Join us at Renegade Craft Fair on Saturday and Sunday, September 8-9 from 11am until 7pm, along Division in Wicker Park. Have a t-shirt printed from a selection of hand-carved woodblocks, made by a Spudnik printer! Featured here is a wood block carved by Spudnik volunteer, Andrew Ghrist.

Here’s what Andrew had to say about his experience at Spudnik and the process of carving his first woodblock:
“For the last couple of weeks I have been volunteering at Spudnik Press (Chicago) which has been a good look at how a print shop outside of school setting functions. I assisted Spudnik staff with they’re booth at the Milwaukee Art Festival here in Chicago as well as helping around the shop. I watched professional artists who depend on shops like Spudnik to have a place to collaborate with other artist and produce their artwork. They asked me to design and carve a woodblock for a T-shirt they will be selling this September at the Renegade Craft. I had never made a woodblock print or any other type of relief print for that matter, but I took this opportunity to learn something new. I was weary at first but as I became more comfortable with the carving tools I free handed a majority of the block. We haven’t printed any of the shirts yet but here is a picture of the block. I hope they are able to sell a bunch these!”

You can see more and purchase Andrew’s work at Etsy.

Spudnik Press Cooperative: The Annex

A New Home for Underground Publishing in Chicago

This Fall, Spudnik Press Cooperative is expanding to create a multi-purpose cultural space. The Spudnik Press Annex will contain a gallery and classroom, independent studios, and shared work space for writers, bookmakers, artists, students, and others. A reference library of small press and experimental book projects is under development.

The Annex will work towards bridging communities. Chicago has a strong history of self-publishing, alternative comics, independent start-ups, and experimental writing. The city continues that rich history with spaces like Read/Write Library, which has an all-inclusive collection of Chicago-specific media, and Quimby’s, a bookstore selling independently-published and small press books, comics, zines and ephemera. Our new addition will be the hub where these self-published artworks can be created. Artists and makers of all disciplines can work in proximity and conversation with one another.

Our current printing facilities offer access to a broad range of processes such as screen printing, intaglio, letterpress, and offset printing. To this we are adding photocopying, collating, hot foil stamping, and other necessary resources to create one’s own publications. Our current printshop will remain the space for individuals to get inky and produce editions of fine art prints. The Annex is designed to better facilitate group projects and provide a flexible clean space for activities like drawing, writing, brainstorming, and classes.

Spudnik Press class offerings are also multiplying to include classes and workshops in writing, self-publishing ,bookbinding, and topics that blur the line between writing and visual art. The classroom will also host more professional development opportunities like Portfolio Review and workshops like “Best Practices for Working Artists”, led by lawyer Charles C. Valauskas.

The gallery will feature our own homegrown artists, work from throughout the country, and collaborative and interdisciplinary projects.

Luke Daly from Arrow as Aarow will be spearheading our writing and book projects program. Daly states, “The merging of writing and publishing activities with those of a fully functioning print shop will provide an environment where writing is approached as a form of making.”

Throughout the fall, the new annex will host a variety of workshops, special engagements, and first time events, welcoming all to our new facilities.

Please contact the Writing and Book Projects Coordinator, Luke Daly (luke@spudnikpress.com) or Spudnik Press Executive Director, Angee Lennard (angee@spudnikpress.com) with any questions about our new programming.

Opening Events:

Benefit Auction: In Progress
To be held in The Printshop and The Annex
Sep. 29, 2012
6-10pm

Hubbard Street Loft Open Studios
with debut of The Annex
Oct. 12, 2012
7-10pm

Private Studios available for rent
beginning Nov. 1, 2012
Email angee@spudnikpress.com for more information

Inaugural Open Studio
Monday, Nov. 5, 2012, 6:30-11pm
With Guest Artist Caroline Picard
The Annex Open Studios will be held weekly on Monday evenings and will feature weekly guest artists.
More details to follow

New classes in The Annex:

Best Practices for Working Artists
Begins Oct. 2, 2012

Text as Image / Collage as Writing
Begins Oct. 24, 2012

Comics Workshop: Comic Book Ins and Outs
Community Workshop
Nov. 7, 2012

Drink and Draw
Positive and Negative Space
Dec. 5, 2012

Help Us Out:

Between the September 26th and October 12th, we will need all hands on deck to help get the studio in shape. Please e-mail angee@spudnikpress.com to sign up for a shift. We are also seeking the skilled labor of an electrician to help add lights and electrical outlets.

Wants and Needs List:

Up to 2 Additional Computers; with Intel CPU
B&W Laser printer; prints at least 8.5×14, double-sided preferred
Epson color printer; Epson 4800 preferred
Photocopier; prints 11×17; capability to scan and to print from a computer preferred
Adobe Creative Suite license; CS4 and up preferred
General Bookbinding supplies: book thread, beeswax, needles, awls, bone folders, corner rounders, other
Nipping press
Staplers: regular or long-range
Paper Cutter and/or Ream cutter
Comfy chair(s) for reading
Large clean work tables; with or ability to add locking castors
20+ folding or stackable chairs
10+ stools; about 24” tall
Benches or pews

Cash donations will support build-out costs including electrical improvements, constructing new walls, adding connecting door between studios, painting, moving supplies, organizing, and cleaning.

Saturday & Sunday, September 8 & 9
11am – 7pm
along Division Street in Wicker Park

Join in on the fun with Spudnik Press as we print wood block t-shirts at Renegade Craft Fair!

We are also looking for volunteers to help out! Email brandy@spudnikpress.com if you are available to volunteer at one of the following times (2 people are needed for each shift):


Saturday, September 8
8:00am – 11:00am (set-up with Brandy)
10:30am – 2:00pm
1:30pm – 5:00pm
4:30pm – 8:00pm

Sunday, September 9
10:30am – 2:00pm
1:30pm – 5:00pm
4:30pm – 8:30pm (tear-down)

Special thanks to Pitchfork for featuring Spudnik’s Kickstarter campaign: The Gig Poster Project. Check out our campaign plus all the others featured as “special interests” on the Pitchfork page.

This October, meet Chicago’s artists at 200+ exhibitions, openings, demonstrations, tours, open studios and neighborhood art walks that take place at galleries, cultural centers and arts buildings throughout the city. Chicago Artists Month is presented by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. For more information, visit www.chicagoartistsmonth.org.

And Then She’s Like
And He Goes
Curated by Chris Campe

August 9 – September 15, 2012
A+D Gallery, 619 S. Wabash Ave, Chicago

Gallery Hours:
Tuesday – Saturday 11 am – 5 pm
Thursday 11 am – 8 pm

Closing Reception: September 6, 2012, 5–8pm
ColumbiaCrawl, a campus-wide evening of visual and performing arts
6pm, Gallery Talk with the artists followed by a performance of
The Wilhelm Scream by Jeff Kolar

Participating Artists:
Anne Vagt
Jana Sotzko & Elen Flügge
Deb Sokolow
Mark Addison Smith
Tony Lewis
Jeff Kolar
Chris Campe
Mark Booth

And Then She’s Like/ And He Goes combines text-based visual art with language-based sound art. The visual pieces in the exhibition emphasize the audible qualities that hand rendered letterforms add to text, and the audio pieces play with the visual potential of sound.

Someone is telling us that she said something and he answered—what we don’t know. What we do know: there are at least three people involved here: she, he, and the person telling us about their conversation. And actually, we are involved, too. It is up to us, the audience, to speculate what she said and he replied, or what she inquired and how he responded, or what she threw at him and what he retorted. Even though the content of the dialog is left out its colloquial language evokes distinct voices in our head and entices us to imagine what is going on.

The exhibition And Then She’s Like, And He Goes combines text-based visual art with language-based sound art to highlight the works’ multi-sensory appeal as a mode of storytelling. Seeing and reading text in an artwork involves hearing, even if only inside the viewers head, and listening to spoken words and sound involuntarily brings images to the mind‘s eye, even when the language is not straightforwardly descriptive. The artists examine these audible qualities of image-text and the visual potential of language and sound. Intertwining documentation and fabulation they give us audio/visual bits and pieces and use non-linear narrative to draw us into their stories. Rather than over the course of the traditional beginning, middle, and end the narrative comes alive in the overlap between word, image and sound. Although there is no way of knowing for sure what she said and he replied, the works in the show invite us to be involved in the story.

More information?
Here’s a link to the show’s catalog, with an essay by John Corbett:
http://www.colum.edu/ADGallery/Exhibits/2012_and_then_shes/andthen_issue.pdf

Did you know that Spudnik Press can accommodate your class field trip? We can customize a printmaking workshop just for your group! Target Field Trip Grant can help make your field-trip-to-Spudnik dreams come true! Click the image link to learn more about applying for the grant and email Angee@spudnikpress.com to start planning your trip!

Our donated Hot Foil Stamper is now up and running! Use heat to transfer metallic foil to a solid surface. Use it on business cards, invitations, and other special projects. Be careful because this baby reaches temperatures up to 300 degrees so you must be authorized to use it. To get authorized, email brandy@spudnikpress.com to set up an appointment.

Welcome Tara Zanzig from all of us here at Spudnik Press. Chicago artist, Tara Zanzig, is now renting out one of Spudnik’s private studios. We can’t wait to see what you will be working on. Next time you’re at Spudnik say hi, and feel free to see what she has been up to.

“Megan, what do you do as an intern at Spudnik Press?” Well, it’s too hard to answer what happens here briefly. The truth is that I get to dip my feet into a variety of projects. I get to be a photographer, teacher’s assistant, and social media guru. I lend a hand in printing, hanging art work, tidying up, and administrative organization. Also, I get to observe the constant traffic of talented people who hang out at Spudnik for classes and studio hours.

In addition to all of that, I’m working on an individual project for Spudnik. As an Ad Art Direction major I’m creating a mini-campaign. I want my campaign to show all that happens here at Spudnik and the talent that comes through these doors. I will show how Spudnik is a resource to outsiders looking in and to those who are already familiar.

You might see me sifting through artwork for inspiration or testing out fonts for my headlines. Be on the lookout for the launch of this campaign mid August!

Take a look at this audio slideshow of our most recent community workshop, Paper Making. Thanks to John Santore for visiting Spudnik and documenting this fun event.

Sunday, October 21, 2012
3:00 pm to 5:00 pm
at The Annex (next door to Spudnik Press, Suite 303)
FREE!

At this Chicago Metal Arts Guild workshop, held at Spudnik Press’ Annex, we will discuss how to organize your inventory, how to select management systems for inventory tracking, how to achieve and maintain consistency in labeling, how to prepare your inventory for tax time, and more.