Steve Walters, 57, is a Chicago artist and screen printer. In 1991 he founded Screwball Press, which he still runs today; it’s come to be recognized as a pioneering and influential local institution in the business of screen-printed rock posters. He creates original art for bands and venues and does production printing for other artists’ projects. This past fall he opened Burgoo, a shop and gallery space in Rogers Park.
I didn’t study art at school. I always kind of messed around with it—I mean, it’s in the family. My grandfather was an artist. He painted his own stuff, and his job was doing illustrations for magazines and catalogs and stuff like that.
There were a lot of good shows going on then. Red Red Meat was a big band for me. I don’t know what I’d be doing now without the encouragement of the people at the Lounge Ax back then. I loved most of the bands that they booked there. I met the Coctails and got to see their practice loft, and they were doing letterpress stuff there and making all their own merch—so that was really inspirational for me.
It’s hard to guess what 2021 will bring. I’ve been trying to do my own art for fun, but I’m finding that I really relied on having deadlines to get stuff done. Anything I can do to get by and get through this—short of getting a real job. After 30 years of this, I don’t really have any skills that are useful in the real world. To be honest, there are days that I would kill for a real job, to not have the responsibility of doing everything. But mostly I like working for myself. v
