For the latest iteration of the Community Mentorship Program, Spudnik Press has partnered with the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art (UIMA) and Unpacked Mobile Gallery to immerse a new cohort of artists in the Risograph printing process. Moving away from traditional one-time workshops, this program focuses on deepening technical skills over time fostering long-term artistic growth. Over consecutive weekly sessions, taught by Alex Hohnsen, participating artists worked with eco-friendly soy-based inks on recycled paper, experimenting with the interplay of precision and spontaneity to translate their ideas into layered print editions.

The resulting Risograph works are fully integrated into Home Grown Vol. III, an exhibition exploring the deep entanglement between human and plant life. Curated by Lauren Iacoponi, Home Grown transforms the gallery space into an urban ecosystem of live plants and artwork rooted in bioregionalism, local ecology, and collective care. At Spudnik seven featured artists were able to channel those exact themes of environmental stewardship directly into a sustainable print medium.

Risograph works by: Aimée Beaubien, Christine Forni, Maven Kennedy, Tulika Ladsariya, Katelyn Patton, Monika Plioplyte, and Reina Sundara.

While developed in the print shop at Spudnik Press, the final works will be exhibited off-site as part of the Home Grown Vol. III exhibition and mobile tour, facilitated by Naomi Elson and Lauren Iacoponi of Unpacked Mobile Gallery.

Exhibition & Tour Schedule:

• The Flagship Exhibition: On view at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art (UIMA) from July 11 to September 6, 2026.
• The Home Grown Tour: From Saturday, July 11 to Saturday, July 18, 2026, Unpacked Mobile Gallery will travel the exhibition directly to public parks, forest preserves, nonprofit spaces, and community gardens to reflect on the vital connection between humans, nature, and art.
• July 16, 6-9 pm: Unpacked Mobile Gallery will be at Spudnik Press. 

This cross-organizational partnership between the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Unpacked Mobile Gallery, and Spudnik Press was made possible through the Terra Foundation for American Art Community Engagement Grant awarded to UIMA. The project is also partially supported by an Individual Artists Program Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE).

About Home Grown Vol. III
July 11 – September 6, 2026
Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art: 2320 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60622
Curated by Lauren Iacoponi

Home Grown at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art is an immersive exhibition exploring the deep entanglement between human and plant life, featuring Midwest artists working with natural pigments, dyes, plant reliefs, hand-pulled paper, and organic materials that include botanics, mycelia, and artist-made bioplastics. Home Grown serves as a green space within an urban environment, with thought-provoking, nature-focused work integrated into a landscape of live plants.

Home Grown Tour
Saturday, July 11 – Saturday, July 18
Click here for the schedule

Unpacked Mobile Gallery is traveling Home Grown to public parks, forest preserves, nonprofit spaces, and community gardens to reflect on the connection between humans, nature, and art.

Exhibiting Artists
Aimée Beaubien, Kris Casey, Christine Forni, Naomi-Hamlin Navis, Hillary Irene Johnson, Noelani Jones, Tulika Ladsariya, Jaclyn Mednicov, CV Peterson, SK Reed

Risograph Works
Aimée Beaubien, Christine Forni, Maven Kennedy, Tulika Ladsariya, Katelyn Patton, Monika Plioplyte, Reina Sundara 

About the Partners

Spudnik Press is a community printmaking studio where artists and makers come together to create, learn, and collaborate. Rooted in the belief that art should be democratic and empowering, Spudnik offers an affordable, welcoming space for printmakers of all levels — from seasoned professionals to first-time students. By sharing equipment, skills, and creative energy, members build something greater than any one artist could alone. Committed to accessibility and equity, Spudnik extends its reach through classes, exhibitions, free workshops, and community programming.

The Spudnik Press Program Mentor, Alex Hohnsen, is a Chicago-based artist, designer, and animator. They earned their undergraduate degree in Interdisciplinary Arts at the University of Illinois at Chicago and recently completed a Master’s in Animation and Motion Design at DePaul University, culminating in a solo exhibition titled Meditation on Creation and Destruction: Anxiety of a Shared Resource.

The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art (UIMA) preserves and promotes contemporary art as a shared expression of the Ukrainian and American experience. UIMA develops, utilizes and encourages artistic talent through exhibitions, concerts, readings, lectures and films to serve the cultural needs of our community and city, and thereby strengthen cultural understanding and diversity. 

Unpacked Mobile Gallery provides accessible exhibitions, docent-led tours and workshops across the Midwest. Our mission includes museum and gallery accessibility; the importance of art as experience; and the relationship between institutions, society, and artists. Unpacked exhibitions expand free community art outreach and engagement programs with organizations such as Lubeznik Center for the Arts and the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art.

This project is partially supported by an Individual Artists Program Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. 

Programs at Spudnik Press are partially supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, the Driehaus Foundation, and the Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation. 

The exhibition is also made possible through the Terra Foundation for American Art Community Engagement Grant, awarded to the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art. This grant helped fund a partnership between the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Unpacked Mobile Gallery, and Spudnik Press to create Risograph work as part of Home Grown.

Spudnik Press is pleased to be the first stop on the national tour of 1st International Milwaukee Riso Invitational originating at Milwaukee’s Suburban Gallery. This collaborative exhibition and publishing project brings together an extraordinary group of contemporary artists, illustrators, and cultural producers to explore the power and substance of the democratic print.  

This inaugural invitational is produced in partnership with the The Comic Art Teaching and Study Workshop (CATS) and the artist‐run platform Bad at Sports, printed at the new CATS facility in Sarofim Hall on the campus of Rice University.

Each invited artist has created an original two‐color risograph print at 11Χ17 inches, editioned collaboratively for public distribution.

In keeping with the spirit of risograph culture—affordable, experimental, and accessible—30 of each print edition will be available free to gallery visitors, while the remaining 10 will be randomly distributed to participating artists. This gesture foregrounds a shared belief in art as both a gift and a tool for building cultural networks.

The invitational draws energy from the legacy of artist‐initiated print projects—ephemeral, distributable, and fiercely independent, said Brian Andrews, of Bad at Sports. It’s a celebration of artists using print as a means of connection, self ‐ expression, and resistance of the cultural machine.

Work by: Amanda Ross-Ho, Art Spiegelman, Beth Hetland, Betsy Odom, Cecilia Beaven, Christopher Sperandio, Chris Ware, Diana Guerrero-Macia, Heather Mekkelson, Ivan Brunetti, Jen Delos Reyes, Jennifer Willet, Jessica Campbell, Jessica Stockholder, Jason Dunda, Kuras and MacKenzie, Kyle O’Connell, Max Morris, Meg Duguid, Melissa Potter, Nura Ali, Oli Watt, OnSmith, Paul Krainak, Paul Nudd, Paul Ramirez Jonas, Peter Power, Ryan Peter Miller, Sandra Dillon, Shannon Stratton, Sergio Soave, Sonnenzimmer (Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi), Tamara Lee-Anne Cardinal, Tom Sanford

Spudnik Press
1821 W Hubbard St, #302
Chicago, IL 60622

This exhibition is curated by Duncan MacKenzie and Christopher Sperandio and was first exhibited at The Suburban in Milwaukee.  This show is a part a summer of midwest riso exhibitions organized by Spudnik Press.  A sister exhibition, 1st Annual Chicago and Vicinity Riso Exhibition will be taking place at Epiphany Center for the Arts: 201 S Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60607 from May 3- July 4, 2026 ( opening Sunday, May 3, 2–5pm)

Bad At Sports is the midwest’s leading site for arts journalism and contemporary art punditry. Boldly, it can be said that they are truly the providers of care for the wounded art soul and contemporary art worlder. In short, they are the strangest of artists and joke makers, surreal meaning hunters and philosophical provocateurs. Theirs is a quest of true horror… For what is art? Will we know it when we see it? And does it want to be known?ttps://badatsports.com/

The Comic Art Teaching and Study Workshop, or CATS, is a treasure trove of original comic art, comic books, and books on comics housed in the Department of Art at Rice University. CATS is a site for making comics and researching the topic of comics for students and professionals alike. Our collection of original comic art and vintage comics is growing!

May 3-July 4, 2026
Reception: Sunday, May 3, 2–5pm

The Chicago and Vicinity Riso Biennial is a regional exhibition celebrating risograph printing as it is being made right now across the Midwest. The show brings together artists from Chicago and Illinois along with the surrounding states — Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana — working in a medium defined by experimentation, accessibility, and the particular beauty of ink on paper.

Risograph printing occupies a unique space — rooted in zine culture and independent publishing, but increasingly embraced by artists pushing at the edges of what the process can do. Its layered spot colors, soy-based inks, and analog unpredictability make it a medium that rewards curiosity and collaboration.

This biennial is both a survey and a celebration, and a cheeky nod to the Art Institute of Chicago’s now defunct Chicago and Vicinity exhibition. This show is a chance to bring Midwest riso work into conversation with itself and honor a tradition of showing regional art, grounded in the independent, artist-driven print culture of the Midwest.

Work By: Abby Rodriguez, Aiden Workman, AiLinh Nguyen, Alec Espínola, Alex Cox, Alex Hohnsen, Ally Maurer, Ana Burgoon, April Behnke, Arianna Unabia Aquino, Ava Tankersley, Avery Johnson, AWE Society Press, BEVERLY FRESH, Cassian Blashka, Cassidy Kulhanek, Cedar Heffelfinger, Celia Shaheen, Charlie Yellow, Connor Frew, Conor Stechschulte, Daniel Mellis, David Arnevik, David Nasca, Echo Elise Gonzalez, Elena Hsuanyi Whitwam, Ellie Pritts, Emma Brooks, Gabriel Howell, Gwen Schilling, Hannah Sellers, Hazel Vernon, Hui-min Tsen, ignafruit, Igor Arume, Imara Sanchez Rivera, Isabella Tsanov, Jaiya Everett, Jamie Weinfurter, Janet Lee, Jasjyot Singh Hans, Jason Dunda, Johnny Willems, Junior Pacheco, Kacie Lees, Katie Edwards, Katon Black, Kristin Z, Kristina Swarner, LA LUZ, Liana Fu, Lily (Basil) Maclachlan, Lily Leigh, Louisa Zheng, Luke Daly, Maco Soto, Madai Huerta, Marian Rosado, Marjorie Hellyer, Marlene Schwier, Martin Melto, Marylu E. Herrera, Matt DeLoughery, Meg Duguid, Modius Modi (Michael King Jr.), Nathan Olsen, Nicholas Waguespack, Omnia Sol, Patricia Swanson, Patti Swanson, Pearl Lomax, Philip Bell, Rachel Delmotte, Ramon Santos, Rashad Madison, Riesling Dong, Riley Hannon, Ryan Davis, Saffie Miles, Sam Grenier, Sara Varon, Sarah Anderson, Saumitra Chandratreya, Sean Mac, Sierra Kruse, Sophia Malone, Taj Richardson, Ümlaut Press, Victoria Granacki, Will Arnold, Yan Wang, Yukun Chloe Ba, and ZACHATTACK

This exhibition is a part of a summer of midwest riso exhibitions organized by Spudnik Press.  A sister exhibition, 1st International Milwaukee Riso Invitational,  is curated by Duncan MacKenzie, Ryan Peter Miller,  and Christopher Sperandio. will be taking place at Spudnik Press: 1821 W Hubbard St, #302, Chicago, IL 60622 from June 26-August 14, 2026 (opening June 26, 6-8pm)

Spudnik Press is a community printmaking studio where artists and makers come together to create, learn, and collaborate. Rooted in the belief that art should be democratic and empowering, Spudnik offers an affordable, welcoming space for printmakers of all levels — from seasoned professionals to first-time students. By sharing equipment, skills, and creative energy, members build something greater than any one artist could alone. Committed to accessibility and equity, Spudnik extends its reach through classes, exhibitions, free workshops, and community programming.