Think Kinko's

I participated in a panel last month that explored the intersection between zines and artist's books. The panel was titled Out of the Copy Machine, Into the Streets, and was included as part of the programming at the 2014 College Book Art Association Conference in Salt Lake City. I talked about the general bookishness of the work of Raymond Pettibon, and in particular, the sequencing of the drawings in his early zines. My co-presenters included Alexandra Janezic on the thematic overlap between riot grrrl zines and mass distributed women's comics, and Kalmia Strong on alternative printing techniques used in contemporary zines. The three of us collaborated on a zine where we each generated creative interpretations of our research, then mailed the zine (titled Think Kinko's) to the panel's attendees. My contribution—Pettibon-inspired, calligraphic illustrations—are below.

Writing for Visual & Material Genres

I'm really excited to teach a class at the UI Center for the Book this Spring: Creative Writing for Book Arts: Writing for Visual & Material Genres. The interdisciplinary class is for both writers and visual artists, and asks how material and visual forms present, comment on, and/or merge with textual content. In what ways do we balance readability and individual expression when writing and designing published forms? The class will emphasize tactility and mark making, looking at literature as a physical process, as well as a material product. It will explore a variety of book-related genres and media, including broadsides, chapbooks, concrete poetry, comics, zines, and artist’s books.

Above is a poster I letterpress printed to promote the class. I used craft foam, a scratch-negative photopolymer plate, a found copperplate block, and metal type (see the lockup below, thanks to Pamela Olson!).

Nothing is hidden . . .

The Compound Gallery's second installment of their exhibition, The Art of Letterpress, opens this Saturday, Nov 9, and it includes a piece of mine. Inspired by the ornamental designs of Bruce Rogers, the piece includes a quote from the alchemist Paracelsus and features an image composed of found metal ornaments: a tree giving birth to a snake who passes an esoteric secret onto a slightly asymmetrical approaching snake. 

The piece is a variation on the page I printed for the forthcoming 2014 Ladies Typographic Union Calendar:

The LTU calendar is a collaborative project between over 15 letterpress artists, and it serves as an annual fundraiser for student-focused purchases at the UI Center for the Book. You can pre-order a copy by emailing ltucalendar at gmail dot com.

The Compound Gallery opening goes from 6-9 this Saturday, and features work from a wide range of artists including Amos Paul Kennedy Jr, Kevin Bradley (Church of Type), Lisa Rappoport (Littoral Press), and more. The gallery is in Oakland at 1167 65th Street. 

The Iowa Working Group Archives

I've been working on archives for the Iowa Working Group. The IWG has now hosted a year's worth of book-art-focused presentations followed by casual discussion, and I wanted to make sure they were documented. Check out the latest entry for October: Candice Wuehle and Patrick Reed's The Sacrebleu Defense, which was a performative excerpt variation from their in-progress chapbook. The next IWG meeting will take place Friday, Nov 15, and will feature sneak previews from Iowa students who plan on presenting at the upcoming College Book Art Association conference. To find out more details, sign up for the IWG listserv by emailing iowaworkinggroup at gmail dot com.

Chili Dreams

I've always wanted to judge a chili cook-off, and now my dreams are finally coming true. This Saturday night, Iowa City's Public Space One (which is being reincarnated in the space formerly known as ps-z) is holding a silent auction fundraiser featuring lots of art and three different chilis! I have the honor of being one of the evening's Chili Bards—along with Dave Morice and Lisa Roberts—which means that rather than judging, I'll be poetically tributing whatever the cooks have put in the pot. PS1 is at 120 Dubuque Street. 

LOOK!

My broadsides are now for sale over at Big Cartel. Go get 'em here!

Finally: 'The Taco Group' Slide Show

I created a page last year commemorating a performative reading I gave of my short story 'The Taco Group' at the Headlands Center for the Arts. I went a little batty, though, trying to sync up its slideshow, so I posted a transcript as a placeholder, then forgot about it. Well, I finally had time to struggle through iMovie and make the slideshow, as well as tidy up some of the page's design. Here's a description of the project: 

'The Taco Group' tells of infighting among the members of a sinister kaffeeklatsch, a group whose goal is to build a utopia out of the remnants of the post-functional city in which they live. As I wrote the story, I realized my aim was similar to that of my characters': I was doing a lot of scavenging in an attempt to make something perfect. I processed this a little in an artist's statement, and used recycled materials to construct slides of the utopian city's streets, as well as fixings for a taco buffet. I also letterpress printed the Taco Group's progress report. All these elements came together to form a not-quite-reading/not-quite-installation. 

Check out the updated page here. The story will be featured in my fiction collection forthcoming from Brooklyn Arts Press, so stay tuned.

Rob Kirby's Round Up

Rob Kirby reviewed RUNX TALES 3 over at his blog last week, along with great-looking work by Sar Shahar, Sasha Steinberg, Eric Kostiuk Williams, and Sophie Yanow. Rob is a force—not only a talented cartoonist, but an unceasing champion of queer independent comics. While you're over there, check out the sneak preview of TABLEGEDDON, an anthology Rob is editing about comics convention culture. 

RUNX TALES #3 now at Quimby's!

The legendary Chicago bookstore is now stocking RUNX TALES #3 (along with a lot of other awesome stuff). Learn more here . . .