Fall is Falling

Fall is upon us, and I have some news! Once again, everything is reaching

criticalmass in a one week stretch.

1) My hilarious hottie of a girlfriend has been squirreling away with her computer, writing blog after blogof comic genius. And she is getting noticed for it! She is featured this week on DailyBrink.com. Included in the article are some pics I took, but more importantly, this is more exposure for her amazing writing. Beware: astute social commentary wrapped in an attractive package. Click on the image below to go right to the article:

And, bonus!!! The article was featured on AfterEllen.com's October 5th "Morning Brew".

2) This Thursday, as a part of the Nomadic Studio project, I am participating in a panel at the DePaul University Museum called:

Printmaker as Distributor, Collaborator, and Facilitator

DePaul University Museum, 2350 N Kenmore Ave.

October 7, 6-7:30pm

How does the history of print as a medium for the dissemination of information affect the role of contemporary printmakers? Does this draw more educators to the medium? How does the communal print studio affect the nature of artwork being created? Does the emphasis on technique, craft, and tools create an environment welcoming to new students or restricted?

Printmaker as Distributor, Collaborator, and Facilitator will explore the role of education within contemporary printmaking. Panelists will include Wrik Repasky, Coordinator of Printmaking at Harold Washington, Tom Lucas, Director of the Printmaking Department at Lill Street Art Center, and CJ Mace, MFA student through Columbia College Book and Paper program. The panel will be moderated by Angee Lennard, founder and director of Spudnik Press Cooperative.

This event is organized by the Stockyard Institute and Spudnik Press.

3) And, this Friday, an opening reception for the Chicago Printer's Guilds first show. I have a print installation created in collaboration with Sanya Glisic in the show:

Friday, October 8 · 6:00pm - 11:00pm

Chicago Urban Art Society

2229 S. Halsted Street

The first annual CPG show is taking place between October 8-17th! The Chicago Urban Art Society will be hosting over 40 Chicago-based printmakers, all part of the Chicago Printers Guild. The collection will include a wide variety of print-media including typeface, lithography and even some 3-D work. Please pass this on to all your friends and family and lets make the most of this exciting event!

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All in all, a little bit of something for everyone, whether you are in the Chicagoland area or not.

Wish you were here if you aren't!

Art on Track: Success!

All I have to say is, "Thanks Chicago for the wild ride!"....

Art on Track was a tremendous success. Spudnik's Press's group installation looked fabulous, moving with the movements of the train, as did the entire length of Train #8. The Spudnik Press end of the car included the work of Sanya Glisic, Liz Born, Michelle Mashon, and Nev Pilipovic-Wengler. Also in Train #8 was a local painter, Renee Robbins, and photographer Beth Mercer.

We raised a whole bunch of money for artist and commmunity access at Spudnik with the mini-print machines.

Angee Lennard, the Director of Spudnik, was busy printing woodcuts while the train was in motion.

Plus, there was a lot of coverage of the event, including documentation of the entire process by Six Inches from the Center, a local non-profit working to photograph and archive the emerging art scene here in Chicago.

We also got some mainstream media coverage, including a spot on the local ABC affiliate,

a piece on Chicago Public Radio's Eight Forty-Eight,

Eight Forty-Eight - Art Exhibition Circles the Loop

a little article on page 3 of the August 6th Chicago Tribune,

and an article in the Chicago Sun Times.

Thanks the few thousand people who were brave enough to try this unique art interaction!

Printers' Ball Coverage

Printeresting posted a great article about Printers' Ball, mentioning my demo on journal-making with the Chicago Books to Women in Prison and pics from the Collaborative Broadside Project:
http://www.printeresting.org/2010/08/05/the-printers-ball-2/

Leo-like End of Summer

What started as a lamb of a summer is going out like a lion, so help me celebrate my first year in Chicago at a few killer art events I am involved with in July and August:

a sneak peak of one of the printed fabric sculptures I will be installing

Here. It. Comes........

Sat. Aug. 7, 2010: Art on Track

8 Trains. 1 Track. Gobs of Artists.

Have you ever gotten on the L-train and something so strange was going down that you felt completely disoriented, unsure of where you were?

Well, get ready to feel that again. On purpose!

We will be circling the Loop for 5 hours on the Orange Line in trains converted into mobile art installation environments, each one with different artists and different approaches. Your ticket lets you jump trains to your heart's content as we circle downtown Chicago.

The details:

When: Sat. August 7, 2010 5-10pm

Where: Downtown Chicago, The Loop Orange Line, Entrances at Adams/Wabash and Washington/Wells

Admission: $10 at station (or get a 30% discount online when you use the promotional code AoTFriend at www.artontrack.com)

Car I will be on: Train 8(Addington Gallery)

Who will in our car:

Featuring:

CJ Mace

Michelle Mashon

Sanya Glisic

Liz Born

Nevena Pilipovic-Wengler

Renee Robbins

Addington Gallery

featuring: Beth Mercer

Like a marathon of art, we have only a few hours to install the whole train with, with no electricity and twenty minutes to de-install.

This is the Iron Man of Art. Come see how the race unfolds!

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July 30, 2010 The Printer's Ball: Print Loves Digital

The sixth annual Printers’ Ball, which this year takes as its theme “Print Loves Digital,” is an annual celebration of literary culture founded by Poetry magazine and other independent Chicago literary organizations. The Printers’ Ball is produced with the Center for Book & Paper Arts and the Student Affairs Offices of Columbia College Chicago.

FRIDAY, JULY 30, 2010 /// 6 PM TO 11 PM

THE LUDINGTON BUILDING

1104 S WABASH AVE

CHICAGO

Lots of magazines. Books. Posters. Galore.

Broadsides & busy beavers. Newspapers & weeklies.

Zines. Poetry, fiction & all that. Buttons, stickers

& more. Reading & performing, or something like it.

Red carpet. Screenings, Web things & digital

writing — electrified in general; because PRINT <3DIGITAL .

Making, inking, stamping. Getting hands dirty.

Dancing, music, DJs. Playing. All free.

+ Beer, food & revelry.

As part of the Printers' Ball, in a collaborative project organized by the Chicago Printer's Guild, the Center for Book and Paper, and Poetry Magazine, 20 artists were paired with 20 poets to produce a portfolio of broadsides to be released at the celebration.

In collaboration with poet Leila Wilson, my contribution can be seen below :

The portfolio release time has not been announced yet, so come to the party and view the portfolio while you are there getting your hands dirty with a little letterpress, screen printing, papermaking, and the Copy Jam!

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Sat., July 24th, 2010 Spudnik Press Celebrates 3 years!

Three Far Out Years

Spudnik Press Fundraiser and Celebration

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Open House

11-4 pm at Spudnik Press Cooperative,

1821 W Hubbard, Suite 308

Fundraiser and Celebration

at Happy Dog Gallery,

1542 N Milwaukee, 2nd Floor

6 pm – Midnight

Silent Auction ends at 10pm

This is the cooperative where I do a lot of my printing, especially my screen printing. They both provide a space for artists to print and do a lot of community education. Featured artists include:

Sanya Glisic, Rachel Niffenegger, Paul Nudd, Jeremy Tinder, Sonnenzimmer, Ellen Gradman, Sue Coe, Michael Miller, Andrew Blair, Cynthia King, Jeremy Lundquist, Wrik Repasky, Dutes Miller, Alex Chitty, Kathryn Rodrigues, Kim Heiney, Minna Sora, Angee Lennard, Jessica Taylor, Laura Szumowski, Liz Born, Brian Hoffmeister, Stano Grezdo, Pablo Phillipps, Erick Jurado, Dan Falco, Stacey Colangelo, Julia Hendrickson, Mischa Kegan, Daniel Mellis, Justin Santora, Jay Ryan (The Bird Machine), Tom Wilder, Matt Nichols, Hilesh Patel, and Fred Stone & Chris Flynn (donated by Anchor Graphics, a program of the Art & Design Department at Columbia College Chicago).

With music by New Now Know How and DJ Tomeeo.

The P.I.T 5x7 Box is Available!

It may be summer break, but Pulp, Ink, Thread, the graduate student group of the Interdisciplinary Book and Paper MFA program at Columbia, has a new publishing project now available for sale. This project is a fundraiser, proceeds going to group activities like visiting lecturers andprofessional development trips. This is an awesome taster project by a great group of artists with more work to come. To view this project or if you are interested in purchasing this project, please e-mail me.

screenprint on handmade abaca, hemp, flax paper

screenprint on Lettra

Contributing artists:

Haley Nagy

Maggie Puckett

Don Widmer

Daniel Mellis

CJ Mace

Amy Rabas

Trisha Martin

Jana Sim

April Llewellyn

In addition to designing and printing the cover and colophon, my contribution to this project is Mantis Mash-Up!, a lasercut, screenprint that can be pulled apart to make a modular sculpture. How you put it back together is your choice!

The First of the Pics--Live!

Here is a preview of the Open Studio. I ducked out for a second to post a few images:

Long view of Signal Mirror 1

Close-Up

Kaitlin Kostus in Manifest Regalia

Books can be touched!

One Year Down, Two More To Go: Open Studio Event at Columbia College, Chicago

Announcing a very special event to celebrate the end of my first year of graduate school. My peers and I will be showing off the work we have produced over the last two semesters at the:

Interdisciplinary Arts MFA

Open Studios

Columbia College-Chicago

Friday, May 14th, 2010

1pm-3pm

Media

916 South Wabash

Second Floor

Rooms 204 & 205

4pm-7pm

Book & Paper

1104 South Wabash

Second Floor

Papermaking Studio

Featuring the Work Of:

CJ Mace

Victoria Bradford

Jenny Garnett

Kaitlin Kostus

April Llewellyn

Daniel Lubniewski

Haley Nagy

Michael St. John

Daniel Mellis

As you can see by the announcement, there are two buildings of fun.

My print projections and animations, a new body of work for me, will be installed in the papermaking studio of the 1104 S. Wabash on the second floor. I would love to see you, have a conversation, and hear feedback about these new pieces.

Many of you do not live in good ol' Chicago, so if you cannot attend the event, please come back here to Studio High Horse to see pics. They will be posted shortly. The animations and projections will also be posted on my flickr page.

Hope to see you there!