Drink and Draw is our monthly night devoted to drawing practices. There’s no teacher and no pretensions. We provide a theme for the evening and a theme drink. Attendees provide a sketchbook and drawing utensils. Please come, and bring your friends while your at it.

February’s theme is Tattoo Flash. We’ll dig up some samples of Anchors, Barbed Wire, Bettie Page, and other inspirations for your very own tattoo design! There will be Sailor’s Rum & Cokes on hand, or BYOB.

No registration is required.

Wednesday, January 4 from 6:30 – 9:00pm | Price: $10, if able
at Spudnik Press
1821 W. Hubbard, Suite 302

We have invited Layne Jackson, a talented artist and seasoned teacher, to step in for an evening of drawing to help us reinvigorate our image making processes. She will share her expertise as she leads the class through a drawing exercises that will help us look at our drawings with a fresh eye. Through investigating light and shadow, perspective, and shape, students will be pushed to capture what they see on paper.

Community workshops are an opportunity to get to meet the artists at Spudnik Press, preview what an upcoming class might be like, be exposed to new processes, and simply learn techniques and tips from professional artists to incorporate into your projects, what ever they may be. Workshops are hands-on, all ages (students under 16 should be accompanied by an adult), and for all experience levels.

The class fee is $10, or pay what you can. Fees are waived for students who are unable to afford this charge to ensure that the Chicago community has access to artistic projects, regardless of income. Registration is required to ensure we have the right amount of materials on hand.

Please e-mail brandy@spudnikpress.com to have us save a seat!

Click here to see our membership options and purchase!

Spudnik Press’ Residency Program provides the resources, equipment, and space for one artist per season to develop a body of print-based work. We hope to encourage and enable the production of high quality prints, and to contribute to the development of an emerging Chicago artist.

Spudnik Press will provide the Residents a $250 allowance for project-specific materials and unlimited general supplies (full list is available on our website) and access to the studio. At the conclusion of the residency, Spudnik Press organizes an exhibition of the work created during the 3 month period. This program is open to all experienced printmakers. Spudnik Press does not have the ability to assist with travel and housing, and encourages only Chicago residents to apply. One Residency position is awarded per season.

We aim to provide a residency that is catered to the individual artist. Proposals may be for a traditional edition of prints, artist books, or projects involving a less conventional use of prints. Artists that wish to work collaboratively may apply together.

For more information and the application, click here.

Wednesday, December 14
6:30pm – 11:00pm
FREE

We will begin at 6:30pm with a member meeting to work out the nuts and bolts of a new program with a working title of “Member Only Open Studio”.

At 7:30, we will open it up as a print exchange, holiday party and work night for anyone who needs to squeeze in more studio time before the holidays.

Bring your favorite holiday dish or snack, along with your beverage of choice and a few fun prints you’d like to share.

We will officially kick off the “Member’s Only Open Studio” program in 2012.

Email brandy@spudnikpress.com with any questions!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011
7:00 – 9:30pm
$5 suggested donation
Some drinks provided or BYOB

@ Spudnik Press
1821 W. Hubbard, Suite 302
Chicago, IL 60622
312-563-0302

Wednesday, November 2 from 6:30 – 9:00pm | Price: $10, if able
at Spudnik Press
1821 W. Hubbard, Suite 302

Learn easy and unique ways to transfer your digital images onto various papers, fabrics and create acrylic based pieces. In this workshop we will use a variety of solvents and acrylic mediums to reproduce your images.
Materials: Please bring a variety of images printed from a laser printer or Xerox machine (Ink jet prints do not work for this method). Also, bring a variety of fabrics and papers to transfer onto. Note: print all images as a mirror image of what you’d like to see. Flip horizontally in Photoshop, etc. Solvents and matte medium will be provided.

Email brandy@spudnikpress.com to save a spot!

About the Instructor:
Laura Elayne Miller is an interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker based in Chicago and Paris. Her work has been exhibited in NY, LA, Chicago, and Europe. Most recently, her mixed media installation An Unquiet Mind: The Untold Story of Isabelle Cadiuex was at the Center for Book and Paper Arts in downtown Chicago. Laura has worked as an arts educator at 3rd Ward and the Stephen Gaynor School in NYC, and lectured at Trinity College in Hartford, CT.

Sunday, November 20
11:30am – 6pm
Spudnik Press
1821 W Hubbard, Suite 302
312-563-0302

This fall, Spudnik Press will be hosting our first Portfolio Day, inviting our members and artists in the community to present their artwork, both to a panel of guest reviewers as well as Portfolio Day visitors. This event is a continuation of our mission to unite new and young artists with established artists and professionals through approachable and inviting formats. Guest reviewers are Mark Pascale, Angela Bryant, and Dawn Hancock. These three invited reviewers all bring a unique expertise that we are very excited about sharing with artists.

Any artists creating print-based artwork and works on paper are encouraged to sign up soon, securing a space to present their portfolio. All artists, instructors, students, and supporters of the arts are invited to attend as well, meet new artists, and see the work they have been crafting. All day, there will be Hors d’oeuvres and beverages, and Spudnik Press members will be eager to share their art.

Sessions begin at 12, 2, and 4pm. Current Spudnik Press members are invited to participate at no charge. Non-members can participate for $25. Artists may bring works on paper and works incorporating fine art prints (avoid giclees and inkjet prints please). Space is limited to the first 30 artists who register, and each artist will have time to meet with all reviewers.

Participation Specifics::
Artists may bring works on paper and works incorporating fine art prints.
Artists may also bring Graphic Design portfolios with a strong emphasis on printed matter.
Each artist will have time to spend 10-15 minutes with each guest reviewer.
Artists will have approximately a 3’x6’ table to display their work.
Artwork may be for sale.

Guest Reviewer Bios:
Mark Pascale is the Curator for the Department of Prints and Drawings, The Art Institute of Chicago. He has organized many well-known exhibitions exonerating the printed image, including Jasper Johns: Gray and the AIC, Second Sight: Printmaking in Chicago 1935-1995 at the Block Museum, and Chicago Stories: Prints and H.C. Westermann’s ‘See America First‘. Mark Pascale is also a well-loved professor at Ox-Bow.

Angela Bryant is director and owner of Abryant Gallery, a rotating contemporary art gallery for new and emerging artists. She has curated over a dozen exhibitions, and has participated as both a juror and a panelist. Angela is also the new director of Dominican University’s O’Connor Art Gallery.
In 2009, she received her MFA in painting and drawing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is the recipient of several awards and honors including the Presidential Scholarship Award, and the Archibald Motley Award for Ragdale Artist Colony.

Dawn Hancock is the owner and managing director of Firebelly Designs. Firebelly is well-known for their expertise in creating sustainable design. Their capstone programs include a Design & Marketing Grant for non-profits and Camp Firebelly, an intensive program for graphic designers interested in socially-minded design.

To register:
Please call 312-563-0302 or e-mail Brandy Barker at brandy@spudnikpress.com. Entry fee can be paid in person, mailed, or purchased online (below). Payments can be mailed to Spudnik Press, 1821 W. Hubbard, Suite 302, Chicago, Il 60622

Deadline to register and pay applicable entry fee is Friday, November 11, 2011, or when all spaces are full. Table and time assignments will be confirmed November 14. Please include your name, telephone number, mailing address and email address.

Friday, October 21, 2011
2:30pm – 4:30pm at Anchor Graphics
623 South Wabash Ave., Room 201
Chicago, IL 60605

The program will begin with a brief tour of Anchor’s facilities, followed by a brief overview of Anchor’s and Spudnik’s missions and histories. Then David Jones, Anchor’s founder and director, and Angee Lennard, Spudnik’s founder and director, will discuss each organization’s residency program touching on how they grew with little or no funding, the early days vs. now, and where each program is heading. The discussion will conclude with the topic of why residencies are particularly important for printmakers, illustrating how artists and staff share knowledge, technical tricks, working methods, and cooperative problem solving that provide mutual intellectual and artistic growth for all involved. Check out more info about the conference here.

This Fall, Spudnik Press is offering our first printmaking class free of charge specifically for youth. Focusing on high school students in our immediate neighborhood, we hope to offer a safe environment in which students can gain faith in their ability to communicate through visual art. Our studio is seeking to connect with young artists who ready for independent projects and will benefit from time working in an intimate setting with a professional artist as their mentor. Our inaugural class will focus on screen printing. We will host an exhibition of student work in early 2012. This program is made possible by support from The Cliff Dwellers.

Please read the program specifics below, and contact Angee Lennard (angee@spudnikpress.com) with questions regarding the program.

To register, submit the YAP Registration and Permission Form to Spudnik Press. Students also may register by phone (312-563-0302) and bring the registration and permission form with them to the first day of class.

Course Description:
This is a Saturday morning class that explores all aspects of screen printing on paper! On the first day, students will work on original drawings that will be transformed into “cut stencil” screen prints. Students will the learn how the printed image can best work as a vehicle for their creative ideas by studying graphic design. The class will cover how to use hand-drawn imagery as well as using a computer to create photographic prints.
Assignments will be self-guided by the students, with everyone incorporating color printing and the practice of editioning into their projects.

Student goals and desired outcomes:
Students will be able to apply what they have learned in their art classes within their schools to technically ambitious projects beyond the scope of a typical classroom.
Students will be able to self-discipline and persevere, enabling them to create sophisticated works of art.
Students will gain confidence in their art-making abilities.
Students will create works of art appropriate for portfolios for college applications.

Requirements:
Students are in their Junior or Senior year of high school.
Students have means to get to and from Spudnik Press each week.
Students are able to commit to attending all 10 sessions.
Students need no printing experience, but should be comfortable drawing and interested in illustration and design.

Class will meet for 10 weeks beginning on Saturday, October 1, 2011 at 10:30am – 12:30pm Spaces available: 8 of 10.

A Sixth Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival event presented by Spudnik Press, in partnership with Chicago Artists Month
Thursday, October 6, 2011 from 7pm to 10pm
at Spudnik Press Cooperative,
1821 W Hubbard, Suite 302
FREE Donations encouraged.

Exquisite Consonance is a hands-on collaboration blurring the lines between artist, curator, critic, and viewer, speaking to the importance of community and cooperation as part of the creative process. Join the artists at Spudnik Press in creating a series of exquisite creatures with a selection of hand-carved linoleum blocks and a printmaking press. After creating a unique print to add to the mounting gallery wall, participants are encouraged to add some words — we suggest the classic Haiku – to give viewers a sense of the significance of the piece, the history of the artist, what cultural events led to the creation of the piece, how the piece speaks to other prints in the show, etc.

Falling somewhere in between the Surrealist game “Cadavre Exquis” (circa 1925 France) and Barbie Fashion Plates™ (circa 1980 United States), Exquisite Consonance will be hands-on, fun, and lighthearted, leading to a communicative, experimental, and reflective exhibition of art made by and for the people.

Exquisite Consonance will overlap with Spudnik Press’ Open Studio session, allowing visitors to see the community print shop in full swing. Guests can stop by for a short visit or contribute to the exhibition through out the night. Participating in the art-making is free. Guests who wish to create artwork to take home are encouraged to make a small donation to the studio.

Meg Duguid from the Chicago Cultural Center has graciously volunteered to give a lecture on applying for grants, shows, residencies, etc. She oversees the CAAP grant in the city, and knows all the ins and outs of art applications. Angee and Spudnik Press have offered to host this lecture, which will be open to both CPG and Spudnik members. If you are interested, mark your calendars now.

This event will take place on Wednesday, September 14th 2011 at 7:00pm at Spudnik Press Cooperative, 1821 W Hubbard, Suite 302.
Event is free; donations are appreciated.