today—ranging from climate change and urbanization to social equity and global peace—cannot be adequately addressed by any single discipline alone.”

Ganesan added that increasingly students are asking for courses related to things like climate change, global conflicts, energy sustainability, and more. He said, “These words were nonexistent previously. If you had asked me six or seven years ago, nobody spoke about these things, but now the students are asking for them, and we have other pushes, like from the Dean’s Advisory Board.” He said the advisory board, students, and alumni are the key sources of feedback on curriculum change.

For students looking to graduate on time, the minor only requires 15 more credits, of which eight are unique. A student may complete the minor by adding three classes and no more semesters.

Özerdem has a strong vision for the minor. “In the coming years, we hope to see it become a flagship program attracting a diverse and dynamic cohort of students from across the university,” he said. “�鶹�� goal is to build a robust and supportive learning environment where students from different disciplines can collaborate and learn from one another, fostering a culture of innovation and interdisciplinary excellence.”