The End of the Road

figure 1: The end of the road.

Almost every year I participate in an annual print portfolio exchange with the fall printmaking class at OCAC. Almost every year my print has a car on it.

Go figure, yeah?

Belatedly, The Hunt, Part I

The Hunt is coming down today. It's a testament to my procrastination that I have yet to really talk about it, which is in part due to the fact that I have a lot to say and I'm not sure where to begin. In truth, though the show has run its course at OCAC's Hoffman Gallery, I believe the project itself has a long-term trajectory that will take it many places.

Briefly, the project was based on a scavenger hunt, facilitated by Beth Robinson of Robin Press. This is how Beth began describing her idea for The Hunt:

“Scavenger Hunt”

Do you remember as a child going on a scavenger hunt? The challenge of looking for things with a map, compass or trusted instinct, combined with pure exhilaration? Then the enjoyment of the found object while sharing the adventures tale. I would like to propose a scavenger hunt with a group of artist in the Oregon Health and Science University’s Historical Collections & Archives.

Continue reading The Hunt story here.

And a really nice article written by the Oregon Health Sciences University archives staff about the opening can be found here.

These are a few snapshots of my piece in the show. They are monoprints created using layers of stencils on a primed wooden board. The object I received to respond to was an artificial heart valve.

The prints in this series represent the processing of many complicated sets of dual ideas. Valves, by their nature, are mindless gatekeepers. They are almost binary in their function. Yes, No. Open, Closed. The Mitral Valve is itself a bi-leaf structure, and the artificial Mitral Valve first developed and implanted in 1960 by Portland’s Dr. Albert Starr and engineer Lowell Edwards are defined by dualities. The artificial valve is at once representative of improbability and overwhelmingly successful innovation. In the process of making these prints I wanted to explore representing duality using positive and negative space, abstraction and representation. A heart that is not really a heart, the areas where black and white make grey; because in fact, a valve’s function is not simply binary but may comprise many degrees of open and closed.

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.

OCAC Print Portfolio 20th Anniversary Exhibit

Hoffman Gallery
OCAC Print Portfolio 20th Anniversary Exhibition
January 20-February 23, 2011
Opening reception on Thursday, January 20 from 4:00-7:00pm

OCAC celebrates the twentieth anniversary of its Print Portfolio with a special premiere of the 2010 OCAC Print Portfolio and the previous nineteen years of portfolios. Exhibited as a group for the first time, the show includes 28 new prints by OCAC students, faculty, staff, alumni and artists-in-residence, and over three hundred prints from the College's archives. Images: OCAC student artwork

Gallery Hours: 10:00AM-5:00PM daily

an update about holiday cards and calendars

Hi there.

I just wanted to drop a line to say: my 2011 calendar and holiday cards plates are on their way to Tiger Food Press as we speak, and printing shall begin first thing next week. Look for updates here, and new items to be on my Etsy shelves around the 19th 21st (next Sunday.) OCAC's alumni holiday sale will be Thanksgiving weekend, and will be the first local place where I'll be selling new work this year.

The *Cheap-But-Good* book arts sale is happening this weekend. Yay! I won't have anything new there, but I'll be selling off last years holiday cards, some second quality prints, and some old familiar broadsides. There'll be plenty of student and teacher work, plus supplies like fancy paper and bookcloth, so come one, come all.

In the meantime, I'm sewing books and trying not to panic.

*Cheap-But-Good*

It's time to announce:

The second annual "Cheap-But-Good" book arts sale at Oregon College of Art and Craft.

The Book Arts Department at Oregon College of Art & Craft will hold its second annual fall "Cheap-But-Good Book Arts Sale" on Saturday, November 13th from 10am-3pm. The sale will take place in the Book Arts studio at OCAC which is located at 8245 SW Barnes Road in Portland.

There will be handmade journals, boxes, artist books, broadsides, decorative paper, small prints, cards, etc. for sale with prices starting at one dollar!

Proceeds benefit the Student Workshop Fund.

Last fall we had a really great turnout with lots of excellent work from current students, alumni, and teachers. This year the timing is perfect for early holiday shopping. Hope to see you there!

and another week passes, part I

This week was a productive, odd, and busy; but not in any way that I had hoped or planned.

The Monkey and I are in the midst of an enormous garage cleaning project, and on Monday, although I was able to work in my studio for the first part of the day, the rest of the day was absorbed with fighting traffic while attempting to drop off various donations and recyclables at various drop-off sites around town. The amount of stuff we accumulate is startling! Most of what we found to be taking up space in the garage were half-full paint cans, bags of styrofoam packing materials kept in an attempt to keep them from the landfill, and *sigh* press parts, broken beyond repair and destined for the metal recyclers.

The rest of the week I focused on work at OCAC. For those of you unfamiliar with the school, or the changes happening there, OCAC is undergoing some major renovations. Click here to read an article from the PORT blog about the new buildings. In addition to the brand new building for drawing, painting, and photography, book arts has received a temporary remodel that's given us use of the old photo department's space. For the first time, possibly ever, our department is adjusting to the idea of having room to spread out. Reconsidering workflow is a major component to planning how we will ultimately arrange the space. A few weeks ago we moved in a new, (to us) second board shear, and we have a second standing press in the breezeway waiting to be moved in. All this is to say that I spent the week moving cabinets, shelving and storage around the studios at OCAC, leaving me exhausted, headachy* and dusty after every day.

*The building that houses book arts is also getting a new roof - which involves some sort of stinky glue - which results in migraines...

Punctuating this were extra yoga classes and an increased home practice, a lovely visit with OCAC's book arts resident, Heather Green, a beer made more delicious by the sunset view at the Skyline Tavern in the hills of NW Portland, along with some terrible, tragic news having to do with a good friend of the Monkey. It's been a strange, strange week, reminding me of how much I value my job, my colleagues, my loved ones, and the soul food that sustains our well being.

interlude

I've been seeing signs of spring all over Portland, reminding me of how lucky we are here in this waterlogged rainforest as I hear reports of feet of snow on the eastern seaboard. I think I saw cherry blossoms on a tree on my commute to work the other day...

I'll be at OCAC all day today, working late to help with a school community dinner in the book arts department this evening. But I'm hoping to sneak into my print shop later tonight.

Helping me get through my long day:

Electrelane; The Power Out
Kate Bush; Hounds of Love
Bonny "Prince" Billy sings Greatest Palace Music

What are you listening to?

studio day

I try to dedicate two full days a week to exclusively Tiger Food Press projects (in addition to the hours squeezed in to the other days of the week). Today was a productive studio day. Not only that, it was sunny and nearly warm. I had the windows open in the late morning, bringing in the fresh air to combat winter stuffiness.


Projects in the works today were:
1. A repair/salvage project on a perfect bound book donated to the OCAC library. Conservation and repair is not my focus, nor is it generally in my skill set. But I have enough experience in production bindery to help make this paperback book usable for the general public, as it was on the verge of exploding even before going into circulation. With a no-stakes repair like this one I feel confident enough to do a suitable re-bind.

2. Valentines/sweetheart/LOVE cards are now folded, packaged, and listed in my shop.

3. I put the finishing touches on a wedding guestbook project that has been especially fun to do. The deep charcoal grey of the book cloth was made using cotton broadcloth fused with a backing material to make it suitable for covering book boards, and the off-white cotton wrap was fused to double thickness and then letterpress printed, also in a deep charcoal grey. This book turned out to be so elegant. I'll probably post more pictures eventually.

Tomorrow it's back to work in the book arts department at school, and then over the weekend I hope to start work on three, count them, three new exciting publishing projects. More news in that department will follow soon, as I'm really excited about all of them.

the erratic sleeping patterns of the sun deprived

My sleep habits have been atrocious lately. Atrocious, weird, and unpredictable. I'm sleep deprived and sleep saturated all at once. Last week I got up at 6 am several days in a row. Last night I stayed up until 4 am before finally dragging myself to bed, where I lay until at least 5:30.

I got up a little late, naturally, and puttered around the studio a bit before heading up to OCAC for my first day back to work after a week and half-long break. The work study students and I are involved in a cleaning and organizational frenzy preparing for the College Book Arts Association conference at the end of the week. I drove home with dust up my nose and starving.

The fog had begun to settle in the hills when I drove to the school early this afternoon. I thought about the suffocating nature of wet, wool blankets, still insulating enough to keep you alive. In the just after dusk hours of darkness the fog lay across the road and reflected my headlights back to me and I sped a little.

Tomorrow evening I start my first Iyengar yoga class. I am hoping to bring a calming, clarifying, and unifying element into my life. Yay!