news from the studio

Yesterday I hit the blog renovations with an unexpected enthusiasm. I had other plans - to print, in fact. But instead I pulled out the digital jack-hammer and hard hat and went to work. I think any further changes will require just a small trowel and perhaps a dust mop...until I feel the need for a change again. But it feels good, like a spring cleaning. I'd welcome any feedback about navigation and user-friendliness.

In the short time I was out in the print studio yesterday, I snapped some shots with the Hipstamatic app on my phone. A day in the life, en ambre.

I have so much planned for the next three months. It's been hard to find time to write, even though I have a million things to write about. So here are my top 10 things I want to tell you:

10. Newsletter! I've mentioned before that I'd like to start an e-newsletter for those interested in receiving one. It's finally coming together. Tiger Food Press will never send more than one email a month - so no spammy, crowded inboxes - and my intent is to keep you informed about upcoming events well in advance of when I might talk about them on my blog, as well as compile any other arts and crafts related happenings that might interest an arty-crafty person. On top of that, newsletter subscribers will receive special offers and coupons not available to non-subscribers. Sound like a good thing? I hope so!

If you have sent me an email in the past expressing interest in joining my mailing list, consider yourself subscribed. For those of you new to my blog, or newly interested in receiving a newsletter, fill out the handy new form in the sidebar! If you're unsure if you've signed up in the past, go ahead and sign up again. I'm looking forward to connecting with you!

9. Also new on the blog sidebar is a "subscribe by email" option to follow my regular blog posts via email. Isn't the modern world great?

8. I've been tweeting for a little while now, but now you can also catch me on Tumblr, where I micro-blog when I don't have time to create these long, meaningful, insightful, eloquently phrased, delicately sensible, full-length blog posts. (You know my tongue is planted firmly in my cheek, right? I just love to see myself ramble!)

7. I'm busy making a ton of work for the Rieke Art Fair Sunday May 1. I participated in this fair last year, and honestly, I was not well prepared. This year I'm cranking out new stationery, blank books, and prints, and I'm holding my breath!

6. OCAC Annual Spring Book Arts Sale! More details to come - but save the dates. Saturday May 14 and Sunday May 15. This year we're going for two days, and we're partnering with the more established metals and ceramics departments' sales.

5. Tiger Food Press is gearing up to expand its online retail and wholesale venues starting this spring and early summer. One - Big Cartel, is for sure, I'll be linking you up just as soon as the store is stocked. This venue will be for made-to-order social stationery, books and boxes. In other words, business card templates for semi-customizable and affordable letterpress options, semi-customizable wedding save-the-dates, albums and boxes with customizable cloth, retail packaging and labeling.

4. Also - a new, dedicated place to sell my artist books online! Details to emerge slowly and tantalizingly.

3. Phwew, almost there. The Bend Project, which I wrote about, albeit mysteriously, here. I'm researching and writing grants to fund this behemoth. But I think I may have a gallery set up to show the work in 2012! Yippee!

2. New Oregon Arts & Letters, the nonprofit arts organization, of which I am on the board of directors, is now publishing Plazm Magazine. Issue #30 will launch May 9, followed by the launch of Plazm.org, an online archive of Plazm Magazine, as well as being an archive of Pacific Northwest and national culture, design, typography, and arts editorial. We're working hard to enter content into the new platform to have Plam.org online and ready to browse.

1. And finally, The Hunt! For now I'll simply send you here to read about it. Believe me, I'll have much to tell you about this project soon. I've been having regular idea-generating sessions with a good friend of mine who also has an imminent show opening, and I'm really excited about where my piece is heading. Keep an eye out for announcements of this show which will open in early July at the Hoffman Gallery at OCAC.

push the reset button

The slacker's back! I haven't had much to report on over the last few days. I've been taking care of little bits of busy-work and doing some studio organization in preparation for a group of larger pieces I'd like to start working on in my spare time. I'll have another studio day to talk about tomorrow, but in the meantime, come down to Urban Grind tonight to take part in the next installment of the New Oregon Interview Series - tonight it's fashion night! See the link here.

Wednesday, January 27th, 7-8:30 PM, Urban Grind East, 2214 NE Oregon St., $5 admission.

The New Oregon Interview Series sits down with three Portland fashion designers to talk about their work and Portland's evolving fashion culture. A former Willamette Week fashion columnist and owner/designer of the English Dept., Elizabeth Dye has produced handmade ready to wear and bridal pieces since her first collection in 2001. Owner/founder of Portland Monthly’s 2006 Best Local Clothing line Sameunderneath for ten years, Ryan Christensen currently sits on the board of Caldera, a non-profit arts education and camp for underserved Oregon children. A collaborator in Portland’s The Collections and Fashion Week since 2001 and nationally distributed, Adam Arnold designs and creates two men and women’s lines of ready to wear and made to measure services from his Portland studio.

to reflect is to move forward

I've been sipping my coffee this morning thinking about the potential of this new year. The foundation has been laid to make the next few months extremely busy, productive, and madly creative. But so far I haven't laid out any hard and fast goals for 2010 and I have yet to obsess over any of the lists I typically generate and dwell on this time of year.

Last January, I created a list of tangibles that I wanted to achieve. I even set deadlines. Today I'm laughing as I look at that list seeing that I didn't achieve ANY of them. In fact, I completely abandoned most of those ideas by the beginning of February. What happened was a much more organic and thoughtful process, with some synchronicity, good luck, and a few setbacks thrown in. I rather deliberately took a step back from shows or participating in large productions other than a few choice projects, and I didn't apply for any grants or residencies.

To put the future in perspective, I thought about what I DID do in 2009. It turned out to be a year not of major, ground-breaking accomplishment, but of quiet, small steps that I think have set me up to move forward much more boldly in 2010.

So here are nine things from 2009 that I feel will shape the direction of Tiger Food Press in the new year:

1. I stopped deliberating and made Tiger Food Press an official business registered with the State of Oregon. Which was a result of:

2. I stopped fretting over my press' identity and began to break my own 'rules'. I'd been extremely indecisive about whether to keep Tiger Food Press a private press that occasionally does job work, or if I wanted to be a small job shop that occasionally publishes small press projects. Some days the difference felt like a minor technicality and other days it seemed that I would never bridge the gap. I eventually concluded that I should set no limits on what I can or cannot do with my press, and I'm already moving into 2010 with a lusciously full plate with a wide variety of projects in progress.

3. Website! Up! Tiger Food Press went online in a bigger way in 2009. I finally (finally!) built a website and got it online. In the coming months I'll be refining and adding to it, but it is up and working well.

4. Tying into and playing a huge role in my finally designing my site is my new logo designed by Precious Bugarin. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Precious! With a new logo I felt like I had something to build my site around, and it also adds unification to my online presence. I felt able to revamp my Etsy store, too.

5. I began working as a Studio Manager at the Oregon College of Art & Craft. This job, which is the perfect amount of part-time hours, has been rewarding to me in so many ways, not the least of which is being around so many hard working artists. I can't help but be driven to work harder in my own studio when I'm surrounded by the process of art making so intensely.

6. And speaking of process, being a part of a collaboration, again with Precious Bugarin, on her wedding line has been a blast and also extremely rewarding.

7. I became the chairman of the board of New Oregon Arts & Letters, which is producing the New Oregon Interview Series, carrying into 2010 - with more related projects in the works!

8. I was lucky enough to participate in three really wonderful print exchanges and donations, which helped me break my block around creating new work and also introduced me to many amazing NW print artists. I was also able to participate in some awesome local events like the Portland Letterpress Printer's Fair, Prints for Pica, and the Publication Fair at the Ace Hotel this December with Plazm and New Oregon Arts & Letters.

9. And finally - the most important by far - are the truly wonderful connections I've made and friendships formed in 2009 with more totally inspiring and enormously talented people than I've ever met in my life. More people than I can name have either come into my life in the last year, or strengthened the friendships already formed. I can't thank my friends enough.