In 1991, AFH
co-founders began designing, screenprinting and selling graphic
tees in order to fund our first projects of the newly incorporated
Artists For Humanity. But, instead of the cool Artists For Humanity- The Store, now
open in Historic Faneuil Hall, all the tees designed by co-founders Jason
Talbot, Rob Gibbs, Damon Butler and Carlo Lewis were sold out of a push-cart
they parked in front of the old Filene’s in Downtown Crossing! They had
the good sense to know--success in sales
depends on "location, location, location." After seeing the
public’s interest in the AFH “Salted” tees, Filene’s asked the teens if they’d
like to sell their shirts inside their store, which led to a commission
of an AFH store display and a cool mannequin Jason made out of recycled wire.
Eventually, Filene’s sold out of the designs, but by then the
AFH team knew they were on to something big!
We can screenprint all kinds of things!
Then, thanks to a serendipitous meeting with Tom Kershaw,
owner of Cheers Boston, Susan and her team of early
AFHers began screenprinting their t-shirts through Kershaw’s company. And
who should work for Cheers, but our current Screenprinting Director and Special
Projects Coordinator, Tom Donovan and Graphics Project Coordinator and
Mentor Joe Ramirez! These talented friends officially joined the
AFH team in 2006 and 2008 respectively and have been enormously
influential in the growth of our t-shirt sales, and ability to produce t-shirts
in-house at the Screen Printing Studio in the EpiCenter.
Meet Tom Donovan!
Since our early push-cart days, AFH Screenprinting not
only custom-creates AFH t-shirts, but also for
a wide variety of clients including Jasper White’s Summer Shack, State
Street, Eastern Bank, Pappas Enterprises, and the Boys and Girls Club.
And best of all, AFH clients have access to the freshest designs and
coolest graphics created by the talented teen artists in the
EpiCenter's Graphics Studio.
Under the mentoring of Tom and Joe, AFH currently
employs a group of hard-working screenprinters. A special shout out
to Donnell Baez, Vanessa Rios, Jose Hernandez, Supien
Almeida, Ramon Hildalgo, Chris Rogers, Emilia Lima, and Daniel Martin!
Together they produce 52,000 tees a year that helps support all
our AFH programs!
Lexi's shows off the infamous Bahk Bahk shirt designed and produced by AFH teens-artists!
Carlson points out Screenprinting's meticulous craftsmanship.
Meet Screenprinting's mascot, Alejandro!
Strike a pose!
Take a moment to get to know Tom Donovan in the interview below, filmed and edited by AFH teen-artist Nathan Allen. And be sure to stop by AFH-The
Store in Faneuil Hall to check out the popular Bahk Bahk Boston Terrior t-shirts
(We’ve sold 1317 since our grand opening in May!) or schedule a tour to
come by the EpiCenter and meet all of our screenprinters, artists, and staff
who have helped keep AFH thriving for over twenty years!
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