Masters of the Art

By Bob Neubauer

While wide-format printing is a growing service for nearly every in-plant, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Printing Division has developed a unique and successful niche that serves a vital need for the Church. The in-plant has a fine art reproduction and custom framing operation, staffed by 16 associates, where it produces more than 10,000 pieces of artwork each year for the Church’s temples and meetinghouses worldwide. These are copies of colorful paintings depicting scenes from the Bible and the Book of Mormon.

“The fine art area is a heavy support of the temple area,” notes Director Steven Lewis.

With 171 operating temples, 55 under construction or renovation, and 74 more on the drawing board, the need for artwork is strong. Plus, says Lewis, temples change their artwork every five years or so.

To print all this artwork, the in-plant uses an HP Latex 1500, an HP Latex 570, and an Epson SureColor P20000. Each piece is printed on canvas, and most are mounted on foam core and then framed.

“It entails a lot of color management to make sure we’re replicating the artwork as the artist intended,” Lewis remarks.

Barry Duran working in the Church's custom framing operation.

Rebecca Hettich working in the Church's custom framing operation.

Scott Briggs working in the Church's custom framing operation.

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Bob Neubauer Author's page

Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 170 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.