Posts Categorized: Past

Spatial Collage: Getting Wacky Wit It

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Featured Artist:

Julia Arredondo

Dates:

4/01/2016 – 4/30/2016

Location:

The Annex @ Spudnik Press

Corresponding Events:

Gallery Talk

Friday, April 1, 2016
6:00 p.m.

Opening Reception

Friday, April 1, 2016
6:00-9:00pm

Student Debt Suicide Letters

Saturday, April 2, 2016
1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Community Workshop

Press Release:

“Spatial Collage: Getting Wacky Wit It” is an exercise in taking the collage format of assembling ephemera on paper – and transferring that practice to a larger-scale. “Spatial Collage” is an experiment rooted solely in self-expression and freedom, while simultaneously toying with ideas of formal exhibition and product placement.

Artist Statement:

Self-empowerment is a main focus of my work, specifically in the realm of publications and zines. Aspiring to be more like cartoon characters who suffer trauma but never seem to carry emotional baggage, I believe in the power of constructing positive present and future actions by taking sometimes traumatic past experiences and letting those memories work for me. I seek to empower myself and others in a way that let’s us confront oppressive experiences and turn them into badges of strength, humor, and grace.

“Hate it or love it the underdog’s on top. And I’m gonna shine homie until my heart stop.”
– 50 Cent and The Game

New Demands?

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Featured Artist:

Lisa Vinebaum

Dates:

5/06/2016 – 5/28/2016

Location:

The Annex @ Spudnik Press

Corresponding Events:

Gallery Talk

Friday, May 6, 2016
6:00 p.m.

Opening Reception:

Friday, May 6, 2016
6:00-9:00pm

Press Release:

New Demands? presents silk screened posters, digital prints, cloth banners, and a neon sign inspired by historical demands of the American labor movement, from approximately 1890 to the present. Drawing primarily on archival research into flyers, posters, placards, and advertising produced by the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU)— historically the largest and most important union representing workers in the women’s apparel industry — this exhibition explores the struggle for better working conditions in the garment industry, the winning of rights and benefits by the ILGWU, and the eventual demise of the entire American textile industry. New Demands? connects past and present struggles for workers’ rights, and reminds us that there was a time when American workers fought for and won historical rights including the right to a regulated, eight-hour work day and the 40-hour work week; vacation and overtime pay; collective bargaining rights and the right to freedom of association; and pension and health care benefits. These rights have been dramatically curtailed; since the 1980s, hundreds of thousands of full-time, well-paid, unionized positions have been lost here in the US, yet workers continue to fight for living wages, better working conditions, and the right to organize. This exhibition is part of a larger, ongoing series of work under the title New Demands? initiated in 2011, and incorporating public performances, text based installations, neon, printed works, and participatory workshops.

Artist Statement:

Dr. Lisa Vinebaum is an interdisciplinary artist, critical writer, and educator. Her studio practice incorporates text-based installations and work with neon, performance and site specific interventions, textiles, video, photography and protest tactics. Current research and artistic investigations explore labor, performance and collectivity in the larger context of economic globalization and cutbacks to workers’ rights. Lisa Vinebaum holds a PhD in Art from Goldsmiths, University of London (UK); an MA in Textiles also from Goldsmiths, and a BFA from Concordia University in Montreal.

Discipline and Distraction

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Featured Artist:

Devin Owsley-Aquilia

Dates:

3/04/2016 – 3/26/2016

Location:

The Annex @ Spudnik Press

Corresponding Events:

Opening Reception

Friday, March 4, 2016
6:00-9:00pm

Gallery Talk

Friday, March 4, 2016
6:00 p.m.

Press Release:

‘Discipline and Distraction’ is a body of work by Devin Owsley-Aquilia inspired by her transition into Chicago, into isolation and a new understanding of what it means to be present. “To accept challenge and change, I use material to guide myself through these mental obstacles to reach a place of poise and clarity. Layered images of abstracted landscapes derived from personal experiences, place, relationship, behavior and interaction are inscribed into copper plates, informing the basis of which my work manifests. The importance of line and act of carving speak to a growing dialogue between material and my person as well my emotional attachment to place.” The image transferred into a physical print serves as an artifact, a portrayal of momentary consciousness that nurtured self-discipline and potential.

Artist Statement:

In my work, abstracted images derived from anatomical forms emerge through the use of methodical printmaking and drawing process. With focus on detail and mass, these forms become expressive gestures of movement, intimacy and identity. The images reveal an understanding of what forms define the sacred and emphasize moments of female identity. I seek the potential in creation through the intricacies of human form and the natural world to further a conversation between material and person.

Call for 2016 Exhibition Proposals

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DEADLINE EXTENDED TO SUNDAY APRIL 3, 2016.

Our gallery space, The Annex, offers opportunities for our members and guests to see world-class artworks in the fields of printmaking, drawing, writing, bookmaking or DIY publishing. We are particularly interested in shows that explore areas of overlap or communication between these media. Our Exhibition Archive demonstrates the range of exhibitions supported by Spudnik Press Cooperative.

Artists and curators are invited to submit proposals for solo or group exhibitions. We accept submissions from both members and non-members.

For More Details:

Download our 2016 Call for Exhibition Proposals our Guide for Curators.

Timeline:

Proposals due: Sunday, March 27, 2016
Applicants will be notified: by May 1, 2016
Press Release and Marketing Materials due: June 1, 2016
Exhibition Dates: August 12 -September 24, 2016
Opening Reception: Friday, August 12, 2016

To Apply:

E-mail the following to angee@spudnikpress.org with “Exhibition Proposal” in the subject line:

  1. PDF including the following documents in the following order:
  • Working title of the exhibition
  • Exhibition Narrative: Description of the exhibition, both conceptually and visually. 150 – 250 words.
  • Artist Statement(s) and Bio(s): Brief statement for each artist and bio for each artist. Include websites, blogs, notable artistic achievements, other relevant material.
  • Resume or CV: No longer than two pages. Please only submit a resume  for the curator, solo artist or main contact for group shows, not each artist.
  • Three professional references for the curator, solo artist or main contact
  • Image list including medium, year of completion, dimensions, and name of file

2) Work Samples:

For solo exhibitions, include up to 10 images of work that will be included in the exhibition. For group exhibitions, include up to 3 images per artist. Sketches may be included for forthcoming work. Please include an image list. Images need not exceed 1 MB each.

Please direct any questions to angee@spudnikpress.org.

Members: Join our 2016 Exhibition Committee!

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Calling all members! Spudnik Press Cooperative is seeking a committee of members to help drive and enhance our Exhibitions Program.

Exhibitions at Spudnik Press present new artworks, provide curatorial opportunities, and explore areas of overlap or communication between printmaking, drawing, writing, bookmaking or DIY publishing. But most importantly, we strive for exhibitions to provide true benefit to our members by introducing our community to new artists, art forms or approaches to printmaking, and through creating crucial dialog and a context for community building among our members.

By introducing an Exhibitions Committee, we invite members to lead this process and have literal say in the artwork and artists we exhibit, and the additional programming that we develop in conjunction with each exhibition.

Download our 2016 Exhibitions Committee Overview

What is involved?

1) Review digital exhibition proposals. Proposals will be sent approximately 10 days prior to an in-person meeting.

2) Attend an in-person Exhibition Review meeting on April 20, 2016, 6-8pm. Through a combination of discussion and voting, the Committee will select one proposal (plus an alternate) that will be offered as a Fall 2016 Exhibition in the Annex.

3) The opportunity to suggest additional exhibitions and provide feedback on the mission and goals of our Exhibition Program.

4) Provide additional volunteer support for one of the fall exhibitions. Responsibilities include working with the artist(s) to develop a corresponding public program that augments the exhibition, assisting with exhibition design and installation, developing and producing a limited edition print or artist book, assisting with marketing, social media, staffing the Artist Reception, and documenting the exhibition.

Requirements:

1) Must maintain a current membership at Spudnik Press Cooperative between April and December 2016.

2) Must be able to attend the Exhibition Review meeting scheduled for 4/20/16, 6-8pm.

3) Strongly encouraged to volunteer and additional 4 hours in the development of the selected exhibitions. Committee members will be able to request volunteer activities that best suite their skills and interests.

To Apply:

Email angee@spudnikpress.org. Please include your name and phone number. Please note, the exhibition committee is first come, first serve. If response exceeds our capacity, a wait list will be formed.

Call for Participants: Temporal Tantrum Print Exchange & Exhibition

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DEADLINE EXTENDED TO FEBRUARY 1

Spudnik Press is very excited to announce its first print exchange since 2012 curated by Thorsten Sahlin. Temporal Tantrum is an opportunity for printmakers to examine the universal, yet highly subjective, experience that is the passage of time. Whether you view time as a four-dimensional exercise in simultaneity, or as the linear tick tock of a watch, you are invited to contribute to this timely print exchange.

This member print exchange highlights artwork by 17 members of the Spudnik Press community as well as selections from 3 artists beyond our immediate membership whose artwork addresses the themes of the portfolio.

The portfolio culminates in an exhibition at Spudnik Press Cooperative, and each participant will receive a complete portfolio with 20 prints in a protective portfolio case.

Download the Prospectus

Temporal Tantrum Details

The passage of time is a universal yet highly subjective experience that can be measured in countless ways. From time travel theory, to poaching an egg, to sleeping, all have vast temporal implications.

In art, time is often addressed through the medium of film, but how does one confront it in a static medium such as printmaking? The Temporal Tantrum print exchange is an opportunity for artists to examine their own perception of time, and to investigate it through their preferred printing process.

Theme: Temporal Tantrum
Curator: Thorsten Sahlin
Paper Size: 11” x 14”
Medium: Fine art print; No digital prints.
Number of Participants: 20
Edition Size: 23 signed and numbered prints
Participation Fee: $20 payable to Spudnik Press upon acceptance*
*Fee covers the cost of the colophon and portfolio case.

Spudnik Press Members: Participation is open to the first 17 members to respond. Email Thorstensahlin@gmail.com. Please include name, website, and phone number.

Non-Members: Email Thorstensahlin@gmail.com. Please include name, CV, website, phone number and 2-3 work samples. Samples should be aesthetically comparable to the work you intend to contribute to the exchange.

Timeline:

Deadline to Apply: February 1, 2016
Notification (Non-Members): January 17, 2016
Drop Out Deadline: April 10, 2016
Deadline to Receive Prints: May 15, 2016
Exhibition: June 17 – July 30, 2016
Artist Reception: June 17, 6-9pm

Sweet Paper Dreams: Member Art Sale Exhibition

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This year’s winter art sale, Sweet Paper Dreams, features an exhibition of print-based work made by our members. All work in this exhibition is for sale.  Proceeds will directly benefit both Spudnik Press and the individual artists.

Hours through December 23, 2015:
Mondays: 6:00 – 10:00 pm
Tuesdays: 12:00 – 5:oo pm
Wednesdays: 12:00 – 5:00 pm
Thursdays: 12:00 – 5:00 pm AND 6:00 – 10:00 pm
Fridays: 12:00 – 5:00 pm
Saturdays: 1:00 – 5:00 pm

Featured Artists:

Julia Arredondo / Moon Bang / Angela Davis Fegan / Steve Gehm / Margaret Hitch / Germaine Jordan / Andrea Kaspryk / Angee Lennard / Carrie Lingscheit / Judith Mayer / Dutes Miller / Margaret McGill / Barlow Nelson / Angelika Piwowarczyk / George Porteus / Brad Rohloff / Hannah Ross / Nicolette Ross / Joanne Vena / Molly Whedbee / Don Widmer / Miden Wood /  Tara Zanzig

Dates:

12/1/2015 – 12/31/2015

Location:

The Annex @ Spudnik Press

Opening Reception:

Sweet Paper Dreams: 4th Annual Winter Art Sale

Friday December 4th, 2015
7:00 – 10:00 pm
Free

 

The People’s Pamphlets

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The People’s Pamphlets is a risograph edition of 25 tri-fold pamphlets by contemporary artists. Brochures are not thematically oriented, rather they animate the interests of each individual artist in a wildly disparate, fantastically in-cohesive manner.

While digitally distributed media has fast usurped pen and paper as a means of communication, certain public spaces remain deeply hospitable to the dynamism and efficacy of print media. Festivals, welcome centers, information kiosks, transit depots, shopping hubs and the like remain stocked with brochures, bi-folds, tri-folds, pamphlets, fliers, and circulars—all free for the indiscriminate taking.

As a curatorial endeavor, the People’s Pamphlets is situated within of history of the artist-brochure in the broader context of artists’ books and ephemera, and considers the continued relevance of print within sites of spectacle, tourism or travel – particularly as these spaces themselves continue to digitize. To that end, the project also operates within the broader history of cultural “festivalism” which has deep roots in grand tours, world’s fairs, biennials and, more recently, trade expositions and art fairs. The name is a nod to the Chicago Cultural Center, which was once coined the “People’s Palace” and remains central a destination for culture and…pamphlets.

The People’s Pamphlets is a 2015 Chicago Artist Month featured event. Leonardo Selvaggio is a 2015 Chicago Artist Month featured artist.

Curator:

Jessica Cochran

Pamphlets By:

Conrad Bakker / Judith Brotman / Phaedra Call / Johanna Drucker /  Gurl Don’t Be Dumb / Rachel Foster / Krista Franklin  / Dianna Frid / Maria Gaspar / Lise Haller Baggesen Ross / Kelly Lloyd / Adelheid Mers / Michael Milano / Cathy Alva Mooses / Melissa Potter / Jilian Bruschera / Adam Pantić (Pulp & Pastry) / Ernesto Pujol / Academy Records / Maddie Reyna / Ryan Richey / Eric Ruschman / Fred Sasaki / Kyle Schlie / Leonardo  Selvaggio / Shaan Syed / Sonja Thomsen / Ian Weaver    

Dates:

10/9/2015 – 11/25/2015

Location:

The Annex @ Spudnik Press

Opening Reception:

Friday October 9, 2015
6:00-9:00pm

Corresponding Events:

The People’s Pamphlet Pamphlet-Making Workshop
Saturday, October 17, 2015, 2-5pm
Guest Artist and Publisher: Kyle Schlie
Donation-based Workshop; $20 Suggested

Huge Art Show and Open Studios
Friday, November 6, 2015, 6-10pm
Hubbard Street Lofts
Free

Chicago Artist Month 2015

Push & Pull: Steamroller Spectacular

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Organizer:

William Estrada

Featured Artists:

Erin Maresko, Emily Nie, Marilyn Propp, Heather Anderson, Meela Paloma, Christine Bespalec-Davis, Julie Cowan, Gaila Mercado, Elise Forer, Hannah Ireland, Megan Klawitter, Alex Kostiw, Jennifer Rich, Rogelio Rosiles, Judith Mayer, Steve Vidal, Lissette Martinez, Leonor Gallardo Hevia, Katie Moncton, Mary Serbe, Luthando W. Mazibuko, Amara Leipzig, Susannah Hera, Margaret McGill, Erika Valenciana, Salome Chasnoff, Miguel Delgado, Jaime Lockard, Maggie Piwowarczyk, Gloria Talamante, Jessica Caponigro, Tabor Shiles, Gabe Hoare, Liz Born, Nadine Nakanishi, Angelika Piwowarczyk, Liz Walker, Caroline Walp, Nicolette Ross, Pete Rangel, Erika Vazzana, Tara Zanzig, and more.

Featured Organizations:

Benito Juarez Community Academy Artime Club, SAIC Art Therapy Department, ArtReach at Lillstreet, Chicago Printmakers Guild, National Veterans Art Museum / YouMedia, South Chicago Art Center, Southside Hub of Production, Whitney Young High School, and Yollocalli.

Dates:

7/25/2015 – 8/12/2015

Location:

The Annex @ Spudnik Press

Opening Reception:

Saturday July 25, 2015
6:00-9:00pm

Press Release:

At times, we pull in our community. At times we push out our ideas, our visions, and our inclinations. This summer, Spudnik Press, and artist William Estrada, has brought together 200+ artists, students, and creative thinkers through various Chicago communities to reflect on how they and their communities “push and pull” physically, metaphorically, and politically. Each contributor hand carved a wood block, with imagery inspired by the Push & Pull theme. These blocks were then brought together to create banner-sized collaborative prints. These oversized prints, featuring art by as many as 84 artists, are much too large for a typical printing press. Instead, the pressure of a commercial steamroller was used to print each banner. These banners represent and pay tribute to the push and pull that is integral to a dynamic community. The culminating exhibition features a selection of the printed banners, as well as select individual prints.

On Saturday, July 25, Spudnik Press will host an opening celebration with live printing, a toast to the artists, and the opportunity to purchase the commemorative banners as well as individual prints.

Sequestered Spaces: New Work by Adrienne Miller

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Featured Artist:

Adrienne Miller

Dates:

3/28/2015 – 6/12/2015

Location:

The Printshop @ Spudnik Press

Opening Reception:

Saturday March 28, 2015
6:00-9:00pm

Press Release:

Within the tradition of landscape art, the term picturesque refers to a view where the human presence is apparent. Adrienne Miller uses this history to create print works that communicate an exploration of human psyche through constructed space. Open land represents possibilities while the more confined environments allow for Adrienne to communicate tension or anxieties that we encounter on a day to day basis – literally at times feeling as though the walls are moving in on us. Adrienne uses holes as absences or earth being dug up, displaced, or tunneled through to reference the retrieval and archival of memory. In her constructed world, fences demarcate areas in this uncharted psychological territory. Through shifts in perspective and unrealistic coexistence, Miller’s work encourages the viewer to address their own environments as well as themselves.

Artist Bio:

Adrienne Miller, a southerner by birth, just survived her second year as an official corn-eating, snow-shoveling, midwestern resident. After graduating from Murray State University in 2007 with her BFA in Studio Art, she found her way from Kentucky to Nashville as a summer intern for Hatch Show Print, a world famous, 130+ year old letterpress shop. She also spent time working as the Studio Manager and Gallery Coordinator for Vanderbilt University’s Department of Art.

Crush, Gush: A solo exhibition

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Featured Artist:

Kate McQuillen, Fall 2014 Artist in Residence

Dates:

3/28/2015 – 6/12/2015

Location:

The Annex @ Spudnik Press

Opening Reception:

Saturday March 28, 2015
6:00-9:00pm

Press Release:

The printing press is a tool that creates its product through extreme pressure. The works in this show cite materials that are also results of extreme pressure: namely, oil and diamonds. Themes of crushing and erupting are depicted as natural, yet violent, processes that are tied to these valuable elements within the earth.

Bouncing light, angled surfaces, erupting forms and petroleum products are presented throughout the show in prints and printmaking materials. Tympan grease, a facilitaing material for press operation, becomes the markmaking material in images of erupting crude oil spindletops; in other pieces, the crushing action of the printing press reworks images into fractured, compressed surfaces. McQuillen considers the value we place in these materials that come from deep within the earth, the human fascination with them, and the extreme conditions under which they are produced.

Artist Bio:

Kate McQuillen is a Chicago-based artist working in print and installation, and is represented by O’Born Contemporary. She has shown in Toronto, Chicago, Montreal, and Boston, and has works in public and private collections in Europe and North America. Writings about her work have been included in such news outlets as The Chicago Reader, Time Out Chicago and Rabble.ca, and in publications by Columbia College Chicago and Rutgers University.

Double // Crossed

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Featured Artists:

Salvador Andrade Arevalo
Kim Morski
Brad Rohloff

Dates:

1/17/2015 – 3/1/2015

Location:

The Printshop @ Spudnik Press

Opening Reception:

Saturday January 17, 2014
6:00-9:00pm

Press Release:

Spudnik Press Cooperative presents Double // Crossed, an exhibition of new works by Chicago-based artists Salvador Andrade Arévalo, Kim Morski, and Brad Rohloff completed during their 2014 Studio Fellowship at the print shop. Double-crossed hones in on the artists’ desire to poke and prod the perception of trickery, be it slight misgivings or outright deception. Collectively, they employ a wide range of printing techniques including etching, relief, screenprint, letterpress, risograph, and offset lithography.

Salvador Andrade Arevalo  will display a series of etchings of phosphenes printed from a single plate, reworked over time. His repeated attempts to capture the fleeting qualities of a visual phenomenon are documented across variations in each print, in which the surface of the plate was changed or the color of the ink altered.

Kim Morski  will present three new artist books that explore the duality of language and behavior. Varying in format in media, each book’s content is related to secret radiological weapons tests that began in the 1950s, in which military-contracted scientists tested the dispersal of zinc cadmium sulfide in St. Louis, Missouri.

Brad Rohloff ‘s studio practice includes comics, editions, and drawing, as well as printing the work of other artists via his Chicago-based publishing house, Bred Press. Working with the multiple, Rohloff will include editioned objects and prints that question the autonomy and authority of objects.