11:36 pm
Well, after battling with old expired emulsion, runny ink and a shitty design problems (all mercifully not chronicled here), I finished Stephen’s Print. It looks like this:
Careful observers will note that I needed to enlarge the size of the dots on his jacket from the previous design. Details like this consumed me for the most part, but every once in a while the project made me sad.
I took the liberty of spreading a few of these around the neighborhood, particularly in the West end of Precita Park, where Stephen lived. I found a few strategically placed trees to discretely nail into. Also I placed a limited edition of prints for public distribution at Charlie’s and Precita Park Cafe. I think they will either be gone very soon or sitting around forever.
I documented the project in detail for my objects section.
And finally here is a good Times article on the incident.
8:12 pm
At some point in December there was an attack on Precita Park‘s spiritual overseer/resident homeless dude, Stephen Stymiest. Shortly thereafter, Stephen died of wounds sustained during the assault, alleged to be a random act of gang initiation. The whole story is just sad. Very sad. And it is staying with me. I feel like Stephen was one of the best things this fast-changing neighborhood had going for it and I miss his reliable and comforting presence. Stephen was always looking over the neighborhood but who who looking over Stephen? This got me thinking about how much more I could do as a neighbor, citizen, and fellow human.
Well there’s a lot more I could do. For now, the immediate aftermath, since I am a printmaker, I am going make a print. This one’s going to be for Stephen.
Here’s my image:
And here’s my stack of cardboard:
More soon.
Some good local coverage from the ever-vigilant Bernalwood blog: