The Power of the Press

The Power of the Press:Shared Visions
Chandler Center for the Arts
An Exhibition of Prints and Collaborative Media
September 19th thru October 31st

Come and see what Lisa and I have been melting and printing on!

Tempe Arts Center Paper Biennial

Tempe Arts Center Biennial: Paper
Sept. 6 - Jan. 10

This exhibition celebrates the one-year anniversary of the opening of the TCA and features works on paper, art made of paper and artists inspired by paper, a tradition for first anniversaries

Top Chef in Phoenix

I'm not much of a fan of TV in generally--especially reality shows but there are 2 shows that I like: Project Runway and Top Chef. I love that they have to think on their feet and create the craziest things. We started watching Top Chef because it runs after the PR season concludes.

Top Chef is doing a nation-wide sweep and breezed into the Phoenix Downtown Market a few Saturdays ago. (Get out and support your local farmers markets!!)

There were thousands of people at the downtown market shopping and waiting to participate in the culinary event, hosted by Top Chef contestants Richard Blais and Betty Fraser.The duo presented cooking demonstrations featuring local ingredients from the farmer's market. We got to see our fave from last season--Richard. Cooking with liquid nitrogen and a blow torch--who could ask for more? It was fun hearing the scoop about how the show runs. Plus, they made a delicious food for us!

Kings Books

I mentioned Kings Books store in Tacoma who had all the Beautiful Angle Letterpress posters but I also needed to mention that it is just a fabulous indie bookstore! It is huge and has a wonderful selection of books. I found some great books on printing, bookbinding and art.

Now, this is my kind of bookstore--one with cats in residence. Nikko, the really big kitty.

Harriet the little 12 year old kitty. So nice! Check out Kings Books online.

Julie Chen & Flying Fish Press

If you don't know Julie Chen's work, go to Flying Fish Press right now! Gary and I got a chance to get of out the AZ heat and take a 2-day workshop with Julie in Eugene OR. It was mostly on content generation which was nice break and a fun workshop.

Julie's work is quite amazing and is collected all over the world. (Julie with workshop participants)

Beautiful Angle Letterpress

My friend Jessica told me about this letterpress group Beautiful Angle that runs around the city and puts up posters in Tacoma every month. The posters have become so popular they get taken down almost as fast as they go up. While visiting her recently, I got to see lots of their work at Kings Books in Tacoma since they have most of the posters. I'm sure the residents anticipate the next sighting. What a cool deal.

Check out their site to learn about them and see their work!

Esopus--go and get this today!

This magazine totally caught my attention at the bookstore the other day. Something about handwritten notes...but then I went crazy looking at this fabulous publication! Esopus is a NON-PROFIT (no advertising), twice-yearly arts magazine featuring a fresh perspectives on contemporary culture from a wide range of creative professionals. It includes artists’ projects, critical writing, fiction, poetry, visual essays, interviews, and, in each issue, a themed CD of new music. The different types of paper in the magazine are amazing and so unusual these days. You can even apply to have your work in the magazine!

I love this cover piece titled DAILY REMINDERS Letters by Robert Guest. Robert Guest has been getting up at dawn every school day for the past 15 years to write a note to each of his two children, Joanna and Theo. The issues profiles a sampling of the the thousands of lunch box notes.

This piece is beautiful and the paper it is printed on is translucent so it creates an interesting visual dialog. Business analyst—and former biology teacher—Doug McNamara combines form and function in his exquisite line drawings of invented organisms.

The ARTIST’S PROJECT: DULCE PINZÓN "The Real Story of the Superheroes" is terrific. Dulce Pinzón’s photographs pay homage to the unsung—and often unseen—Mexican immigrants in New York City. The fun just never ends in this magazine! The front inside cover had a fold-y thing and the back inside cover has a thematic music CD--this month it's Good News. I got a kick out of hearing all the selections.

You can learn more about Esopus at their website http://www.esopusmag.com/

Oh what a luau!

You would think we had one heck of a luau here with the hoards of pineapple tops we have drying out on our patio! The next papermaking project on deck for Donna and me is making pineapple paper. I tried to get Donna to festoon a pineapple top hat ~ala~ Carmen Miranda for a blog photo but she politely declined. We need to let them dry out before we let them rhet. Normally not a problem in AZ but this year we have been getting lots of rain from the monsoons.Hmmm...I just noticed all the pineapple tops are in boxes marked bell peppers! Regardless, we got heaps o' pineapple tops!

Pineapple tops make the most lovely golden and somewhat translucent paper. I can't wait!

Melty Things

Lisa and I and are working together on our next art project and we found that we have an common interest and talent in recyling and melting things! It's the on purpose type of melting not the "oops I left it in my AZ car and it's 115 degrees outside!" We are still in the conceptual stage but we are wild about the color and textures that result!

Here's our assistant, Miki-the-puppet, giving us a hand. Stay tuned to see the results!

Marlon Perkins Here...

At the risk of sounding like Marlon Perkins of Wild Kingdom (a 70's show)I had to do one more post of stuff I've been seeing in our back yard. Half the time I see the creatures when I'm in the shower--our house has a large window in the the shower that over looks the back yard. (Thankfully it is at head level--lest the neighbors have some interesting visuals ;) I usually have to grab a towel and run to get my camera. These are some of the creatures we've seen lately.
This is a female red-tail hawk. I was trying to photograph her for months but I never seem to have my camera when she was here. I hadn't seen her in months. Once she was here with a male and he was HUGE. When she is in the yard, no other creatures are stirring or they would be lunch~

This made me laugh. I looked up and there was this little guy hanging out. The lizard that was sitting outside on the window sill of the shower. He's really small so I got our cat Emma (she loves lizards) in the next shot. You could see her gray paw and see how small the lizard is. Lots of baby lizards this time of year. We hope they stay out of the house--the kitties play way to rough with them.There are two pretty large lizards that tool around in the yard but I haven't been to photograph them...yet...stay tuned.

This guy was on the patio. It's a Palo Verde Beetle. (Yeech!) They are humongous--about the size of a Buick! To show scale, I carefully placed the dollar bill by the beetle (using grill tongs for fear the beetle might accidentally jump on me). Gary said he should have taken a picture of me doing that since I looked bit ridiculous using the grill tongs. But obviously--he didn't volunteer to put it by the beetle! We only see one of these beetles about one time per year and then it's gone.

There's a dog on the fence!

Gary is not an exclaimer by nature, unlike moi. I'm always yelling "Hurry, hurry, come and look at this! or You've got to see this!!" So the morning I heard Gary exclaim "There's a dog on our fence!" I went running to see what he was talking about. (I had visions of circus poodles swirling in my mind as I ran across the house.) When I got to the window Gary was looking out--I couldn't believe it but there was a coyote walking along the top of our six-foot fence! It was a surreal sight. Then it jumped off the fence and into our yard. Once I came to my senses, I went running for the camera. As long as we've lived here we've never seen a coyote in the yard. The coyote started walking towards the grassy area and once up there, it started jumping around--pouncing on something. Then I saw quails madly swooping down from the tree basically dive-bombing the coyote around the head. I realized there must be chicks in the grass. (you can barely see the coyote in the grass--that wily coyote...)
When I opened the back door, the coyote jumped up and over the fence in a single bound. I understand all about survival of the fittest and all but I was relieved I didn't see the coyote get the quail chicks. There have been six little chicks and their parents tooling about our yard for a few weeks... Here are the parents back at their posts after all the commotion. The dad quail.

The mom quail.

We saw all the chicks and the parents zipping around the yard later in the afternoon. :)

Making Paper & Riding Horses

Our nephew was visiting from Illinois for a couple of weeks. He came down to visit and get his first job (at our shop!) He attended a really cool program at the Art Institute of Phoenix where they have high school kids come for a week immersion. He got to learn video editing and some flash animation programing. Then we turned him into a papermaker!

He was really good at papermaking. It was fun having him at the studio.

He got some time to do some cool mixed media techniques with DJ before she flew home.

Near the end of his visit, we took a day off and went horseback riding in northern AZ. It was about 20 degrees cooler up north which was a great break from 110 degree heat of late.

It was so wonderful to be totally unplugged for hours and leisurely riding taking in the all gorgeous views. Ahhhhhhhhhh....

Fabulous Class with DJ & Deryn

We had a fabulous class with DJ and Deryn near the end of June. The weekend kicked off with a trunk show by the artists. It was terrific for the artists and we appreciated all the people attending!

The amazing two-day class featured painting and wire work.

It was great to see our local friends a well as meet a number of people who flew from out-of-state: Oklahoma, Idaho, Florida, Nevada, Texas...

Andrea Dezsö Lecture

If I was in Chicago this week, I would definitely stop by to hear and see this lecture at the Chicago Center for Book & Paper Arts...Andrea Dezsö 15000 YESTERDAYS-PAINTED JOURNALS & OTHER VISUAL NARRATIVES

Andrea Dezsö tells stories through images and creates unique personalnarratives through one-of-a-kind books, paper cutouts and embroidery.This presentation will showcase Dezsö¹s work, executed in a variety oftechniques, touching on major influences such as growing up inCommunist Romania, propaganda images, space exploration, women'scrafts and outsider art.http://www.andreadezso.com/

The lecture will take place at 1104 S Wabash Ave, 5th floor, room 502 at 6:30 pm. Columbia College Chicago Center for Book & Paper Arts--1104 South Wabash Ave, 2nd floorChicago, IL 60605

Tempe Art Center Call for Work!

Okay paper artists--you have 11 days to get this in!!

The Gallery at Tempe Center for the Arts (TCA) is issuing a Call for Work for the 2008 juried exhibition, "TCA Biennial: Paper." The TCA is a brand spanking new facility that is absolutely gorgeous!

Because the exhibition falls on the one-year anniversary of the opening of the TCA, the city is looking for works on paper, art made of paperand artists inspired by paper, which is a tradition for first anniversaries.

The application deadline is 5 p.m. on June 27.

For information and an application, visit www.tempe.gov/arts/news/BiennialCall.pdf

San Diego Book Arts Call for Entry

San Diego is just a hop, skip and jump away from Phoenix so submit your work for their juried art exhbition! Then you'll have the excuse to go away to lovely San Diego and see the exhibition. Here's the scoop:

The Second National San Diego Book Arts Juried Show
September 20-October 31, 2008

University of California San Diego, Geisel Library

Deadline for entries: June 15, 2008

The show is open to artists who live or work within the USA; all structures of artist’s book, unique or limited edition, are eligible, as long as the size when displayed is under 30 inches. The entry fee is $15 for SDBA members and $25 for non-members.

Erika Torri, Executive Director of the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla, will be the juror. The Athenaeum hosts a juried book arts show every other year, and under Erika’s direction has built a world-class collection of artist’s books.

The PDF prospectus is available here.

The Paper Studio named "Best of Phoenix"

We were so excited when we found out that The Paper Studio was named "Best of Phoenix" by the Arizona Republic! What a fabulous way to start the day. We look forward to welcoming new and returning customers to our paper wonderland!

One quick update to the article that appeared last week - we are switching to summer hours starting the week of June 1st. The local store will be open to the public Thursday & Friday from 11-5 and Saturday 10 -5. Web orders will continue to be filled and shipped every day. Come on in or shop online to see all of the new merchandise that's rolled in since your last visit!

Etsy Artist Market

The Paper Studio partnered with the Arizona Crafty Burrito Collective (one of Etsy.com’s home grown Arizona teams) to host a successful Etsy Artists Market on Sunday, April 27. Local artists filled our parking lot with colorful tents full of handmade merchandise which can usually only be found online in their Etsy stores. Etsy.com has revolutionized online selling for artists by making it affordable, easy and fun to sell handmade items online to a worldwide audience. In just a few short years Etsy has grown to include over 60,000 storefronts and its creators do a lot to make the site artist-friendly, encouraging artists to share information in online forums and collaborate locally.
The Etsy Artists Market offered a rare chance to talk with artists and see their work in person. Shoppers saw an eclectic selection of jewelry, ceramics, cigar box purses, smocked and sewn handbags, puppets, sock zombies, handspun yarn, clothing and handmade journals. The artists freely shared advice about how to start selling and buying on Etsy.com and hopefully more Arizona artists will soon have their own Etsy stores.
One Paper Studio customer drove all the way down from Flagstaff to see the Etsy Artists Market and we’ve received enthusiastic feedback from the customers who visited. They’ve requested that we host another Etsy Artists Market, perhaps in the fall. Till then, visit the Arizona Crafty Burritos website for links to their online stores and information about local shows and events. http://team.etsy.com/profilest/az.shtml