NORTH ADAMS — The Gravity Press: A squat, hulking piece of machinery, capable of printing 4-foot by 8-foot images with a single crush.

Imposing, yes — and attractive, too. Built years ago by master printmaker Dale Bradley, the one-of-a-kind monoprint press, affectionately known as the "Monster," has quite a reputation, and artists from all over the country — and beyond — flock to the Beaver Mill to use it.

The press's scale — its printing surface is bigger than most futon mattresses — lets its users make unusually large printed images. And the press has both created — and inspired — a colorful collection of monoprints by Robert Schechter, an artist who lives and works in Lenox and Manhattan. The series will be on display in July, August and October in the brand-new Beaver Mill Gallery — which officially opened yesterday — and is located in the space formerly occupied by the Contemporary Artists Center.

And the Monster Press is, conveniently enough, located just down the hall from the gallery.

"Finding a press like this is not easy," Schechter said.

Schechter has been coming to North Adams for over a

decade to use the press, and he only recently finished construction of his studio on Kemble Street in Lenox — "I move slow," he said, as he wandered around the gallery yesterday — and he noted the large prints featured in the show are all made with watercolors.

The medium doesn't sound like an unusual choice, but any hardcore printmaker will tell you that the materials often used in lithography and intaglio — oil-based inks, acetone, turpentine, and the like — are ultimately harmful to the artist and the environment.

"I came all the way here from New York, where it's so polluted," Schechter said. "I want to use non-toxic materials."

Fellow artist and Beaver Mill gallery director Kendra Lichtenwalner — another Monster press aficionado who has returned, from her home in Oregon, to North Adams after a nine year absence — said there was a "huge movement" among visual artists, particularly on the West Coast, to use environmentally safe materials.

And Schechter, she said, was "ahead of his time" in his practice of using watercolors.

"I haven't seen anyone making watercolor prints this size," Lichtenwalner said. "That's unique."

Back in the Monster Press room, Pat Durr of Ottawa, Ontario, is using a small roller to spread out a skin of vibrant lithographic ink; like Schechter, she tries to avoid toxic inks, and the press — which uses an up and down "sandwich" style method of force, rather than a traditional roller method of pressure, is ideal for the watery inks she prefers.

And how does one work the press?

Schechter gestures toward the eight levers surrounding the press bed — "get on them and pump like hell," he said with a laugh.

The artist also noted that the giant press — and its bucolic location — had a tonic influence on him and his work.

"I have work (made in New York City) that's actually described as 'brooding and dark,'" he said, looking at the splashy bleeds of color in his Beaver Gallery work. "Can you believe it?"

The Beaver Mill Gallery, located at 189 Beaver St. (Route 8) is open Thursday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Call 662-2540 for more information.

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Jessica Willis can be reached at jwillis@berkshireeagle.com or at (413) 664-4995.