Parita Shah

Parita is a world traveler and a mid-western baby. She is bothered neither by the searing sunshine of Tamil Nadu, nor the frigid winds of Chicago. Parita’s creative works are generated via art and craft practices such as drawing and bookbinding. Her media comfort zones include drawing, painting, photography, print, bookbinding, paper making, music and more.

Website:

www.paritamshah.com

Michael Sheets

Chicago-based. Queer-owned-and-operated. Handcrafted letterpress goods for all of life’s occasions and then some!

Services Offered:

  • Printmaking Commissions

Website:

www.sixpointsletterpress.com

Sierra Shih

Fall 2019 Intern

Sierra Shih is a graphic and industrial designer based in Chicago and Seattle. She is currently studying Visual Communications and Designed Objects at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is interested in brand identities and combining digital and analog treatments in her graphic design work. In her industrial design practice, she focuses on functionality, efficiency, and problem-solving.

Image: Detail of TITANIC by Sierra Shih

 

 

Services Offered:

  • Graphic Design
  • Illustration

Website:

sierrashih.myportfolio.com/

Emily Shopp

Fellow

Emily Shopp grew up in Dallas, Texas. In 2013, she received her BFA in Printmaking at Stephen F. Austin State University, where she was the 2012 recipient of the Cole Dean’s Award in Art. Shopp has been included in various juried exhibitions including the ​Printmaking National Exhibition​ at Mark Arts in Wichita, Kansas and ​23rd Arts in Harmony 2018 Annual International Show ​in Hopkins, MN.​ ​She currently lives and works in Chicago, IL.

 

Website:

www.emilyshopp.com

Project Statement:

Over the past year as a keyholder at Spudnik, I have nurtured an interest in incorporating collage into my intaglio print practice. I am drawn to the dynamic interactions of displaced imagery and lines as well as the low-relief physical interaction of paper edges. I experiment with paper transparency, image layering and plate shaping. By cutting etched images out of copper plates, I turn plates into modular elements and repeatable motifs to create “print collages.” I also print single plates and cut out parts of these images to recombine them into a more traditional cut-and-paste collage. I have found that destroying a piece that I created using a labor-intensive print process has challenged my attachment to my work and redefined my understanding of object value. Much of my recent work has been ironing out all of the technical aspects of this practice. As a studio fellow I would use these techniques to develop a new, cohesive series of variable prints and collages. I plan to focus on process, composition and emotional resonance by reconfiguring representational imagery into more abstract content. I would continue to work predominantly with intaglio with chine-colle, but am also interested in the variation of texture that could come from including other print processes, such as relief and screen printing. My goal at the end of the fellowship is to create a unified body of work that blurs the boundaries between printmaking and collaging.

sienna

Intern - Fall 2019

maker making, worker working

 

Website:

siennabroglie@gmail.com

Katherine N Smith

As a Graphic Designer and painter, Katherine creates easel-size paintings of stylized landscapes that include references to microscopic biological forms and macroscopic extraterrestrial masses. She uses organic shapes, thick layers and bright colors that suggest planets and cellular structures to evoke the processes of many natural systems moving from their creation to decay. These pieces are juxtaposed to Letterpress prints that are personal statements that represent changing thoughts and emotions. Oil paints on canvas and oil based ink on paper show a variety of texture that symbolizes inconsistency, abnormal ideas and anxiety. This series is a timeline showing her discomfort within her environment over the period of one year.

Services Offered:

  • Exhibition Opportunities
  • Graphic Design

Website:

www.katherinensmith.com/

Jolanta Soares

Jolanta Soares, grew up in Communist Poland, coming of age during the Solidarity Movement, before emigrating to the United States. This background intermingles with her experiences as a mother, her love of sailing and working as an IT professional, to inspire her many different series of works. “Stories” describes her life’s journey, “Into the Cloud” conveys a rebellion against the digitization and vulnerability of our identities, “Poppies Fields” embodies the beauty and pathos inherent in poppies, and “Don’t Think” being the Joie de vivre. Reminiscent of De Kooning, Joan Mitchell and other Abstract Expressionist artists, Jolanta uses an Oil & Wax  and Encaustic techniques to create paintings.

Image: Detail of Jolanta Soares, Blind Justice, Printing Ink on Paper, 2019

Services Offered:

  • Exhibition Opportunities

Website:

jolantasoares.com/

Robert Stokowy

2020-21 Fellow

Robert Stokowy is an artist and composer from Cologne, Germany. His work consists of experimental compositions, text-based interventions, performances and installations. More conceptual works utilize artistic practices such as photography, writing, printmaking and drawing. All projects are framed and connected by an overarching artistic research process, focussing on inner structural characteristics of found or created sonic environments. Using a radically reductive and interdisciplinary approach, Robert’s work investigate modes and possibilities of sonic accessibility. In short art is used as an interdisciplinary tool to understand one’s environment and the human condition.

Services Offered:

  • Exhibition Opportunities
  • Printmaking Commissions

Website:

www.robert-stokowy.de/

meg studer

siteations studio

Trained as a ‘researcher’ and a ‘maker,’ I aspire to craft environments, graphics, and applications that inform and invite engagement. As an illustrator, my passion is integrating big(ish)-data with visual narratives and geographic expression. A curious and creative designer, I move fluidly between places, pop-ups, prints, and full-stack web development. Ultimately, I love drawing out cultural connections and footprints across mediums. I welcome commissions and work well in a collaborative studio environment, creating intense, inquisitive, and impactful designs for wider audiences.

Services Offered:

  • Graphic Design
  • Illustration
  • Printmaking Commissions

Website:

www.siteations.com

Christen Whitehouse

Maison Blanche

I am a stationery designer and illustrator with a focus on color, pattern and texture. I work mostly in the wedding world creating fine art wedding stationery for couples who are interested in non-traditional pieces that reflect their unique personalities. I also create custom illustrations and prefer to work in a loose whimsical style.

Services Offered:

  • Graphic Design
  • Illustration

Website:

www.maisonblanchelettering.com

Don Widmer

Don Widmer is a book and paper artist who uses hand papermaking, relief printing, and bookbinding (separately or in combination) to create unique works of art. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago’s Interdisciplinary Arts program, Don launched his paper arts business, Lion of Bali, which exhibits at numerous arts and craft fairs throughout the Midwest. Much of his work is inspired by travel and his background in ethnomusicology. Don primarily uses a technique called pulp painting to create his handmade paper artworks, particularly his images of urban architecture. He has had several residencies at Morgan Conservatory of Papermaking in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. Don has recently set up his papermaking studio in Skokie, Illinois.

Services Offered:

  • Exhibition Opportunities
  • Printmaking Commissions

Website:

dwidmer.com

Classes by this Artist:

Papermaking

Products by this Artist:

Abigail M. Wood

Abigail M. is a Chicago-based graphic designer, writer, and printmaker. She holds a BFA in graphic design from Columbia College Chicago. She had a haiku published in Columbia Poetry Review no. 26. In 2018, AIGA Chicago awarded her the What’s Next Grant to fund her project Does Cement Make a Sound?; a mixed media print series which aims to highlight the reality of living with mental illness and disability. Regardless of medium, Abigail M.’s work exists to answer the constant and varied questions that typically arise somewhere between a memory and the conscious awareness of a feeling.

Services Offered:

  • Graphic Design
  • Printmaking Commissions

Website:

abigailm.com