Detroit, MI

Born and raised in Detroit, Melissa Dettloff is a printmaker motivated by process, color, and explorations of consumer culture. Her art practice began at six years old, when her mom enrolled her in after-school drawing lessons. First introduced to screen printing as an art student at Wayne State University, Melissa has been making screen prints for over 20 years. With her friends, she co-owned Ocelot Print Shop, a community screen printing shop in Detroit’s Cass Corridor, for five years. She has been teaching art and screen printing workshops for 10 years and maintains an art practice in her home print studio in northwest Detroit.

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Images of Work

Techniques

Screen Printing

Favorite Products

Speedball Fluorescent Inks: I use all the Speedball inks, but the fluorescent ones are my favorite! Great to use alone or for mixing vibrant custom colors.

Speedball Drawing Fluid & Screen Filler combo: I teach a lot of beginner screen printing workshops, and the drawing fluid + screen filler combo allows me to demonstrate screen printing in an accessible way that students can then easily go home and start printing on their own (no darkroom needed!).

Speedball Super Black India Ink: I make all of my transparencies by hand and the Super Black India Ink is great for filling in large areas and making impressions of objects to create texture.

Speedball Transparent Base: For all the fun color overlays!