Printmakers Unite!

Hi everyone! I finally figured out how to join the blog, and just in time too, for I have some printmaking info to share with the group!
When I came to my first Makers Meeting, I brought along a few envelopes with prints in them that I had received from participating in an exchange online. Printmakers Unite! is a group through myspace where group members can talk about their art, organize and participate in print exchanges, and just share information about what's going on in the print world.
Today I discovered two new exchanges posted in the group:

'Inky Sound' Print Exchange

• Sign ups end on Sunday, February 24th for this exchange.
• The mailing deadline is Wednesday, March 26th.

The details:

• Format: Any printmaking method or combination of methods.
• Theme: ‘inky sound’ – you must represent a song or a piece of music in print form. Don’t forget to let us know your inspiration!
• Paper: Your choice.
• Paper Size: 4”x 4” minimum / 8” x 10” maximum.
• Image size: Your choice.
• Edition Size: The number of prints you will need to send will be determined by the number of sign ups. If 20 people sign up, you need an edition of 20... If only five sign up, then we need only five prints. If the number of participants gets too large, I will break the exchange into smaller editions of around 10-20 prints. I'll give you the final number once sign ups have ended.
• MAILING DEADLINE is Wednesday, March 26th. Your package must be postmarked by this date. Keep an eye on the calendar – time can fly by faster than you think!

‘Impossible Visions’ Print Exchange

• Sign ups end on Sunday, March 16th for this exchange.
• The mailing deadline is Wednesday, April 30th.

The details:

• Format: Any printmaking method or combination of methods.
• Theme: ‘impossible visions’ – (to be interpreted by you as you wish)
• Paper: Your choice.
• Paper Size: 4”x 4” minimum / 8” x 10” maximum
• Image size: Your choice.
• Edition Size: The number of prints you will need to send will be determined by the number of sign ups. If 20 people sign up, you need an edition of 20... If only five sign up, then we need only five prints. If the number of participants gets too large, I will break the exchange into smaller editions of around 10-20 prints. I'll give you the final number once sign ups have ended.
  
• MAILING DEADLINE is Wednesday, April 30th. Your package must be postmarked by this date. Please keep track of the time – days, even weeks, can fly by fast!

I will be bringing more info about these exchanges to the meeting tomorrow, and I'll try and remember to bring some other exchange prints I haven't shown you guys yet.
Until then, I hope you all have a great Friday!

“Gung Hay Fat Choi”

February 10th, 2008 (Sunday) Lunar New Year Parade
1:00 p.m. Parade Step Off On Wentworth from 24th St. to Cermak Rd. Chinatown New Year Parade celebrating the Lunar New Year, “Year of the Rat, 4706” will include marching bands, floats, lion teams, a100’ Mystical Dragon, and Miss Friendship Ambassador. Please join us to welcome the New Year as we convey “Gung Hay Fat Choi” to all in attendance. (Photo from Chinese New Year, 2007)

Try making a print, painting, collage, for the "Year of the Rat" and bring it to the next meeting if you would like!

Opportunities for Our Members:

• GALLERIES/NONPROFIT SPACES REVIEWING PORTFOLIOS

Deadline: FEBRUARY 29
*ARBORETUM
STEINHAUER TRUST GALLERY

Open to artist producing wall-hung art to exhibit in University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum’s Steinhauer Trust Gallery. Send proposals, 5 slides or electronic images, SASE: pat Brown, UW-Madison Arboretum, 1207 Seminole Highway, Madison, WI 53711, 608-265-3355, http://www.UWArboretum.org/about/gallery/#artistsmailto:pabrown1@wisc.edu

Deadline: MARCH 1
ILLINOIS CENTRAL COLLEGE
The Galleries on the campus in East Peoria, IL, accepting applications for 2008-2009 exhibition season. Send current resume, 20 slides, short bio, statement and SASE to Jennifer Costa, Gallery Curator, Illinois Central College, One College Drive, East Peoria, IL 61635. slides preferred, but will accept CDs with good quality images of work. E-mail submissions NOT accepted. Questions: 309-694-5529, jcosta@icc.edu

Deadline: MARCH 1
FRED P. GILES GALLERY
Accepting proposals for individual shows for the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 exhibition schedules. Exhibition space consists of upper and lower galleries with a spacious landing between. Stipends for transportation costs and honoraria for gallery talks will be awarded on a funds-available basis. All media, including ceramics, drawing, graphic design, metals, mixed media, painting photography, printmaking and sculpture will be considered. Insurance. Send 10-20 slides or digital entries, slide list, resume, statement, SASE to Esther E. Randall, Director, Fred P. Giles Gallery, Department of Art and Design, 309 Campbell Building, Eastern Kentucky University, 521 Lancaster Ave., Richmond, KY 40475-3102.

SUBMISSION OF EXHIBITION PROPOSALES
KISHWAUKEE COLLEGE ART GALLERY
Kishwaukee College Art Gallery invites artists (one person or groups) and other interested parties to submit proposals for exhibition. Potential exhibitors are asked to provide the following materials for consideration: a written proposal discussing the type and number of works to be shown. 15-20 slides of the work, an artist’s statement outlining the focus of the work, a vitae, and a SASE. The exhibitor has the option of being available for the installation and removal of the work. In the absence of the exhibitor, the gallery director will supervise both the installation and removal of the work. Proposal materials are reviewed by the Gallery Committee as they become available for Fall and Spring exhibition schedules.
Non-art proposals should include a statement outlining the intent of the display and the type, size, quality of the materials to be shown.
Send Proposal Materials To:
Michelle Erickson-Goettl, Gallery DirectorKishwaukee College Art Gallery21193 Malta RoadMalta, IL 60150-9699Phone: (815) 825-2086 Ext. 561E-mail: Michelle Erickson-Goettl

• PRINT EXCHANGE

Deadline: APRIL 15
OREGON INKSPOT 2008 PRINT EXCHANGE
2^nd Annual Open to artists worldwide. No entry fee in lieu of donation of two prints from the exchange to Oregon university. Exchange requirements: edition of 15 identical 5x7 prints, original prints made for this exchange. Insert interleaf or glassine sheets between each print, cut to 5x7. Each print must be signed and numbered and accompanied by artist’s name, title and media. All prints submitted will be put in a web gallery and shown in an exhibition at the Nightingale Gallery, Eastern Oregon University’s main gallery space, in December 2009. A portfolio of 13 randomly selected prints will be mailed to each participant in the summer of 2008. Send prints and SASE (6”x9” or larger) to: Oregon Ink spot Exchange, Attn: Kathelene Galloway, Loso Hall 154, One University Blvd., Easter Oregon University, La Grande, OR 97850, http://www.eou.edu/inkspot

• EVENTS WITH ENTRY FEES

Deadline: MARCH 31
2008 JURIED COMPETITION

First Street Gallery, June 26-July19, 2008. Open to US residents 18+. All media except photography or film $30/up to 3 entries; $5/ea. add'l-no limit. Juror: Gregory Amenoff, Char of Visual Art; School of Arts, Columbia University. Prospectus: SASE to First Street Gallery, 526 W. 26th Street, New York, NY 10001 or http://www.firststreetgallery.net/ NO EMAIL ENTRIES.

Deadline: JANUARY 30
Woman Made Gallery: Clay and Fiber

CALL FOR ARTWORK: Clay and Fiber Exhibition Dates: April 4 – May 15, 2008Woman Made Gallery seeks entries by women and men for "Clay and Fiber," an exhibition that examines the creative potential of these two mediums. Artists may submit work in clay, fiber, or work that combines the two mediums. To provide a diverse presentation, the juror will consider art created with traditional, functional or conceptual approaches. Artist Statement plus Entry Fee: $24.Online Entries Submit jpgs of three of your works on our website.Mailed Entries Mail slides or cd with images of three of your works, completed entry form and a $24 entry fee to Woman Made Gallery, 685 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL 60622Juror: Dorothy HughesDorothy Hughes is an accomplished clay, fiber and mixed media artist. After receiving her training from the Cranbrook Academy of Art and the University of Illinois at Champaign, Hughes taught Fiber at various institutions including the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Evanston Art Center and Wolverhampton College of Art and Design in England. Hughes maintains a studio in Chicago and teaches Clay classes at ArtScapeChicago for Harold Washington College.Final Entry Deadline: January 30, 2008Notifications: February 20, 2008

Beginning Jewelry Making

Class offered through Kishwaukee College:

Beginning Jewelry Making:

Express your inner self by designing and creating your own jewelry! In this hands-on class you will create two unique pieces - a pendant and a ring. Along the way, you will learn the tools of the trade including sawing, soldering, cutting, and filing. Cost includes $20 for supplies. This class meets at Miedema Fine Jewelers, 113B West Main Street, Genoa

Ref#9469

Saturdays, 4/12 - 4/19/2008, 10am - 12pm

2 Sessions, $67 David Miedema

Several of The Makers members are taking this class, come join us!

Click here for a Registration form or call the college at 815.825.2086, ext. 204 between the hours of 7:30am - 4:00pm.

Revisiting Modern Japanese Prints:

"Selected Works from the Richard F. Grott Family Collection"

Show: Rotunda, NIU Art Gallery

This show showed the contrasts between the Eukiyo-e, woodblock prints of the Edo period and that of modern day.The different modern movements were sosaku-hanga, or "creative print," and the shin-hanga, or "new print." Shin-hanga was an effort to renew the Eukiyo-e print styles and conventions while the sosaku-hanga rejected these conventions in favor of self-expression and creativity of the individual artist.

Print (top):
Yoshida Hiroshi (1876-1950)
Title: Yamanaka Ko (Yamanaka Lake)
1978 reproduction of a print originally made in 1929, Edition: 62/300
Image: 16.75"x22.25"
Carver: Endσ Kσkyoku
Printers: Tochigi Yoshirσ, Ito Tσmoro
Richard F. Grott Family Collection

Print (bottom):
Clifton Karhu
Snow at Katsura (or Katsura Detached Palace)
1970, Woodcut, Edition: 38/50
Image: 15.5"x25.125"
Richard F. Grott Family Collection

Ayomi Yoshida - YEDOENSIS

This was the installation piece by Ayomi Yoshida that we visited as a group on Saturday. If you have a chance to visit, the experience is worth your time: Rotunda Gallery, NIU Altgeld Hall, January 15 - March 7, 2008.

Artists Statement:

"In April of 2007 as I watched the cherry blossoms falling, I wondered if the cherry trees would ever bloom again."

"Cherry trees seem to burst into blossom all at once, and after a day or two, drop their petals just as quickly. In Japan they have long been emblematic of life's evanescence. Traditionally, many festivals and seasonal celebrations are planned to coincide with the cherry trees' full flowering. But as the earth's temperature rises, the trees that used to flower in April are no flowering in march. Festivals conducted every year since the early Edo period (1603-1868) now occur long after the blossoms have been swept away. I once believed that the coming of spring and the cherry blossoms would always happen, but lately I am less certain. Will there come a time when the trees fail to bloom? Of course, if such a thing were to actually happen, everyone would be concerned and saddened. But by then, would it be too late?

While I watched the cherry blossoms fall last year, I though about my installation for NIU. The timing of the exhibition, from January to March, would coincide with the coming of sakura, cherry blossoms. During the 1990s, I had produced work about the disappearance of nature in populous cities throughout the world. These images were single sheet wood block prints. For NIU, however, I decided I wanted to merge my concept of "nature" and my artistic approach to "installation.

"Because the climate is so harsh in winter, cherry trees don't grow in many northern states in the U.S. However , if the earth continues to warm, there may be a time when cherry trees bloom in Minnesota and North Dakota. However, that happy though is tempered by the possibility that Japan would be a desert, or submerged beneath the rising seas.

"'Yedonesis' is the scientific name for Somei-yoshino, a type of tree cultivated from wild cherry trees during the Edo period.Somei-yoshino typically lives for sixty years and bears no seeds or fruit. When it is young, the blossoms are vibrant pink and full of life; as the tree ages, the blossoms become paler, as though presaging the end of life. In paintings that remain from the Edo period, the blossoms are pink, but in recent years whether because of weather conditions or weakening DNA, only white blossoms appear - even on young trees.

"Working with a team of volunteers for three weeks, I adhered nearly 100,000 woodblock printed sakura blossoms to two-dimensional branches on the walls of the Rotunda Gallery in the NIU Art museum. The point of my installation, however, was not simply to meet the challenge of producing and adhering so many printed blossoms. A single living cherry tree sends for millions of blossoms each spring. The installation demonstrated that no matter how many people worked over a long period of time, we couldn't come close to equaling nature. I hope that every one who was involved withe the installation, and everyone who visits the exhibition, will understand the grandness of life, its power and energy, but at the same time will sense the precious brevity of blossoming sakura.

"The growth of plants is governed by the rules of nature. In order to express this natural order, I used square prints adhered in a grid pattern. By opening the exhibition while the installation was still in progress, I could emulate a cherry tree coming into full bloom. It also allowed me to demonstrate how small, single acts, when piled one on top of another eventually amount to something larger. In Japan, when there is a great need or hope, it is customary for many people, almost impulsively, to combine their efforts to achieve a desired outcome. in this way, they realize their heart-felt wishes in the same way, I hope the concept and message of my installation - a work that involved so many individuals - will ready the hearts of even more people.

"Around the time that this exhibition ends, the "YEDOENSIS" cherry trees in Japan will begin to bloom. As always, their delicate beauty will be short-lived. It is my hope that each spring it will always be so."

~Ayomi Yoshida

January 15, 2008

The Enormous Tiny Art Show at Nahcotta

Some Maker's members enjoy small, intricate works of art. If that is you then check out the http://www.artroundtown.org/newupcoming.html"> Enormous Tiny Art Show at Nahcotta. Each piece of art needs to be 10-inches x 10-inches or less. Take note! Write it on your calendar and ENTER next year's competition!

Modern Japanese Prints at the NIU Gallery

Field Trip Anyone?

Revisiting Modern Japanese Prints:Selected Works from the Richard F. Grott Family Collection

South GalleriesExhibition website
Ukiyo-e Prints from the Richard F. GrottFamily Collection

North Gallery
Japanese Pottery and Other Objects from the Richard F. Grott Family Collection
Hallcase Gallery

Peter Callesen, Paper Artist

Check out Peter Callesen. The paper cut artist that Al was talking about during the last meeting. Fantastic! He was one of the featured artists at the Hisrhhorn Museum in DC. Be sure to click on the "other entries" to view other paper cut wonders!

Ventures into the new world

Yesterday, we (Robayre, Pejnolan, Al and I) ended up traveling to Schaumburg in search of Dick Blick and it's promised treasures.  What began as a simple drive to get art supplies ended up a six and a half hour venture filled with piles of sweaters, a million awesome art supplies, and visions of interior decoration heaven.  

Our venture began at the Protective Life parking lot, the three of them meeting me at my place of employment.  It was around 2 pm and none of us had eaten, so we headed out to the local Panera.  Delicious sandwiches (with spicy mustard!), bowls of soup, apples and baguettes were had by all - Al and Pejnolan pocketing their extras for later ; ).  Our conversation led us to the winter season, the need for warmth and sweaters.  Pejnolan was wearing a lovely grey sweater jacket from Old Navy.  It wasn't knitted in the standard garter stitch - it was in seed stitch.  

Needless to say, we headed out to Old Navy.  What we found were an abundance of like minded people digging through piles and racks of clearance winter clothing.  Alas, a similar seed stitch sweater was not found, but other good deals were had all around - each of us bought at least one sweater for $6 or less!

We then made our way to Schaumburg and Dick Blick.  The drive took us back down a crazy length of Randall Rd, a long stretch of I90 and through the maddening streets of the Woodfield Mall shopping area.  After 1 turn around, Dick Blick's was at last before us.    

The story of our adventure to be continued...

Meeting Minutes

So, I was given the "Honor" *cough*sarcasm*cough* of posting minutes from last night's meeting.

Since, this "honor" wasn't given to me, until the end of the meeting, let's just see how much I can recall:

In attendance on Friday, January 11, 2008 Anno Domini, was Pejnolan, Dakokichi, Elle and myself.

Meeting commenced at 7:30ish post meridiem, at the DeKalb Borders.

This is the part I might have trouble with; the whole portion where the talking stuff happened.

So anyway, I think we began by talking about self promotion again:

• Networking
• printing promotional postcards with sample work
• contacting galleries, etc.
• possible opportunities to present artwork to be added to private collections

Then there was talk about available rental studio spaces in the area:

• above the Yarn Exchange in DeKalb
• basement apartments in the downtown area
• Fantasies about buying our own warehouse or duplex with conjoined garage to fill with studios.

Pejnolan brought some work. She shared with us what she has done since she showed it to us last.

"After doing some more in-depth research into Aboriginal art, I understand that what I am doing may be considered offensive to the indigenous people of Australia. Their art is more than just our western civilizations concept of art.
Art is not merely a "picture" but a living thing which connects past to present, natural to supernatural, and is a sign of knowledge. It is part of their religion and part of who they are as a people. The thing is, that is exactly why it is so dear to me. I respect that it is a spiritual journey of meditation, patience and guidance from a greater being whom I call God.
So, not wishing to offend, but still in admiration of the meditative, symbolic, iconic, and spiritual aspects of the artistic style; I've decided to build my own symbolic imagery stemming from my own geneology, time, place, space, religion, education and culture. Stories that my ancestors have passed down through the generations would be expressed in the paintings. Symbolic animals and plants from my piece of the big blue marble. "

Pejnolan also reflected on the previous year and drew to all of our attention that we have all done very well on last years goals.

Plans were made to venture to Blick to take advantage of their Back to School Sale, on Saturday.

Everyone picked up various art books and magazines to browse.

Meeting adjourned at 10:45 p.m

Back to School Sale

Here is a link to 30% off a one non-sale item at Dick Blick.

And then here is mention of the canvas sale I told you about. I think it was buy 20 or more canvases, receive 70% off, buy 15 or more canvases, receive 60% off, buy 10 or more canvases, receive 50% off. Sale goes till February 29th, it's still early in the sale, so they should still have plenty of stock.

Anyone interested in a trip to Blick, tonight for our meeting or this weekend? I think we should go to Schaumberg as I think it is a bigger store than the Wheaton one.

Come on in...The water's fine!

So, since Robyn was kind enough to show us how to create our own blog on Blogger.com I decided not to put her effort to waste and created a blog of my own to link here (see "The Makers Blogs," right). Please feel free to visit every once in awhile to see what I personally am doing. Thanks and have a great day!

PS: I want everyone to know that I've added a Statcounter to the bottom of the page as well as added our bit about the Art-0-mat in our profile. I've also sent in a request to Kishwaukee College to update their link to our new Blogger site. (Hope that is ok with everyone.)

First Post

Hello! Welcome to the official Makers Art Group blog. This is our first post, weeee!

Last night we met at Borders for our weekly informal meeting and discussed creating this blog.

Erin brought her finished acrylic piece entitled "Crocodile Dinner" (see left) for constructive criticism as well as a work in progress.

We looked over the latest art magazines, talked about the presidential campaign and made the people around us squirm as we showcased our political "intellect". Case in point, can you imagine (red-neck voice) Howdy, I iz prezidint Huck-uh-bee.

Anyhoo....

We also discussed Al's possible future website and portrait business and what that would involve as far as contracts with clients, form of payment, etc.

Hope we haven't scared away our audience with our first post. We hope to post minutes from our meetings, announce group events such as field trips, and present photos of our most recent work.