Join Spudnik Press as a weekly Studio Monitor!

Our Studio Monitor Open Call provides interested volunteers who have printmaking experience with 6 months of 24/7 access to our professional facilities, a flat file, and opportunities to expand their printmaking and studio tech skills. Through a weekly 4-hour commitment, Volunteer Studio Monitors support our Open Studio Hours while becoming more familiar with the Spudnik Press community. 

Open Studio at Spudnik Press provides studio access at a reduced price and is available to all who can print independently. You can learn more about the Open Studio sessions that we offer here. Each Volunteer Studio Monitor leads an Open Studio session each week. Their responsibilities include:

• Welcoming and supporting all guests
• Providing basic troubleshooting and printing assistance
• Collecting payments
• Restocking supplies, cleaning, and organizing the studio
• Seeking opportunities to improve the facilities at Spudnik Press

To fulfill these duties, all Volunteer Studio Monitors receive:

• 24/7 Keyholder access for the duration of their monitoring
• Authorization on all Spudnik Press facilities
• A flat file drawer to store work
• General orientation about the organization and their role
• Technical training on the various printmaking equipment at Spudnik Press

Important Dates:

• Deadline to sign-up: February 23, 2025
• Zoom interviews starting: February 24, 2025
• Zoom Orientation: March 5, 2024
• In-Person Orientation: March 9, 2025
• Monitoring schedule: starts March 10, 2025

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Programs at Spudnik Press are partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency and Builder’s Initiative.

This project is partially supported by a Chicago Arts Recovery Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.

We are proud to launch a new initiative in partnership with Arts of Life!

The Spudnik Press Community Mentorship Program allows self-identifying artists from partner organizations to explore and immerse in a specific printmaking process. Different from a one-time Subsidized Workshop, this approach focuses on deepening skills over time while fostering artistic growth and incorporating a social aspect, exposing participating artists to community members of other organizations.

The inaugural cohort is made up of 8 artists from Arts of Life and Latitude Chicago. They will engage in 6 weekly sessions of monotype printing, focusing on creating unique “one-of-one” prints and working quickly through ideas and iterations.

Program Mentor:

Anders Zanichkowsky came to Chicago in 2019 after getting their MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where they concentrated in printmaking and religious art & studies. They are an interdisciplinary artist who also works in papermaking, textiles, neon, video, poetry, and performance, and they are the owner of Burial Blankets, weaving custom shrouds for green burial that are meant for enjoyment and reflection during life.

In 2016 Anders was an artist in residence with The Arctic Circle sailing expedition in Svalbard, and their work has been shown across the U.S. and abroad including The Wisconsin Film Festival and the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art. Anders has taught all ages and backgrounds with a focus on printmaking, drawing, and DIY-style professional development for working artists, including while on staff at Spudnik from 2019 – 2021.

Program Curators:

Jill Nahrstedt is an artist, mother, surfer, and traveler exploring relationships between the self and place. She accomplishes this through the use of color and images in her paintings, pivoting between realism and abstraction, combining them both in some pieces. Jill is seeking the layers that make a life.

She is the founder and curator of Far North Side Gallery, a micro gallery in Chicago. Her work has been shown throughout the United States and can be found on several walls as Murals in Chicago where she lives with her husband and two children. Nahrstedt also prints serigraphs of local architectural groupings, dabbles in surf art, and paints portraits of stranger-neighbors she sources from social media.

Yang Pulongbarit-Cuevo is a Filipina papercut artist based in Chicago who began as a political cartoonist in the Philippines. Her work often draws inspiration from nature, anatomy, music, and folklore.

As an immigrant born and raised in an archipelago with rich cultural heritage contrasted by a history of political unrest, Pulongbarit-Cuevo also creates pieces informed by societal observations and emotional abstraction. Her work has been featured in various online and offline publications including The Chicago Reader. She is currently working as a nonprofit director for a local arts organization and hosts a weekly show for 107.1FM, an independent radio station in North Center Chicago.

Participating Organizations:

Arts of Life is a Chicago organization that advances the creative arts community by providing artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities a collective space to expand their practice and strengthen their leadership skills.

Latitude Chicago is a nonprofit community digital lab in Chicago that maintains high-end printing and scanning equipment, processes 35mm and 120 color negative film, operates an artist in residence program, and organizes ongoing arts programming.

Culminating Event:

Curated prints from the program duration will be on display at a fundraising exhibition, PRESSed together, to be held at the Spudnik Press Annex Gallery on March 14, 2025 (5pm-8pm). Prints will be for sale, benefiting participating artists, Spudnik Press, Arts of Life, and Latitude Chicago.

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

This project is partially supported by a Chicago Arts Recovery Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.

Logo designed by Riesling Dong

The Spudnik team is happy to share beginning-of-year updates that were presented at our Member Meeting last January 8th, including changes in the studio setup and our fee structures.

STUDIO SPACE:

We rearranged the space to allow for four screen printing stations, in addition to the t-shirt station. We’re also reorganizing the annex as we double its capacity and a second Risograph has been added.

Additionally, we currently have two private studios available for rent, and registration for all January classes for our Winter Term is now open.

FUNDRAISING:

Rising costs and changing funding sources have put Spudnik at financial risk. To avoid a potential cash flow crisis in early spring, we are focusing on creating long-term financial stability for the organization. Currently, we are highly dependent on grants. Over the next few months, we will intensify our efforts to diversify funding, including expanding our commercial printing services and creating new opportunities for corporate sponsorships and group memberships.

We are thrilled to reintroduce a summer class term this year, which we’ve been unable to offer for the past two years. Additionally, we’ll establish host committees for two major fundraisers: a spring fundraiser and a fall online print auction. Save the date for June 2nd for our Birthday Party Fundraiser at Spudnik! If you’d like to join the host committee, please reach out.

FEE STRUCTURES:

Two price adjustments will go into effect on February 10th:

• Open Studio Rates: These will increase to $40 for a 4-hour session and $60 for an 8-hour session. These adjustments will help cover rising rent and supply costs. Even with the increase, these rates remain highly subsidized and do not cover our operational costs.
• Private Lessons: The cost of private lessons will increase from $140 for 3 hours to $175. This adjustment ensures that teaching artists receive pay that aligns with their standard rate for classes. We believe this is more equitable for the artists who help our studio thrive.

We are also revising many descriptions on our website to better reflect the depth and scope of what we do and to make collaboration opportunities clearer. We hope to complete these updates in the near future.

Thank you for your continuous support for Spudnik Press and we hope to share another fruitful year with you.

Please note that the studio is NOT furnished with shelving and furniture.

Status:

Available January 15, 2025

Rent:

Amenities:

Everyone’s safety is important to us. Participation in this program requires being onsite at Spudnik Press Cooperative and that per our Covid-19 Policy, all artists accepted into the program will be required to provide staff with proof of vaccination. Where possible, we will make reasonable accommodations for artists with a medical or religious exemption.

Please note that the studio is NOT furnished with shelving and furniture.

Status:

Available January 15, 2025

Rent:

Amenities:

Everyone’s safety is important to us. Participation in this program requires being onsite at Spudnik Press Cooperative and that per our Covid-19 Policy, all artists accepted into the program will be required to provide staff with proof of vaccination. Where possible, we will make reasonable accommodations for artists with a medical or religious exemption.

Thank you for dropping by and supporting our Volunteer Monitor Showcase last December 6th!

The show features works made by our Volunteer Monitors during their time at Spudnik Press. See prints created by Atalaya Leon Murphy, Sara Dennis, Kamilah Davila, Musa Ghaznavi, Angela Runge, Andriana Levytsky, Kianijee, Nick D’Allesandro, Eleanor Wardlaw, Alex Schonauer, Libby Donelly, Emma Chalut, Solene Roullier, and Julien Riendau.

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

This project is partially supported by a Chicago Arts Recovery Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.

Spudnik Press was delighted to participate at the inaugural Staple + Stitch Book Arts and Print Fair last November 15-17, 2024. It was a great weekend of seeing new and familiar faces in the printmaking community!

Thank you for stopping by the Spudnik Press vendor booth and supporting us! This event was a celebration and engagement with art, text, print, and paper hosted at 21c Museum Hotel Chicago on November 15-17, 2024.

Purchases from our vendor table will help Spudnik’s operational expenses and fund some of the new merch that staff is planning to launch soon!😊

Spudnik Press is excited to announce the appointment of Meg Duguid as the organization’s Interim Executive Director.

Duguid’s appointment comes after a search led by the Board of Directors in collaboration with Spudnik Press staff members and other members of the Spudnik Press community.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome Meg to our leadership team.” Says Board of Directors Chair, Patti Swanson. “Her visionary ideas, wealth of experience, and prior successful tenures at similar organizations provide the exact combination of skills we were looking for. We are excited to support her as she ushers Spudnik into a new era of growth and change.”

As interim executive director, Duguid will lead the press after a long period of rebuilding and structural shifts. Upholding the organization’s commitment to accessibility, equity, and positive change, Duguid plans to grow the community’s membership as well as its outreach and partnerships across Chicago. She brings her leadership and development talents to facilitate the necessary growth of the organization to return to a place of stability. This position will provide the direction and structure to expand its reach and effectiveness to implement the press’s new mission and priorities.

“I am ecstatic to be joining the team at Spudnik Press to help plan the future.” Duguid states  “Print is such an amazing and accessible medium for conveying emotions, information, and imagery. Supporting artists and makers in their practices and businesses is central to Spudnik’s ethos, and I am looking forward to providing platforms for artists to use their voices, imagine new worlds, and envision bold futures.”

Duguid comes to Spudnik by way of Columbia College Chicago, where she worked for over a decade managing exhibitions and event spaces in a variety of roles. Duguid’s former colleagues described her as a phenomenal leader dedicated to making sure her community had ample opportunities to share their voice and be represented. Her creative fundraising talents and sharp budgetary skills helped build and fund numerous iconic projects along the Wabash Arts Corridor, developing one of the largest street art and public art collections of women artists and artists of color.

Prior to her tenure at Columbia, Duguid worked in grants coordination, fundraising, curation, and public art for a variety of nonprofit organizations and city-sanctioned entities in both Chicago and New York City. Her undergraduate degree was obtained at School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1999, and followed by a 2006 MFA in sculpture from Bard College. Her passion for arts administration and wealth of experience made her a standout candidate throughout the search process.

Our community is thrilled to welcome Duguid and support her as she works toward strengthening organizational health, forging new partnerships across the city, and guiding Spudnik Press through an ongoing and invigorating era of change and new beginnings.

We had so much fun at our first Member Bookbinding Social! Spudnik members volunteered on a Friday afternoon to help staff make spiral notebooks by hand.

A variety of designs were available for the covers, pages, and we had colorful coils to choose from. A second session of the Member Bookbinding Social is taking place on Thursday, November 7 at 5:30pm! Join us for a fun, creative evening and help us prepare more handmade creations to bring at upcoming offsite events.

Signing up for a Studio Membership supports Spudnik Press through an annual gift that provides the organization with a predictable stream of funds for programs and artist opportunities. Not a member yet? Become a member today!

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

This project is partially supported by a Chicago Arts Recovery Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.

Spudnik Press was delighted to take part at the recent Chicago Artist-Run Spaces Fair last September 25th!

Through this event, SITE Galleries kicked off their 30th Anniversary in collaboration with Career and Professional Experience (CAPX). Artist-run spaces throughout Chicago (including Spudnik Press!) were invited to join in celebrating their histories, programs, and exhibitions, while exposing their students to the range of opportunities in the Chicago art world.

It was fun to meet the SAIC community and chat with them about the programs and facilities that we offer at Spudnik Press. It cemented the importance of having an accessible space such as Spudnik to support artists with a reliable and affordable resource to continue their practice.

This year’s Annual Member Meeting wrapped up on a very creative note with painterly screen prints made by our community members, board, and staff!

As a member-based organization, community participation is essential. Membership meetings are scheduled with agendas ideally determined by member input. This is also a time for studio members to meet the nominees running for Board Membership, both new and those who are up for re-election.

Member Meeting 3-5pm | Agenda: 

• Welcome | 2:45 – 3:15pm
• Business Affairs | 3:15 – 4:00pm
  • Board of Directors Update: Patti Swanson
  • ED Hiring Update: Kristen Campos
  • Staff Update: Yang Pulongbarit-Cuevo
• Board Elections
• Call for Volunteers
• Comments & Questions
• In Memoriam: Patrick Hogan | 4:00 – 4:15pm
• Studio Fun | 4:15 – 5:00pm
  • Snacks & beverages provided
  • Monoprint community activity
  • Chat with your fellow Spudnik members

Signing up for a Studio Membership supports Spudnik Press through an annual gift that provides the organization with a predictable stream of funds for programs and artist opportunities. Not a member yet? Become a member today!

Support Spudnik by Becoming a Member

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

This project is partially supported by a Chicago Arts Recovery Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.

Thank you for dropping by and supporting our Studio Sale last September 6th!

Guests got great deals on screens, Spudnik merch, prints, zines, and more. They were also able to create a letterpress print of their own guided by Teaching Artist Wes Kendall. We have a few screens that are still available for sale and if you are interested, please email us at info@spudnikpress.org for the price list and inquiries.

Purchases during our Studio Sale will help Spudnik’s operational expenses and fund some of the new merch that staff is planning to launch soon! We hope you had an amazing time participating at our letterpress demonstration and getting great deals on prints, merch, screens, and more.😊 Until next time!

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

This project is partially supported by a Chicago Arts Recovery Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.