OCAC spring sale

It's time again for the annual Oregon College of Art and Craft spring sale. This year it will be two full days of shopping in the Book Arts, Metals, Ceramics and Fibers studios.

Saturday May 14 - Sunday May 15

10 AM - 5 PM

Free and open to the public

8245 SW Barnes Rd.

Portland OR 97225

For more information please visit OCAC's events page

or call 503-297-5544

All funds raised will go directly to the artists and to help fund visiting artist lectures and studio equipment. If you're in Portland next weekend, please stop by!

*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.

weekend of Portland book arts

letterpress printed poster by the gorgeous folks at Em Space

Last Saturday, in between recovering from a migraine and acquiring a cold, I dropped by Em Space to see some friends and to check out the show "The Power of the Press," which Em Space is hosting since its closing at Portland Center Stage. The show looks great above all of their immaculate presses. I wish I remembered to bring my camera.

The show will be up until January 31 and is free and open to the public. To learn more about Em Space, check out their website.

The day before I also made it in just before the closing gate for the closing reception of "The Assignment" at the 23 Sandy Gallery. "The Assignment" was a show for and by the CBAA (College Book Arts Association) to celebrate the assignment as a valuable practical tool for book artists as students, teachers, and working artists.

This was one of the best shows I've seen at 23 Sandy, and one artist's statement jumped out at me as being just what I needed to read at that moment: Anna Bunting of Oakland, California talked about how her piece was an assignment to herself. That once a week she set aside time to be in her studio, to write, set type, print.

Between my work at OCAC, my commissioned work for Tiger Food Press, and the work I put into ephemera for my online stores, I am always at work in a bindery or print shop, either mine or the school's. But it continues to be so hard to carve out time just to write for the fun of it, or draw just for my self, or make a few experimental prints to get started on the book I've had germinating in my mind for so long. So to read this artist statement, and to see the finished book next to it was a jolt of inspiration to me.

23 Sandy brilliantly always includes an online catalog of every exhibition of work. "The Assignment" is now down, but the work, including artist statements is online here.

well...

The website is indeed up. It's been online for almost a week, but I'm just now getting around to post about it.

View it here: www.tigerfoodpress.com

And on another note, the Book Arts department at Oregon College of Art & Craft will be hosting a "Cheap But Good" book arts sale:

The Book Arts Department at OCAC (Oregon College of Art & Craft) will hold a "Cheap-But-Good Book Arts Sale" on Sunday, October 25th 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.

Check it out!