Etching 101

with Alex Chitty

begining May 11, 2010
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6:30-9:30pm

If you have a dangerous doodle habit, this etching class is an exciting opportunity to familiarize yourself with a new medium. By utilizing a variety of mark making tools and techniques, students will learn to create fancy lines, blubbery lines, furious lines, carefree lines, and everything in between. The class will also explore a process called “Sugar Lift”, which not only sounds cool, but looks cool too, and uses shades and tones to create images in the copper plate. Students will learn to translate their personal style of drawing and painting to fine art printmaking.

This class will meet twice-weekly. All demonstrations of new processes will happen on Tuesdays, when etching students will have the entire studio to themselves. On Thursdays, students will share the studio with Open Studio printers while working on their independent projects. Alex will be on hand to provide endless expert advice.

Students will need to supply plates and paper. All other materials are provided. Students are encouraged to purchase their own tools to enable work to be done outside of class. Basic tools are provided for use at Spudnik, but cannot be taken home.

www.spudnikpress.com/classes

Printervention // Printing for the Public

Opening Reception Friday, April 16, 2010 5pm – 7pm
@ Chicago Tourism Center Gallery
72 E Randolph // Chicago

Following the success of last years’ Version Festival program: the Bridgeport WPA pilot project, we have asked artists from around the country to create works that raise awareness of social and political issues of our day.

Printervention debuts April 16, 2010 at the The Chicago Tourism Center Gallery and continues through Version Festival to include workshops, a mobile silkscreen cart, a window display at The Whistler and more. For more information and a complete schedule of events and participants please visit www.printervention.org

Printervention, organized by Emily Clayton, Chris Roberson and Ed Marszewski, is part of Version Festival 2010, an annual arts festival in Chicago produced by the Public Media Institute that brings together hundreds of artists, musicians and educators from around the world.

www.printervention.org
www.versionfest.org

Collaborative Studios

Angee Lennard Speaks at the Chicago Cultural Center

Thursday, April 22, 2010
6:00pm – 7:30pm

Chicago Cultural Center
78 E. Washington
Chicago, IL 60602

Chuck Thurow, former director of the Hyde Park Art Center, will uncover the inner workings of Chicago’s many collaborative studios. He will be joined by Pearl Dick of Chicago Hot Glass, Angee Lennard of Spudnik Press, and Bruce Robbins of Lill Street Studios. They will lead a discussion on the character of these studios: what is the process of starting and maintaining a facility geared for processes that involved group participation and specialized equipment? How can the creative benefits of these collaborative environments be maximized? How do the novice and the seasoned artist mix in these settings? And what opportunities are there for local artists from learning to residencies at these facilities?

Yesterday For Tomorrow: New work on the Project Wall

with presentation and demonstration by Angee Lennard

Thursday, April 29
6-7pm
Free

@ Spudnik Press
1821 W Hubbard, Suite 308
Chicago, IL 60622

On April 29nd, Spudnik Press will debue our new and improved Project Wall that will highlight work made at Spudnik Press and allow us to have a permanent installation of work available for sale to help support our community of printers.

As we roll out this new and improved nook of the studio, we will also be adding some interesting programming. One night a month, prior to a Thursday night Open Studio, we will present free events such as demonstrations, presentations of new work, and panel discussions. The first two events are scheduled, so write them in your calendar and stop by on your way home from work!

Angee Lennard will discuss new work she made during her recent Residency at AS220 Printshop. She will talk about her inspiration, and furthermore, she will demonstrate Mezzotinting – an often forgotten printmaking technique that is shrouded in mystery and misconceptions.

The Local Residency

Panel Discussion with Paul Nudd, Onsmith, Dutes Miller, Stan Shellabarger, and Jeremy Lundquist

Featuring new work by Lilli Carré

June 10, 2010
6-7:30pm
Free

@ Spudnik Press
1821 W Hubbard, Suite 308
Chicago, IL 60622

Previous Resident Artists of Spudnik Press will come together to speak about their experiences working in a communal studio. Panelists will address how local residencies can counteract difficulties maintaining access to particular types of studio spaces. The panel discussion will address how these artists were able to integrate with a community new to them, and how a change of materials and space affected their working habits. The panel will focus on how the studio needs of a printmaker different from other mediums, and the affect that the particular studio space can have on an artist and their mode of working.

http://www.studiochicago.org/the-local-residency/

Are you looking to make a gigantic pile of prints this summer, like the young gentleman pictured above? If so, this post might be of interest to you!

This is just a quick reminder that the Summer Residency application is due quite soon. We originally set the deadline as April 1st, but would like to give artists the weekend to flush out their proposals. All materials need to be en route to Spudnik Press by Monday, April 5th.

Follow this link to see the Residency portion of our website where you can read all the juicy details, download the application, and see what projects previous residents tackled. Applications can be e-mailed to angee@spudnikpress.com with all required documents and images attached, and sent through the good old post office.

Hello all, This is Ness, Spudnik’s Spring 2010 intern, with some recommended reading! Many talented writers, photographers, graphic designers, and illustrators have contributed to Jettison Quarterly, an online magazine dedicated to raising awareness about the art forms and cultures that flourish in Chicago. While heading into their second year, they have already covered myriad topics over the city’s diverse terrain. For an inside look into some local establishments, interviews with creative legends, the works of emerging artists, and much more, catch up on some reading at jettisonquarterly.com and be sure to check back every three months. To read about two of my favorite things, screen printing and roller derby, check out the articles on Sonnezimmer Studio in issue 2 and the Windy City Rollers in issue 4. Best, Ness

This January, I was the luckiest girl, and was able to spend a solid month in Providence, Rhode Island at this gem of a printshop. AS220 and Spudnik Press have very similar birthdays, and I feel that despite our physical distance, we are close friends. Embracing the inherent democracy of the medium of printmaking, Morgan and Jay are two printmakers who are making shit happen!

MADLIB x HIT+RUN | Medicine Show from ABCNT on Vimeo.

A member of Spudnik Press passed along this link to me. During a live performance of their new album, MADLIB collaborated with a printshop called HIT+RUN. In substitution of the traditional Merch Table, HIT+RUN had an entire mobile studio. Purchasers of the new record were not only able to see their album cover be produced. They were actually able to choose the graphics.

While, I’ve seen live screen printing at a plethora of events, this incarnation strikes a cord as a genuine way to keep production local and encourage collaborations between consumer and producer.

Hello all,

Hope everyone is enjoying the new weather! If you are looking to try something new with your spring energy, we have just posted four new classes and a workshop. To learn or brush up on screenprinting, etching, block printing, or working on fabric, check them out and register as soon as possible!

As you may have heard, Spudnik Press recently collaborated with Artifice Magazine, an amazing brand new literary magazine. This magazine is so good, that I find myself reading short stories aloud to my roommate at the breakfast table. And now they have have put together a must see photo journal of their trip to Spudnik Press! If you appreciate good things, I highly recommend you read the following:

AN ORBIT OF SPUDNIK: A PHOTO JOURNAL by Andy Farkas

And when that leaves you wanting more, you can check out the release party this Saturday at Loft3A.

Listen to Spudnik printer Megan Klāwitter as she discusses caves, Chicago, and loving Spudnik Press with Brandon Wetherbee on the You, Me, Them, Everybody podcast.