First Friday for April falls on Aprils Fool's Day –– So we are printing fish!!!
Although the exact history of April Fool's Day is not known, it might be passed down from a Roman festival called Hilaria. (And isn't that hilarious - guess we know where that word comes from!)
April Fool's is also thought to have come from when we moved to the Georgian Calender from the Julian Calendar in 1582. In the Julian Calendar the year started with April 1st, the marking of spring. Not having the internet or even being able to read in 1582, many people were slow to know about the change of calendar, they went ahead and celebrated New Year's on April 1st. These "foolish" people thus began a tradition of playing pranks on the 1st of April!
In France,a favorite prank was to pin a paper fish to someone's back, as the young, spring fish can be caught more easily, are gullible and foolish. The day became known as Poisson d'Avril. Of course, we at Eugene Printmakers thought this was a perfect excuse to carve some fish blocks and print paper fish.
For April Fool's First Friday we will be at our Art City Studio,
160 E. Broadway in Eugene
5:30 to 7pm.
Come print a fish, we will have many blocks to choose from!