Fran Rees in Nov/Dec Somerset Studios Magazine

The Paper Studio congratulates Fran Rees for publication of her artwork and article in the current copy of Somerset Studio Magazine! Bravo!! Not only is Fran an extremely talented artist, she is a terrific person as well. It is wonderful to her work in print.
We were lucky and got to see the original work--the colors are sumptuous!

Wonderful images to inspire your holiday creativity!

Odd Journaling Class with Teesha & Tracy

Teesha and Tracy Moore were recently at The Paper Studio teaching their Odd Journaler's Class. We had people everywhere--from the classroom to the papermaking studio to the gallery and letterpress! Teesha and Tracy are such talented artists and so generous with their knowledge and materials. Folks were delirious with creative delight.
So many techniques, so little time!

So much fun, like being a kid in the candy store!
Airbrushing rocks!
Work in progress!
Everyone had a super time and we can't wait to see Teesha and Tracy again soon!
Learn more about Teesha and Tracy and their other fun going-ons at http://www.teeshamoore.com/

Yay...the exhibition is up!

The Power of the Press is an exhibit on of prints and collaborative media at the Chandler Center for the Arts. The artist reception is Friday 9/26 at 7:00 pm so if you are in the area, stop by and say hello. There will also be an artists' lecture on 9/30 at 7:00 pm.
A few months ago Lisa Takata and I set off on a creative adventure at The Paper Studio to use the Power of the Press in every imaginable dimension. We collected piles of colorful recyclable materials including bubble wrap, candy wrappers, mesh vegetable bags, plastic shopping bags, used sewing patterns, tissue paper and overhead transparencies. Using a heat press, we morphed the structure, texture and form of these materials by melting them together at high temperatures to create translucent, multi-layered surfaces for printmaking. We letterpress printed everything--from the tissue patterns to the melted plastic all of which were hand-cut or die-cut into a series of repeating forms. Each component piece was hand printed, varnished, pressed, melted, folded, ironed, and heat pressed numerous times. Although the resulting work incorporates familiar shapes, colors and text, the ingredients we started with are hardly recognizable. Here's some quick pics of the collaborative pieces--Swarm Pattern and Daily Candy. Also, Lisa and I each did two pieces in response to this work. I'll post them and more details later! Swarm Pattern
(detail) Daily Candy
(detail)
(detail)

The Paper Studio in the September Issue of The Artist's Magazine

Okay, now back to art making!

We were thrilled to learn from one of our fellow artists - Danelle, that The Paper Studio is in the September 2008 issue of The Artist's Magazine. The Paper Studio was one of four artists/art spaces interviewed several months ago by Betsey Dillard Stroud about printmaking without a press. We are the "stomp" part of the article where you step on the inked up plate to make the print. When Danelle gave us her copy of the issue, we were tickled pink that several images of our samples were featured in the article!

The image on the front of the article are plates I made with lace and a dryer sheet--mostly for background texture.

The images featured below show a sampling of simple plates and prints. They even posted an online article with one of samples of "hammer printing" where you can make simple nature prints with out using ink and just a few bangs with a hammer. You can see this online technique at: http://www.artistsnetwork.com/article/hammer-printsWhile we wouldn't trade our letterpresses for the world, inking up everyday objects and stepping on them has lots of potential! You'll see more examples of printing without a press when I get a chance to post the work that Lisa T and I just finished for the Chandler Center for the Arts "Power of the Press" exhibition. We used every press we could think of from letterpress, to heat press to printing without a press!

Along came a spider or a solifugea

20 years in AZ, I have never seen anything like this so I just had to show you the latest creature we found...
We live next to desert wash which is a great place to find dead fibery plants papermaking. However, living in the desert can involve interesting creatures occasionally wandering into our house. Gary called me over and asked me what kind of bug I thought this was. I counted the legs (8) and decided it was a spider. It looked rather dead so I told him to put it in a jar so I could get better look at it. He slid a card under it and then I saw a leg move....EEK!
After it was in the jar it started moving around like crazy! (thus the blurry photo) But yikes, I thought...it could have jumped on Gary's hand.

This creature has the same coloring as a scorpion so I looked it up online. Per wikipedia, this is a camel spider or wind scorpion. Solifugae is an order of Arachnida, containing more than 1,000 described species in about 140 genera. The name derives from Latin, and means those that flee from the sun. The order is also known by the names Solpugida, Solpugides, Solpugae, Galeodea and Mycetophorae. Solifugae are not true spiders, which are from a different order, Araneae. Like scorpions and harvestmen, they belong to a distinct arachnid order.Notice the suction cups under its body--helps him climb! It is a really interesting creature and it eats a lot of annoying things like termites and scorpions.

I released it in the desert wash--back to the wild (albeit--much farther away from our house). I read that they actually avoid the sun and that seemed to be true because it traversed over lots of rocks and sticks for quite a ways before heading into a shady thicket of brush and disappearing.

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!