Sustainable Fashion

Last night was Knights on the Catwalk, an inaugural sustainable fashion show at St. Norbert College. It was one of many events under the umbrella of Fashion This, an exhibition and lecture series looking at sustainable and ethical fashion through the lens of art and design. It's a collaboration between myself and two outstanding colleagues, Shan Bryan-Hanson and April Beiswenger. The fashion show included wearable cardboard sculptures from my ART 131 students as well as outfits put together with less than $20 spent at area thrift stores and a couple of pieces by our colleague April Beiswenger. We've passed the half-way point with Fashion This and it's been exciting to see the work and ideas take root on our campus.

As a quick aside: you can check out #fashionthisSNC on social media like Twitter and Instagram.

Final bow at Knights on the Catwalk

In addition to the fashion show last night Shan curated an outstanding exhibit that included the clothing of Alabama Chanin and the on-site installation of and scheduled tours through a tiny house built by a local pastor Rebecca Rutter. At the same time April's 1000 T-shirt Project was on display in the Godschalx Gallery. April turned her skills as a prolific maker and thinker to the issues of fashion production, waste, and consumption to turn out a gallery-full of sculptural pieces made from t-shirts.

Detail from April Beiswenger's 1000 T-Shirt Project. Photo by Shan Bryan-Hanson.

One of the more energizing and interactive elements on display in our art building was the swap pile. We began with a stash of clothing April curated from faculty and staff donations and thrift store selections. Signs on the display invited passersby to take a piece (or several) from the pile and to leave pieces behind. Students and campus visitors got a kick out of riffling through the pile and finding new-to-them clothes to take home. I found a stunning sequined skirt and a cool t-shirt for my youngest brother. Although that swap pile has been dismantled and returned to the second-hand clothing stream, I'll be recreating the abundant swap ethos later this month as part of my exhibition WERKBOOTS at Silver Lake College.

The Fashion This swap pile at the Bush Art Center at St. Norbert College

Which brings me to WERKBOOTS, an exhibition of my work on display at the Donald P. Taylor Gallery at Silver Lake College through October 28th. The show is a current take on my ongoing pursuit of "sustainable fashion boots." Included in the show are drawings about the process of trying to make my own fashion boots, a display of past and possible future materials, boot drafts made to date, and a work table where gallery visitors are invited to design their own boots and to trade that drawing for a screen print (shown below). Special thanks to Maria Deau who contributed both screen prints and major installation help to the show.

Gallery visitors at Silver Lake College draw boot designs to trade for prints.

I'll be hosting a public boot-making workshop (with an emphasis on low-resolution prototypes) and a clothing swap on October 6th at 8:15 AM and October 8th from 9 AM - 12 PM, respectively. If you're in the area, stop in to join us, see the work, and consider how you might take steps towards a more sustainable style.

ReallyBIGPRINTS wrap

ReallyBIGPRINTS!! is done. Now we get to bask in the glow of the project completed. It was a tremendous four days. We got to see so many wonderful printmakers pull large prints off their really big blocks. In addition to the thrill of the prints themselves, I loved getting to know the printmakers from all over the country. Special shout out to our esteemed print helpers and Lawrence University students: Cael and Molly. You all were great!

Some photos below. I'm sorry not to have photographed every team and print, but more photos will likely show up on the ReallyBIGPRINTS facebook page over the next couple weeks. You can also see some short videos of the process here. 

If you're reading about this project and feeling inspired: mark your calendars for summer 2018 when we're planning to host the third (and final?) ReallyBIGPRINTS!! That should give you enough time to carve a block, ask off work, and plan your road trip to lovely NE Wisconsin. 

Lastly, if you're in Wisconsin now and missed the printing you can still see the prints! They'll be on display at the Rahr-West Museum July 31 - August 28. After that they'll head to the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum and be on display in time for Wayzgoose 2016.  And then on to Lawrence University. Three chances to see the full collection of Really Big Prints.

My block, finally carved and ready to proof.

Hannah and Rose were our lone undergrad printers on Wednesday. I am so proud of them...to the point that I had to stop myself from telling them that every hour.  But seriously, look at that print! 

The all female team from Redline Milwaukee. Their collaborative block read like a narrative biblical painting...all about the state of things in Wisconsin. 

Our two story drying rack. We pulled prints as they dried to make room for the next day's prints. If you're planning a big print event, this part is key. 

Michael Connor's lovely fishermen print showing through on thin paper. 

Lemonade cup/glove holder added to the roller. 

First color run of Ben Rinehart's pressure print. 

Billy Wenner's block before being inked. Staining a block red before drawing helps with tracking your carving.

Mr. Wenner with his inked block.

Printmakers resting on Thursday. It was hot and windy. 

At the Printers' Party on Friday. 

Included in this photo is UW-Manitowoc Chancellor Cathy Sandeen who made her own print!

The UW Manitowoc campus sits right on Lake Michigan. 

Wanderlust

This past year I got to participate in a unique portfolio exchange. A quick word on portfolio exchanges as they are common in fine art printmaking and a neat way of curating and collecting work, but relatively unknown (as far as I can tell) in the rest of the world.

A portfolio exchange is usually organized by one or two people around a particular theme. The organizer may write a short paragraph or essay about the theme to inspire the participating artists. The organizer also sets the dimensions of the print, any other parameters like technique or paper, and the number of prints in the edition, usually one for each artist plus one or two for touring shows and archives. Each artist in the exchange makes a print in response to the theme, prints the number of prints specified, and sends in her prints to the organizer to be collated. Each participating printmaker gets a full set of prints. It's a great way to connect with other artists, creates a cohesive body of work that's relatively easily shipped and displayed, and can be a good way to collect prints you might not otherwise encounter.

You can see a portion of my print in the E above. 

What made this portfolio exchange unique was that while each artist created original imagery, all the prints were produced by Tamarind master printer Candice Corgan. The full portfolio will be on display soon at the Small Engine Gallery with an opening reception Friday, May 6th. In addition to looking forward to seeing the full portfolio, I am curious to see how my image, made of litho crayon on frosted mylar with transparent collaged elements, translated to print.

Thanks to Candice for this opportunity. If you're in the ABQ region, stop by and see the show.

Work in Progress

I've been slowly chipping away at this drawing of a dandelion for ReallyBIGPRINTS!! this summer. Next I'll add in the gradated lines of the sky. Then: sand my wood, raise the grain, sand again, transfer the image, seal it, and carve, carve, carve. All in time to print in July.

Plywood by Post

I now live in a place that is somewhat lacking in visual arts culture. It exists and some of it is excellent, but it's harder to find and geographically scattered relative to my previous homes. As an extrovert and artist this means I have to work harder to make and maintain the connections that feed my spirit and sustain my work. This need for creative connection is compounded by the recent birth of my son. Though he is a delight, caring for him makes getting to galleries and museums, to say nothing of events after 8 PM, more of a challenge.

All of this led me to stew on how I could cultivate and experience the kind of creative community I seek. Number One on the list: be better about showing up for what's going on in my area. There's the wonderful John Michael Kohler Art Center, the Lakeshore Artists Guild, and the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum to name a few. Number Two on my list is Plywood by Post (#plywoodbypost for the digital savvy), a recently launched collaborative drawing project in which participants will draw on and pass along by mail small pieces of birch plywood. The boards went out earlier this month to 14 artists all over the country-- listed and linked at the end of this post-- and I'm excited to see what happens. 

Wood going out in the world thanks to the USPS. 

I modeled the project after Global Drawing Circles, a project by Thinking Through Drawing, an "interdisciplinary education and research network." In those circles each artist started and then worked in a a sketchbook which we passed on monthly. I don't know if it was the chemistry of my group or the large amount of real estate afforded by a whole book, but my drawing circle did not draw on or into the previous drawings. My expectation here is that the limited space of the plywood will force us to respond to what others have done. These are the participating artists: Alex Cline, Brian Hitselberger, Bud Ries, Chatham Monk, Don Krumpos, Genevieve Lowe, Holly Briggs, Justin Rice, Katie Ries, Rachel Clark, Rachel Schattman, Sara Marie Miller, Susie Ries, Tanyssa Behnke, and Veronica Siehl. (Update! Just added to this mix: Steph Untz.)

I look forward to seeing the project unfold and to the artistic communion of shared drawings (and occasional emails about the project). Need to get my board started soon. 

Birch plywood, 11.75" x 9"

Photoshoppery

Below is a screen shot from work in progress. This is a detail of a second drawing to accompany Bruce Tonn and Dori Stiefel's article featuring Willow Pond, an imagined typical American subdivision converted to be more self-sustaining.

It's a great pleasure to be immersed in a detailed and multi-layered drawing like this one. I especially enjoy the transition from drawing on paper with pen and ink to adding color digitally. You can see the first illustration made for the article on my website here. 

Start Anew

2015! Blistering winds and sub-zero temperatures. Hark, the new year arrives full of potential, promise, and (today) a threatening chill. Behold, the days grow longer. Or so we are told. The lake freezes and thaws and the ice clanks together and freezes again.

New sketchbook freshly sprung from the binding press that sits behind it. 

And in the spirit of new beginnings here is a sketchbook I bound for my Global Drawing Circle, an international collaborative sketchbook conversation facilitated by the fine folks of International Drawing & Cognition Research, "an interdisciplinary research network" who "host drawing symposia, foster collaboration, publish on drawing and cognition, and run educational courses and workshops."

Each member of our circle has started a sketchbook and we will dutifully mail them to one another each month. The idea is to be in conversation with one another through the drawing. It is a different feel than inhabiting one's own personal sketchbook. Here's to welcoming others into our process and the serendipity of collaboration.