Spudnik Press Cooperative has 5 permanent staff. Our Board of Directors works closely with staff to guide overall policy and direction. Each year, we work with 4 Fellows who monitor our open studio program, and approximately 25 teaching artists.
Our Member Directory highlights the amazing community of artists involved with Spudnik Press Cooperative.
Alex Belardo Kostiw is a graphic designer, artist, and educator whose work is rooted in storytelling. She has an MFA in visual communication design from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a BA in English literature from the University of Chicago. In her own projects, Alex deals in poetic, adapted, and iterative elements, visual structures of comics, and conceptually driven forms. Her work explores primordial and personal forms of knowledge, investigating the complex ways that the self and reality interact.
Image Credit: Collectivo Multipola
I am a cartoonist from Skokie, IL. For the past five years, I have been teaching people how to create using technology in public libraries and academic spaces. I started making comics as a teenager and after, as an Orthodox Jewish schoolgirl, I read all of Love and Rockets haven’t been the same since. I went on to study comics and technology at the University of Michigan and have been living in Skokie since I graduated with my tiny, bossy Pitbull, Matilda.
Chris Perzan is currently Vice President, Environment and Sustainability at a Chicago manufacturer and has also worked at the city, state and national level as Environmental Counsel. He has a wealth of experience working with Chicago arts based, non-profit organizations and became familiar with Spudnik helping with their strategic plan and, as a result, in 2022 he joined the Spudnik Board of Directors. In his spare time, he is an amateur visual artist in painting and sculpture.
Yang Pulongbarit-Cuevo is a Chicago-based papercut artist and illustrator mainly inspired by nature, music, anatomy, and folklore. Yang started as a political cartoonist, activist, and band manager while attending the University of the Philippines, where she received her bachelor’s degree in Organizational Communication and master’s degree in Development Communication. She has 8 years of combined work experience in marketing and business development prior getting involved with nonprofits. Yang also hosts a weekly radio show and writes newsletters for 107.1FM Chicago.
Patti Swanson is an educator, historian and artist whose work focuses on community activism, memory, place, and the accessibility of the arts. After many years printing letterpress and volunteering at Spudnik Press, she joined the board of directors in 2022. Outside of her art practice, she can be found working in the construction industry and running Chicago for Chicagoans, a non-profit that offers neighborhood history tours and lectures within the city.
Email: boardofdirectors@spudnikpress.
I am a multimedia artist and a recent graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a BFA in Printmaking and Visual Communications. Much of my artwork deals with the combination of mediums to process and re-contextualize memories and emotions. I often tie in my multicultural background to my pieces as a way for me to come to a better understanding of my identity. Since graduating from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, I have primarily been working at Fulton Market Kitchen as the Marketing Director and Art Director where I have organized a number of gallery shows and live painting events with Chicago artists.
Anna Wagner is an American/Brazilian artist and educator based in Chicago, IL. A dedicated craftsperson, Anna is invested in working with antiquated techniques to explore how marginalized histories resurface throughout time, ever-present and existing in the contemporary world as informed by the past.
Yu Wei tells stories through multiple visual approaches. She designs, draws, prints, photographs, writes, and edits. And most importantly, she makes books. Book is the connection between her inner self and the outside world. Now she is just a book artist based in Chicago and Beijing, floating in the cosmos.
I am a graduate of Northern Illinois University working with relief and lithography. I moved to Colorado for four-ish years, working as a commercial screen printer and doing some studio work on the side. I also spent time there learning 3D and animation. I recently moved back to the area and am trying to get back into print fully. I am an LGBTQ+ artist exploring ideas along that vein with newer work while also using my knowledge of 3D to create mixed media projects.
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 Ukranian 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.
Xingyi Zhao is a Chicago-based artist. She creates prints and handwoven textiles that investigate our relationship with domestic space and everyday objects. By taking daily life as subject matter while commenting on the everyday aesthetic of the 21st century, her work deals with memory, privacy, and a sense of forced optimism with a subtle minimalistic approach. She is currently in her final year as a BFA student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with an emphasis in printmaking.