Inside the Art Price Studio. Screen printing machines, buckets of ink, shelving and devices used to warm the fabric after it has been printed on fill the space. (Mary Barghout)
Art Price, a screen printing artist in Northeast Minneapolis, did not expect to become “internet famous.”
He was surprised that his “talking to the camera” videos ever became widely viewed. These videos, originally meant to let viewers know about his screen printing studio, eventually came to highlight open weekends at the studio and opportunities for visitors to get “ICE Out” designs. (ICE, in this instance, refers to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.)
Left, Price teaches a volunteer how to print on the machines while a line forms outside of the studio in January 2026. (Northeaster file, Davis Steen)
These videos have garnered thousands of views and brought international attention to his screen printing “collaborative” tucked into a room in the Grain Belt Warehouse building.
In a phone conversation Wednesday, February 18, Price traced his journey to where he is now. It has been a bit circuitous, but he hopes it will lead to being able to be a venue for highlighting local artists in the future.
Price (whose name descends from the name of his father, Arthur Price Jr., and his grandfather Arthur Lowell Price) studied comic art at the Minneapolis College for Art and Design before switching to illustration. He didn’t know he would end up in screen printing, having only taken one screen printing class during his senior year.
But a life transition came along. Price left a former company and moved screen printing machinery to the Grain Belt Warehouse building. His amount of machinery increased over time. Since then, other things have expanded as well, including the number of volunteers.
Price said he now works with a range of 100 to 200 volunteers and tries not to turn anyone away, finding ways to give people something to do. This need to “do something” is similar to the drive he felt in light of Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis.
“You feel you have no power, can do nothing,” Price said. “You can do one thing. Bring something and get it printed on… (it’s) giving people a thing to do.”
Operations has grown exponentially from there. The Art Price Studio, with its six presses, is open every weekend, Friday through Sunday, for people to come in, garments in hand, and have one of their templates applied.
A shirt sits on a curing machine in the Art Price Studio. (Mary Barghout)
On a recent weekend, a volunteer with a booming voice brought out shirts and jackets in sizes ranging from toddler to adult. They asked the waiting “audience” for cheers, and the crowd obliged as the latest items were handed out.
It was a pleasant and warm environment. (Literally — the room with the presses was noticeably warmer.) Many people waited in the hallway or in a separate “drop-off” line, chatting, greeting familiar faces and appreciating the chance to come out and be with other people and go home with a “thing” to express shared frustrations.
The Art Price studio has gone from being a relatively unknown place to garnering international attention. In addition to the print work they do, they distributed bright yellow vests reading “Peaceful observer don’t shoot.” Price expects they will have nearly 10,000 vests in circulation by mid-March. Price suddenly has the eyes of the world on him, and he’s planning to keep things moving.
The open studio weekends will be ongoing until, Price says, “the watch groups say they are not being terrorized,” referring to community-organized groups dedicated to watching for ICE activity. Currently, he describes the weekly process as three days of printing and four days of volunteers resetting the studio.
When asked about what he wants the space to be in the future, beyond the current moment, Price responded: “I conceived of the space as a screen printing cooperative… teaching people to use the equipment… and collaborating with other local artists.”
Eventually, the studio will return to being a studio and might feature local guest artists. But in the meantime, it’s a space for the community to gather and “do something” with the many emotions that have come with Operation Metro Surge.
This idea of creativity as a conduit for community-building and service is not unique to Price’s family history. His grandfather, Arthur Lowell Price, a member of the 3rd Army Artillery Corps during WWII and who was at the Ardennes Forest during the Battle of the Bulge, once said, “Tell them I wanted to be of service.”
This family lineage of service — from fighting fascists in World War II to providing space for people to literally wear their rage on their sleeves during Operation Metro Surge — is present no matter what is next for Minneapolis.
Interested parties can bring a shirt to the studio and have it screen printed for free.
Art Price Studios, 77 13th Ave. NE, Suite #202. It is open Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sundays 2-7 p.m.