Spudnik Press Cooperative has 4 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.
Grace Makuch is a printmaker and artist living in Chicago, Illinois. She is interested in the dissemination of language and information within the context of contemporary social entropy. Deeply bothered by a political administration and status quo that is shrouded in secrecy and thrives upon the decomposition of thoughtful communication, Makuch makes work that is a call and response to feeling helpless, manic, and confused in the 21st century. She graduated with her Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art, Magna Cum Laude, from Columbia College in 2016. Her work has been shown at the Chicago Printmaker’s Collaborative, Spudnik Press, and Mouthwash Magazine. Makuch is a recent alumni of the Spudnik Press Studio Fellowship program.
She may be reached at gmakuch1@gmail.com.
Updates on her ongoing drawing project and other art related content can be viewed at instagram.com/polenta_girl
A recent BFA Printmaking graduate of Ohio University, Dan Manion is an interdisciplinary artist and storyteller with an affinity for all forms of visual and auditory narrative. He wishes to continue pursuing printed and moving imagery to expand upon his experimentation with various storytelling forms which allow us to simultaneously escape, cope with, and confront our own experiences with the world. His narrative goals aim to evoke intimate, visceral and empathetic connections between diverse viewers.
In August of 2016, my brother and I exhibited a collaborative installation called “We Are Building A Ship,” where we crafted an experimental comic consisting of three interrelated storylines, each covering their own wall. The comics surrounded the viewer, placing them in the center of this imagined world. We used large screen printed comic panels in tandem with painted glass sculptures of the setting in which these stories were taking place. We wanted the audience to experience a fictional world we conceived through small fragments that provoked further investigation.
My intention with this Studio Fellowship is to continue my experimentation using print media as a vehicle to produce immersive narratives. Stories encourage empathy, which is exceedingly important in cultivating understanding between individuals, especially in the current political climate. These stories would be told through comics, vignettes, moving imagery, and other forms. I want to utilize printmaking methods I am already familiar with (i.e. relief and silkscreen) as well as with methods I would like to learn more about (i.e. risography and letterpress) to disseminate my work.
Bianca is founder of Marks on Canvas, a Chicago-based boutique agency that specializes in strategic creative content, marketing media, project management and public relations for clients engaged in the arts, including: visual artists, galleries, art fairs, organizations and creative spaces. She’s an arts enthusiast with 12+ years of proven expertise driving brand awareness through compelling campaigns and multi-channel communications that integrate social media, content creation, public relations material, advertising, media, and team collaboration.
Notable clients include visual artist Amanda Williams. She’s collaborated on projects with art institutions and publications including: The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Arts Club Chicago, EXPO Chicago, Monique Meloche gallery, The Chicago Tribune and Chicago Magazine. She is a guest speaker for the 2017-2018 FIELD/WORK Residency at Chicago Artists Coalition on the subject of Marketing Strategies for Artists, the 2018 US Pavilion Venice Biennale Communications and PR liaison to Amanda Williams and Andres Hernandez and President of the Board of Directors for Chicago-based arts organization, Spudnik Press Cooperative. She resides in Chicago, IL.
Starting in the late 80’s as an American folk art dealer, Aron Packer built his early career focusing on outsider and self taught artists. Also exhibiting unusual objects such as sideshow banners, tattoo drawings, and wild looking magic tricks, his early venue was an apartment gallery, and he became known for a broad yet unusual vision. He added contemporary art and established his first public gallery in 1992 in Wicker Park, joining an alternative gallery scene that included Beret International, Ten in One, and Oscar Friedl Gallery. As business forces changed over the past 25+ years, Packer migrated to locations in River North and the West Loop, continuing to expand his notable group of artists. In 2015 he closed Packer Schopf Gallery on West Lake Street after nearly a decade of ambitious shows. Currently Aron Packer Projects has a permanent pop-up space in the offices of the Chicago Gallery News through 2018 which is open 5 days a week. The Gallery lives on!
Mike Pennekamp is not only the Studio Technician at Spudnik Press. He is also an internationally exhibited artist, printmaker, and illustrator. Mike earned his BFA from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 2010 and spent the next five years working at Tom Huck’s Evil Prints in St. Louis, MO. Eventually he decided to earn his terminal degree and, in 2017, graduated University of Arkansas with his MFA with a concentration in Printmaking.
Email: mike@spudnikpress.org
Angelika is the founder and owner of Design by Angelika, a multi-service design and print shop based in Chicago, Illinois. We specialize in design for all of life’s special occasions and love to work on projects that reflect our love for travel, illustration and all things nature. We’ve worked with engaged couples, expecting couples, non-profits, small businesses, illustration lovers to create custom invitations, commissioned art, logos and branding, tattoo designs and so much more!
Currently a designer in Chicago, Brendan Robson graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a BFA in Graphic Design in May of 2017. As a designer Brendan enjoys exploring the areas of intersection between analog and digital content and the opportunities for discovery that exists within that space. Primarily focused on aspects of design, printmaking, and multimedia installation, Brendan’s personal body of work addresses themes of memory constructs, genetics, digital identity, and stasis.
Nicolette has long been a contributor to the Spudnik Press community. Since first joining our organization in 2012, Nicolette has been an active member and volunteer, while teaching many of our relief printmaking and bookbinding classes.
She holds a BFA with an emphasis in Printmaking and Book Arts from the University of Central Florida, and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Fine Arts from Washington University in St. Louis.
She is the Studio Manager at Double Trip Press, a premier letterpress studio located in the East Lakeview neighborhood.
@rosspressandbindery
nicoletterossprint@gmail.com
Jake Saunders is a Chicago artist working in printmaking as well as drawing and painting. Hailing from Muncie, Indiana, Jake grew up with a love for a variety of narrative based art forms, which became his focus in his art practice. After becoming fascinated with the unique aesthetics of woodcuts and etchings and their aptitude for seriality and multiplicity, Jake earned a BFA and MA in printmaking from Ball State University and went on to earn his MFA at the University of Connecticut. He has since gone on to show nationally and internationally. Today, Jake’s work amalgamates narratives to explore the concept of tragedy in forms both grand and mundane.
Adam Schachner is an interdisciplinary artist, printmaker, and educator. A New York City native, Adam moved to Chicago shortly after receiving his B.A in Studio Art from Oberlin College in 2017. He has been the Lab Director for Latitude Chicago since in May of 2018 after working as a lab assistant since September of 2017.
Carla Fisher Schwartz is a visual artist and educator based in Chicago, IL. Her studio practice investigates the relationship between the mapped image and contemporary notions of exploration, virtuality, and the simulated environment through print media, sculpture and video installation. Her art has been exhibited across the United States, including the Chicago Artists Coalition (Chicago, IL), the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum (St. Louis, MO), the Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago, IL), the McKendree University Art Gallery (Lebanon, IL), and the Kala Art Institute (Berkeley, CA). Recent residencies include HATCH Projects (Chicago, IL) and The Hyde Park Art Center Program (Chicago, IL), and a studio fellowship with Spudnik Press Cooperative. Schwartz received her MFA in Visual Arts from Washington University in St. Louis, where she was awarded the Bell Cramer Award in Printmaking, and her BA in Studio Art with a minor in the History of Art and Visual Culture from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is currently a lecturer in the Department of Art and Architecture at Harold Washington College.
