feather2pixels

This year  I took a literal approach to San Francisco Open Studios and held it in my studio.  Plenty of interesting people showed up and I got some good work done, too.  Joel B. and Meztli, if you are reading this: thank you.  (I first met Meztli at 2008 Open Studios when when she was in 3rd grade and drew me a picture that was so awesome, it inspired me to make a bunch of postcards.  I was so happy when she stopped by this weekend…as a seventh grader!).  Here are some snaps.

At the time, the idea of submitting an absurdly cheap piece to an otherwise respectable art show seemed interesting and fun.

I guess this pitiful letter received two months later pretty much brings my brilliant idea full circle.

Open Studios 2011 has come.  And Open Studios 2011 has gone.

Gone fast, I should add.  I forgot that the many interesting people and opportunities that pop up during the weekend make time fly.  I even got a little photo-op at Mission Local (not to be confused with Local Mission), thanks to blogger Molly Oleson.  Click to slide number 5.

My goal was to turn a humongous pile of scrap cardboard into an series of serious work that anyone who wanted could afford.  And if anyone didn’t look like they could afford it, I probably just gave the piece away.  I think that’s what Open Studios is best for.  Opening your studio to the public shouldn’t just be about self promotion, but also engagement.   As a screen printer, I am lucky enough to have the means to make this sort of thing work because I can make a shitload of prints.  So I hadn’t really thought of it exactly like this until now, but I guess my goal was to make the weekend an experiment less about promotion and sales and more about art as an act of engagement. I really want to explore this aspect of printmaking further.

Thanks to my new friends from Mexico City to City Hall to 22nd Street.  Special thanks to the old friends who showed up, Phanna, Serai, T-man, Michelle, and of course EB.  It’s nice to be supported.

Cellspace open studios 2011 (click to enlarge)

Prints on cardboard

Here is a sneak peak of a new series of screenprinted cityscapes on cardboard I have been working on for open studios this weekend.  They are experiments for part of a larger and presently secret public art project I am developing.  I have to say, this is going to be a unique chance to get some painstakingly rendered artwork at absolute rock bottom prices.   I will be offering have 4 new, different limited edition prints on trash; paper prints of most of my Valencia to Vermont work (24th Street cityscapes from the Mission); even a few remaining Temporary Spaces prints on wood; and some other surprises.  I hope it’s a good year.

Cellspace Open Studios 2011
October 1 and 2
11-5:30
CELLspace: 2050 Bryant St in the Mission between 18th and 19th.

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 nearly forgot, I am in a show at CELLspace this weekend!  Actually, most of the new screenprinters at 2featherpress are involved.    We are displaying much of their fine work that has been chronicled in these pages over the last few months for Spring Open Studios run by Mission Artists United.

Download the guide

Saturday, April 16 and Sunday April 17, 2011
11am — 6pm.

Join us for the Mission-Wide Spring Open Studios where more than 200 emerging and established artists using all mediums open their doors to the public for a weekend of art, inspiration and collecting.

Stroll this exciting arts district from studio to studio following the red dots painted on the sidewalk. Admission is free.

Art is the MISSION.

Participating Group Studios

• 1890 Bryant St Studios (38 artists) — 1890 Bryant St
• ActivSpace (17 artists) — 3150 18th Street
• The Art Explosion 17th Street (22 artists) — 2425 17th Street
• The Art Explosion Alabama (26 artists) — 744 Alabama Street
• The Art Explosion Harrison (1 artist) — 2345 Harrison Street
• Art, Wine and Dine Artists (4 artists) — 614 Alabama Street
• The Blue Studio (16 artists) — 2111 Mission St
• CELLspace (8 artists) — 2050 Bryant St
• Developing Environments (13 artists) — 540 Alabama St
• Live Art Studios (4 artists) — 151 Potrero Avenue
• Project Artaud (14 artists) — 499 Alabama Street
• Red Brick Studio (4 artists) — 2111 Mission St – 3rd Floor
• Studio Valencia (4 artists) — 455a Valencia Street
• The SUB (1 artist) — 199 Capp St
• Workspace Limited (17 artists) — 2150 Folsom St

Open Studios weekend has come and gone.  Aren’t you impressed with the power of my self promotion skills?  Well, don’t feel that bad if you didn’t know about it or weren’t there.   It was sort of a bad weekend for art.  My memory of it will forever take the form of me sitting alone in a 15,000 square foot warehouse, competing with the Blue Angels and Burning Man Decompression for the attention of San Francisco.  In other words, nothing is my fault ever.

On the positive side, the weekend was a welcome chance to hang up lots of work from the last year, create a bottomless wine and cheese plate and take stock of my practice.  I think it looked good.  It’s too bad you weren’t there, I was practically giving shit away.  If you look closely, you can see my t-shirt rack!

This year I was in charge of organizing Cellspace open studios (to the extent that Cellspace can be organized). We had buttons, a cardboard stage, performance installations, and smoked Gouda. Some Korean students interviewed me on tape and I ate three burritos in 4o hours.  I screen printed a one layer poster for the occasion. Some other pictures:

My apologies for the recent spate of secretive posts.  I am glad to report this entry represents a return to my self-centered general-interest ramblings.  Mission open studios was last weekend and as far as I am concerned, it was an indisputable success.  Lots of people showed up to see art, many of them to my corner of the CELLspace warehouse, where they fed my ego.  This is surely the reason I do anything.

To pass the time, I set up a little screen printing station next to my work, which turned out to be a good way to engage people with my process–I learned that many people are interested in how screen printing works.  As they should be.  It is the ultimate in instant gratification.  I even got to print with some kids, which itself made the whole weekend worth it.  Well, that, and the hundreds of dollars people seemed to be willing to give me for my art.  But mark my words: printing with kids is my calling and some day I will see it through.

For right now, my calling is posting digital images of last weekend.  Thanks for coming, everyone.  If you didn’t come, just wire me money and we will call it even.
My corner:

Screen printing in action:

The panels:

Even screen printed a wall decal:

Sold some postacrds and posters for the low rollers:

At one point the city was my best friend. We spent a lot time alone, made each other feel good, and I have many memories of being intoxicated with her beauty. (I think I almost got her pregnant back in the spring of 2004). Now I wake up at five to spend my days in Vallejo and there is the sense that SF and I have drifted apart a little. But it was a sunny weekend of wandering around town around and it felt good to remember that old, mischievous spark.

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And then, while I was wading along Ocean Beach, two tall guys from Amsterdam asked permission to photograph me for their Dutch design magazine. “We take pictures of people in the park,” they said. They had bad teeth. For fifteen minutes I posed.

And then we surprised A-kik-o (trivia team: general knowledge, handicrafts, geography).

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And then Joe and Ana arrived in town for the final leg of their honeymoon.

And then I skipped my open studio show completely because who cares about a bunch of postcards?