Over the next two weeks, we’ll be presenting our incredible line of local organizations competing in The Hashbrown on February 22. Although small in size, they all have big ideas about how to improve our community, and they are putting their ideas to action! Today we introduce Urban Sandbox,  an all ages multi-canvassed open mic event that features poets, emcees, musicians, comedians, solo-artists, puppeteers and more.

What can you tell us about the long lost art of chili poetry?

There are rumors of an ancient library that held the world’s greatest chili poems but they were sadly lost in long-forgotten wars. No poet has ever recreated such greatness, but we guarantee that our chili will be a work of art.

With what celebrity would you most like to share a bowl a chili?

We would like to share a bowl of chili with Dr. Suess or Shel Silverstein. And then we could all write silly, rhyming poems about the dinner.

How does your chili recipe embody your organization?

Urban Sandbox prides itself on being an all-ages multi-canvassed open mic that supports and encourages the voices of Chicago. We’re gonna mix some 312 beer and spices in our chili and consider that representing.

Do you have any words of warning to your competitors?

We will write battle-haikus about how our chili is better than your chili.

What does Spudnik Press love about Urban Sandbox?

Urban Sandbox has been bringing talented poets, emcees, musicians and comedians together for the past twelve years through their open mic events. From the get go, they have been dedicating to bringing  young and veteran performers together to present work alongside each other. Creative circles that usually run parallel intersect. The diversity of the event is impressive, but more importantly, they are dedicated to creating pathways for young artists to meet and work with established artists outside of the teacher/student paradigm.

Read more about Urban Sandbox!

Members at Spunik Press enable us to be our best. Our members bring stability to our organization and continually support us through participating in our programs, sharing ideas, volunteering at our fundraisers, and spreading the word about all we do. We’ve always treated our members well with every day benefits within our studio (including 15% of classes and a listing in our member directory).

In 2014, we have partnered with six local businesses to offer perks to every member that joins Spudnik Press betweeen Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2014. The perks are valid as long as the membership is current!

Comrade Cycles is a full-service neighborhood bicycle shop offering expert repair; sales of bicycles, parts, and accessories; custom bike builds; and more. Comrade Cycles is dedicated to worker ownership opportunities. In their own words, “We’re so pleasant and helpful in part because we’re working for ourselves and all take part in the decisions that affect us as workers.”

Frames Graphics Studio is tucked away on Grand Ave. This gem of a frame shop owned and operated ran by Jamie. Jamie takes pride in offering his clients wholesale prices every day.

Genesis Art Supply is  has roots that go back to the 1940’s when Sheldon Goldman established his chain of stores names Sheldons in Chicago. Genesis Art Supplies remains family owned. Their store is full stocked, and they are always happy to place a custom order for anything not on their shelves.

Paperish Mess opened in 2012 and features the work of over 75 artists, including many Spudnik Press printers. In addition to paper goods, like notecards and posters, they coordinate rotating gallery installations.

Study Hall  is a little shop in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village that carries clothes and accessories for men and women, jewelry, books, stationery, housewares, and assorted ephemera for the discerning consumer. Their inventory is always changing as each season they focus on a new idea and curate their selection around that theme.

Quimby’s Bookstore is an independently owned bookstore that sells independently-published and small press books, comics, zines and ephemera. They favor the unusual, the aberrant, the saucy and the lowbrow. Anyone who spends a few minutes perusing their impressive collection is bound to find work printed at Spudnik Press.

Member or not, we encourage everyone to support these amazing businesses who are more than willing to support their community!

Classes at Spudnik Press are a hub where individuals with diverse disciplines, backgrounds, and artistic goals can engage together and push each others creative practice. In our community art studio, we offer classes that introduce traditional making skills as well as experimental and cross-disciplinary artistic approaches. From printmaking to illustration, book binding, or self-publishing, our team of amazing teaching artists each bring their unique perspective to our classes and workshops. Would you like to join this team?

Proposals for Spring/Summer Community Workshops and Special Topics Classes are due Sunday, February 16 at midnight.

For all the details please download our Call for 2014 Class Proposals.
To apply, download and return our 2014 Class Proposal Form and our 2014 Class Supply Request. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.

Featuring 10 outstanding organizations and their secret chili recipes

Saturday Feb. 22, 2014
6-10pm
$10 for 5 tasting tickets / $20 for VIP Package

Spudnik Press Cooperative
1821 W Hubbard, Suite 302

Spudnik Press Cooperative is thrilled to host our 4th annual chili cook-off on February 22, 2014, 6-10pm. This year’s battle features ten of Chicago’s most unique and promising arts organizations, each vying for the Grand Prize—$250 to support their programming plus a commemorative Golden Ladle!

Approaching the cook-off with new vigor, Spudnik Press is raising awareness of the unique projects and spaces that keep Chicago’s cultural landscape diverse, innovative, and supportive. The ten highlighted organizations represent a broad range of disciplines and approaches. From CAKE, an annual festival of independent comics that represents and advocates the work of many underground and alternative comics artists, to Urban Sandbox, an all ages open mic event that provides young artists a safe creative place to take stage and interact with established artists, each invited organization approaches their line of work with distinction and verve.

Soup & Bread is a community meal project and a fun, grassroots way to raise money for hunger-relief organizations and other good causes. The Read/Write Library is a new model for open, location-specific archiving of independent and small press media. The Hashbrown makes tangible that small independent organizations like Soup & Bread and Read/Write Library, directly and indirectly, depend on each others work and serve the same greater community.

Additional organizations represented in The Hashbrown Chili Cook-Off include North Branch Projects, Sixty Inches From Center, Homeroom Chicago, Nightingale Cinema, Corner Farm, and Comfort Station, supporting book arts, journalism, farming, creative programming, and time based arts. “In selecting who we would invite, we looked to organizations that inspire us, are bringing ingenuity to their field, whose work is often under celebrated, and who are consistently advocating for their community,” says Founder and Director, Angee Lennard. As Spudnik Press transitions from a DIY space to an established Chicago organization, we relish this opportunity to highlight the artists and organizers that make our city and our artistic community so rich.

In addition to abundant chili, The Hashbrown will include cornbread and baked goods, live printing, and an exhibition featuring new work by Spudnik’s fall Artist in Residence, Hannah Ireland. Signature cocktails will feature CH Distillery spirits and local artisan beer.

Admission to The Hashbrown is by donation, but to cast a ballot, attendees can purchase five tasting tickets for $10. VIP tickets are $20 and include larger chili portions, a complimentary drink, a commemorative golden spoon, and a raffle ticket. Tickets are available in advance or at the door. Cook-off winners announced at 9:30 pm or when chili runs dry.

Purchase Tickets
RSVP on Facebook

Press contact: Angee Lennard

The Hashbrown 2014 is sponsored in part by:

Dear Friends,

As 2013 comes to a close, we asked our dedicated Board of Directors to reflect on how Spudnik Press is unique in serving our community and support the arts, and why you should consider supporting Spudnik. Here is what they had to say:

We bring people together

From the free artist talks and lectures we offer, to our collaborations with larger organizations like Homeroom for Ten x Ten, and the Poetry Foundation for The Printers Ball, engaging with our Chicago community is at the core of who we are.

We welcome everyone

Spudnik Press Cooperative supports artists and students from all backgrounds through field trips, internships, publishing projects, group classes, and private lessons. We collaborate with high school poets, nursing home residents, public school teachers, musicians, graphic designers, and established artists.This cross-pollination provides a unique context for individuals to connect to their communities through visual art.

We meet people where they are at

Whether you need to print a single t-shirt, develop a full product line, or learn a traditional printmaking process, Spudnik has something to offer you. However, Spudnik Press isn’t just a place to take classes and make art. We offer creative programming to support artists and aspiring artists at any stage of their career including professional development, internships, residencies, and apprenticeships. These services are often offered at low or no cost to the artists.

We are committed to being affordable

Accessibility and affordability are key parts of Spudnik’s missionm so we aim to keep our fees and tuitions low, and offer avenues to those who cannot afford studio access through subsidized apprenticeships, youth field trips, community workshops and more. Your support will increase opportunities we are able to offer to those who cannot afford Spudnik.

We invest your donations wisely

Each dollar contributed to our mission is spent judiciously, and all earned income is completely reinvested in our programming. An average of $33 per day is spent on art supplies, which adds up to over $12,000 each year. $150 covers one month of insurance. $750 pays for one Artist Residency. Even a small donation can help fund an exhibition or youth field trip, and ensures that we can keep costs low for all that use our studio.

Studio fees, tuition, and earned income only cover a portion of our operating expenses. The rest comes from people like you. Please consider making a donation to support our work. 

Make Your Tax-Deductible Donation

This apprenticeship is a ten-month position that combines professional experience working with clients through our Publishing Program with entrepreneurial guidance. Artists apply with a substantial personal project they would like to work on throughout the apprenticeship. Over the course of the year, the apprentice will work with an advisor to develop their project.

Spudnik Press Apprentices are paid employees of Spudnik Press. Additionally, Apprentices receive complimentary keyholder access to the print studio. Read more details and the history of the program.

Review of applications will begin on Jan. 10, 2014. The 2014 Apprenticeship Program will tentatively run from Feb 15 – December 15, 2013. Please contact angee@spudnikpress.org with questions.

Applications Due January 17, 2014

We are pleased to announce our open call for applications to our residency program for the Spring of 2014. Printmakers, bookmakers, writers, and artists working in multiple disciplines are encouraged to apply.

Download Residency Description and How to Apply: Spring 2014 Residency Call

About Our Residency Program

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 innovative, high-quality, print-based artwork, 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. The program is open to any artist comfortable working independently in his or her medium. 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 residency which works towards creating an edition of prints, artist books, chapbooks, zines, or a multi-disciplinary project. Artists that wish to work collaboratively may apply together.

RSVP by November 6th to reserve your place.

Email publishing@spudnikpress.org
Please include your phone number, website and space preference.

Holiday Art Sale: Prints in Space
Spudnik Press Printshop and Annex
Wednesday, December 4th, 2013
6-10pm

It is free for members to participate. The fee for non-members to participate in the show is $5, due on the night of the show. We ask that all participants donate 25% of their sales to Spudnik Press to help keep us in orbit. The universe is constantly expanding, but our space is limited. Display spaces are available on a first come, first serve basis.

18 wall spaces (6 feet of wall space to display your work)
There will be a line hanging in the shop that can accommodate the work of two artists (approximately 8 feet each)
10 table spaces (approximately 4’ x 4’ section of table)
We will have a shared table for writing-based, handheld or publication work. If you own your own press or have more than five pieces we suggest you request your own table.

We are continuing our potluck tradition! If you’d like to participate and bring in grandma’s secret recipe, let us know what you plan to make. Lastly, contact us if you want to volunteer.

Don’t be a space case. Gravitate towards Spudnik Press and orbit our satellite this holiday season!

Kindly,
Your intergalactic interns
Sophie and Anna

In Progress Benefit Auction
Saturday, September 28, 2013

Studio sketches, visual brainstorms, artist proofs, drafts, studies, notes, and ephemera from the studio practices of a diverse and impressive lineup of artists.

Details forthcoming.

Are you visiting Renegade? Join our street team!

September 7 & 8, 11-7pm
E-mail angee@spudnikpress.org to volunteer

Help us spread the good word about how fun and easy it is to print at Spudnik Press! We are looking for a few kind folks to come by the studio the week before Renegade to pick up a stack of our spiffy brand new brochures and then distribute throughout the weekend to vendors. Each volunteer will be responsible for visiting about a quarter of the booths to help promote our studio and invite people to print or learn at Spudnik.

Below are some of our recent projects that we have completed through our Publishing Program.

Here at Spudnik we are lucky to work with awesome artists, designers, and businesses to create a large variety of high-quality printed products. Below are a few examples of screen-printed projects, but we also love to work with our clients to produce letterpress, offset, relief, or even lithographic projects based on individual needs.

ARTCRANK Poster by Jenna Stempel

“Bikes are the world’s most fun, accessible way to get around. Posters are the world’s most fun, accessible art form. ARTCRANK™ brings them together.Each ARTCRANK show features the work of 30 or more artists who live and work in the host city. Artists create an original poster design about bikes and what cycling means in their lives, and produce a limited edition of signed and numbered copies to show and sell. ARTCRANK uses creativity to change the way people think about bicycles and grow the cycling community.”

Screen-printed Tote Bags for Meg Onli’s Black Visual Archive website designed by Fivethousand Fingers

“Black Visual Archive (BVA) is dedicated to the documentation and review of contemporary black and post-black visual culture. Founded in 2010 by Meg Onli, BVA is a collection of critical writings that contextualizes the work of African American artists through historical and visual history. Based in Chicago, BVA investigates the city as a unique site for black visual culture with articles, reviews, and interviews that have surveyed the works of Kerry James Marshall and Theaster Gates while also reflecting on the defining archives of Johnson Publishing Company and Numero Group. With a particular interest in how contemporary artists mine the complex history of black representation in America, BVA will continually reflect and link works within their sociocultural constructs.”

For more information on consignment printing through our Publishing Program, please contact Ashlee or Angee at publishing@spudnikpress.org.

Stability Dynamics

New Work by Jeremy Lundquist

Stability Dynamics is a series of etchings produced during the Grant Wood Fellowship at the University of Iowa that directly reproduce, alter and layer fragments of the Joint Chief of Staff’s diagram, “Afghanistan Stability/COIN Dynamics.” The work is a critique of the current military and diplomatic strategy of the U.S. in Afghanistan while examining the futility of diagramming the chaos of war. The process involves printing each section from a single plate as information is built up and then scraped away. Lundquist pulls prints along the away as text and image materialize, linger, and disappear. This technique helps provide viewers the opportunity to consider and question how history and policy is constructed.

Stability Dynamics was installed as part of the 2013 Printers’ Ball: Trip and Return. His work will be on display in the printshop through September 13, 2014. See more of Jeremy Lunquist’s work