feather2pixels

Like the ephemeral San Francisco cherry blossom, the beautiful flower that is spring open studios has come and gone. And to the extent that the passing of the weekend reminds us of the many mysterious cycles and rhythms of nature, spring open studios reminds us of the very meaning of life itself.  Where some may find no meaning in sitting around a mostly empty art studio for 48 hours, waiting for a tide of  approval that may never come, others will find illumination.  Through it all, the one unchanging truth is that all shall find free wine.

CELLspace studio artists populated the gallery space and I took the opportunity to set up one of the walls with collected works from the Two Feather Press screenprinting co-op membership.   In my mind, our unofficial motto is screenprinting improves everything and maybe that’s why I thought this spread looked so great.

…And when I arrived at the studio on Sunday morning there was a not insignificant pile of cash under my door.  Apparently some anonymous early riser–bless your soul  whoever you are–indulged in a small shopping spree through our highly affordable offerings.

Thanks to all my friends who stopped by in support.  I really appreciate it.  After the wads of cash, your encouragement always makes it worth it.

Beau walks into the gallery

surprise packs for $2 sold like hotcakes at a hotcake stand with three hotcakes available.

I have a few new artists joining my CELLspace screen printing studio this month.  Consequently , I thought it would be nice to set shop up with a proper sign, so I unpacked a piece of very special driftwood I have been saving and set to work ruining it with my art.  I found this wood at Mile Rock Beach in San Francisco five years ago and really, nothing I could print on it could ever improve it in an aesthetic sense.  But that has never stopped me before and I have been saving this for a special occasion so tonight I fired up the old t-shirt press and threw down a simple three layer print.  Then I screwed in on the door.  Took me less than an hour. (Click to enlarge)

The t-shirt press allows one to adjust the height of the screen on the platen.

I secured the wood to the platen with tape during the printing process.

At CELLspace nothing looks junky!

Here’s some work from the fourth meeting of the postcard workshop: (more…)

I am quickly approaching the end of my winter screenprinting workshops.  Tonight marked the third of four meetings of the postcard class in which, after much preparation, we finally got to printing.  Here are some of the pieces completed tonight.

Jason‘s heart (this is one of the best pen and ink rendered stencils I have seen–he got superb line quality)

Alison’s two-layer poem print on wood.  I was impressed how well the text worked here.  I am biased, but the print on wood looks great to me.

Grace’s greeting card.  Her two layers from hand drawings combined very effectively.  Simple and well executed.

Oh yeah, I also figured out how to make an animated gif with Photoshop.  Why I would want to make an animated gif is another story.  But for now it’s time to party like its 1994:

More items printed at the postcard workshop:

Jeni's print on guitar wood

Jeni's print on guitar wood

Jeni's print on guitar wood

Jason's postcard

Grace's greeting card

Recently, some good people AIGA (the professional association for design) hired me to help throw a screen printing party at CELLspace.  The goal was to print 400 call for  entry posters for a design competition they are having.  So we burned a bunch of screens, set up five printing stations, and last Sunday a bunch of volunteers flooded the crafts loft with drying posters.  The whole thing worked pretty well and got me thinking of ways to transition the idea for my next birthday party.  Thanks to Kristen B. for being a great partner and and to Sarah  S. and Greer A. for the help pulling it all off.

Apparently my solution for balancing my teaching job is…more teaching? Well here are three new workshops I have enthusiastically committed myself to.  Not just that, but a whole new DNS domain I have enthusiastically committed myself to.   If I were still seeing my psychologist, she would suspect that this is all a way to push aside the hard job of making my own work.  But make no mistake, these workshops are going to be nothing short of awesome.  Screen printing makes the world a better place.

At any rate, I am posting about it before it happens instead of after.  So that’s progress, I guess.