ArtCrank... get your engines ready!

ARTCRANK 2010, get ready for it....

For you my internet friends I'll post a sneak peak of the print I made for the show:

To see the rest of the awesomeness... get your tail end down to the ACE Hotel this coming Thursday, Oct 7th from 5-11pm to see the rest of the print and everybody else's (35 or so). Oh, and seeing how this is a bike themed event, you should probably ride your bike there.

Oh and as well.... because this is Portland, there will be plenty of beer there too (now you really want to go, I can tell).

this bag is heavy, wanna carry it for me? (repost)

Here's another one from the vaults. I think this one struck a chord with me because for the past week or so I've been knee deep in "artworld" trying to get some screen printing done for ARTCRANK 2010, which is next week. My posters are due this weekend and I normally never wait till the last minute, but it's been a steady mess of things going wrong trying to get the printing of my posters off the ground, everything from the screens taking longer than expected to the paper store losing my order of paper and giving me some other crap instead, which is surprisingly, working quite well. Anyways, aside from teaching spin class Wednesday afternoon, after work I've just regulated myself to printing, printing, printing. hopefully I can get things done so that I can enjoy the last part of my week aside from spending it in the basement. Anyways, it's at moments like these that even though it's stress full and time consuming, I get a little joy out of the process and the effort because it reminds me of being in college, staying up all night working on those assignments, having shit go wrong (like electrical storms knocking out the power in the building which results in you losing all of your file because you hadn't saved anything the past three hours)... or saving your stuff and then getting your zip disc stuck in the computer. Ah, zipdiscs, those were the days eh? Anyways, this retro post is for you SCAD.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Randomly last week, my best friend from college Emily showed up at my house for a little regrouping. She had planned a non-planned last minute trip to Portland from San Diego and in proper last minute fashion, I welcomed her, Lucky -her dog, and her kayak with open arms in the fresh Oregon air.

One of the nights she was here, Emily sat in the living room working away on her laptop while I stood in my room tracing logos on large sheets of wood with my new overhead projector, and my roommate, sat her in room checking email. There, with the three of us plugging away at our various activities yet still having sporadic conversations, I had a massive flashback to college and just had to smile. It was just like how life was at SCAD, back in the day before we knew the routes that our art careers would take us, we'd all be in our rooms, working on respective art projects and randomly talking back in forth: asking if anyone tried that new burger place yet, how we didn't vote for Bush, if anyone had any extra exacto blades, kneeded erasers or if you could borrow someones guash.

Then, later in the evening, my roommate asked me how much painting I had to do on my large pieces of wood that I had been working on. "Well" I said "I'll probably need to do about three or four more coats, which means I'll be up till 3amish, but I might take a nap in there somewhere to extend the drying time." My roommate just looked at me and said I was crazy. But Emily and I just laughed while we explained to my roommate that it's what we do. As artists, you've got a deadline in which you have to get more work done than is humanly possible in the given amount of time... but, you make it happen. Bring out the late night coffee pots, the hairdryers and the 20 minute naps, you find a way to make that three day art project into a ten hour all-nighter, which included drying time. Week after week, quarter after quarter, year after year. Basically, it's just like the Mastercard Commercial where the kids are dancing in the hallway; having people around who understand you = priceless.

Read more:

Thoughts for a January evening.... (repost)

Every once and a while I rediscover that I still have a myspace account. I ask myself why I haven't deleted it yet, since I never check it or update it, but then I realize that I pretty much only hold on to it because it has volumes of blogs I wrote that I just don't want to part ways with yet. So, in order to not totally lose all those older writings, I'll occasionally repost some of them here. This is one of them.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Thoughts for a January evening....

A few weeks ago at my friends New Years Eve Party, I was looking through some postcards she had on a display rack and I came across a hand drawn little booklet about "her travels in New York City". I was so intrigued about this little piece of adorable art, that in the midst of her talking to someone, I had to interrupt her and find out more information about it.

As soon as she saw it in my hand, she stopped talking, her mouth turned into a big smile and she got red, blushing. "Oh, you found that!?" she said and I quickly responded, "I must know... what is this?... it is absolutely amazing!" And she replied, "oh...my ex made that for me before I moved from New York City, it's all these great little drawings about my experience there, I love it, it's like my favorite thing ever!"

Her current girlfriend saw me with the booklet and kinda rolled her eyes at it, but - I unhesitatingly, went back to the drawings. "These are so cute"...I kept gushing while my host fingered though the carefully hand drawn sketches, pointing out her favorites, eyes glowing with excitement.

Then, I looked my friend in the face and I shared my thoughts, at why this little book, with these silly little cute drawings in them, had captivated me so much. I said... "I can only hope that if I ever were to give someone that I care about a piece of art, even if it be a little sketch to let them know I'm thinking about them, I can only hope that even if that moment in time has far passed and those feelings are no longer as fresh as the day they were when ink or paint was first set to paper... that when they look at it, so many years later, that it can still bring a smile to their face. And if it's anything like the smile that comes to your face over this little book, it'll will have been so, so worth it."

Read more:

2010... things to do.

So, this is my year end assessment of 2009 and my things to do in 2010 note. Like I always say, I have never been one for New Years resolutions. I always tended to make my goals at the beginning of an upcoming school year; but alas.... I am no longer 21 and I find for most adults, me included, live revolves from January to January as opposed to August to June, three months of holiday and then back to August again. So... here goes.

2009 Yearly Assessment* of goals and realizations and probable outcomes:

1- find a dentist and go

(check... now, I just have to work on the whole flossing everyday thing.)
2- find a personal dr. and go

(check... several times, it doesn't hurt that she's cute)
3- put money into a travel fund for chile/argentina

(check...I did do this, but right now that money seems to be funneled into traveling to Sweden this summer as well as new bike and new snowboard funds.)

4- eat more meals at home

(I actually did do a slightly better job of this than I was doing half-way through the year. For this, I commend my girlfriend and her excellent cooking, our general lack of funds, and the idea that we would rather sleep in on a saturday and sunday morning and eat pancakes in our pj's than get dressed up and go stand in line to have brunch.)
5- spend more quality time with anna, my dog

(This year, Anna went sooo many places with me. We went camping all summer long and I've learned that she is a great dog to have around by the campfire (most of the time) and at the park because she is obsessed with me and will go everywhere I go. We've had great opportunities to bond this year.)
6- call my mom more often

(ummm.... could be better. This will go on the 2010 list of things.)
7- hug more

(check :)
8- let some things go

(check :)
9- have a good first season in bike racing

(see related post)
10- be a good and safe bike commuter

(sorry about the cussing thing) :|
11- be more focused at work

(where do you think I wrote this? Just kidding!)
12- don't be late for spin class

(I was doing much better at this, but then my spin class hit a mid-summer slack and it got cancelled. No worries though, within a few months I was working at a new gym with new members who are ten times more enthusiastic about class than my former folks. It doesn't hurt that classes these days aren't at 5:30am like they used to be, which also makes it easier for me to not be late!)
13- read more

(I kinda sucked at this this year. It makes my 2010 list as well.
14- knock off Mt. Hood (or some other glaciated peak) this year

(On Memorial Day I climbed South Sister. Check! However, this still needs to be on my 2010 list.)
15- floss more, always always floss more

(see goal number one)
16- use less single use plastics

(check. I was very pleased with my limited consumption of plastic and remembering to bring grocery bags with me when I go to the store. Regardless, plastics in our environment is still a massive issue and I will continue with this campaign through 2010 as well.
17-sketch and doodle more

Actually, I didn't do so bad at doing this.... but, much like flossing and reading, it can always be improved upon in 2010.

*My mid year assessment of 2009 can be found here...

2010 Goals for the future:

1- floss more, always always floss more

(see last year)

2- knock off credit card debit

(i've actually been working on this for the past three years and I'm happy to say that the majority of my debit that I accrued in college in the years after, is almost paid completely off. I've been so much better since 2006 about not using my credit cards (unless I'm buying airfare)... and after that gets completed, I can use that money to finishing paying my dad for the Levoru.)

3- call my mom (and my brother) more often

4- call my friends who live far far away and are never on facebook more often

(i have a tendency to only communicate via facebook)

5- put money into a travel fund for chile/argentina as well as sweden

(basically, save more money)

6- eat more fruits and vegetables

(one cannot survive and be strong on beer alone)

7- spend more quality time with anna, my dog

(I can never do too much of this)

8- more date nights

(who doesn't like to get dolled up every once and while and spend QT (quality time) with someone they love?)

9- be more focused at work

10- sketch and doodle more

11- read more

12- keep spin class fresh and exciting

13- knock off Mt. Hood (or some other glaciated peak like Adams) this year

14- use less single use plastics

15- pay it forward

(I was overwhelmed by the response I had from my friends regarding my stolen snowboard. As a result the best way to repay kindness someone has showed you, is to show and share with someone else that kindness.)

16- work hard at being a better biker

(no longer am I concerned about having faster 2k erg time like I did in college, but I can still be just as competitive and OCD as I was then- but this time when it comes to bike racing. I'm gonna be a CAT 3 soon and I really want to do well at the crits's as well as hammer it down at the track. Read a full report here.)

17- get my website done!!!

(and do a better job of having a quick turn a round time for freelance clients)

18- do the dishes more frequently

19- download less free music that you're never going to listen to more than once

20- hug more, smile more, make more people laugh, make the world a better place

kind and generous...

As most of you might know, last month on the day after Thanksgiving my snowboard was stolen while I was in eating lunch at Mt. Hood Meadows. In the weeks that followed, I asked my facebook friends to help me out by donating a dollar or any spare change to my "mean people suck" new snowboard fund. And well, what can I say... the kindness and generosity of my friends seriously left me speechless. In fact, I was able to greatly off-set the cost of a new setup and I even spent some money on a lock to make sure it wouldn't happen again.

Basically, my new board is the "bigger sister" to my former board, a Rome Blue 151. After extensive searching, I was able to find my old board style (147) on sale in someplace in Virginia, but the people at the shop were being tools about shipping it... so, instead I decided to upgrade in size and found the 151 version of my board from a seller on ebay. Brand new with free shipping, my new board was on it's way to me! The graphics are very similar, colors a little different, more bold and vibrant, and those few more inches make a difference in my turns and the float... but, I still get that same happy feeling when I look at my new board that I did with the prior one. However, this board warms my heart a little more than the other one since I know that so many of my friends pitched in to helped me get it.

So, when I take it for a spin in the mountains, in the deep powdery snow like I did last week on it's inaugural run... just know that even if many of you won't make it out to my home turf of Mt. Hood to board with me any time soon... every time I go snowboarding, you all are with me. And I thank you and vow to pay your kindness forward.

thank you thank you thank you!

ArtCrank, a personal review.

bikeportland.org photo

As promised... here's a run down from last week's ARTCRANK at the Ace Hotel here in downtown Portland (here is where I promised). I tell you, what a great way to kick off Oregon Manifest, Portland's month long celebration of bikes, from 5pm till the free PBR ran out, the exhibit space was packed with people as were the bike corrals outside were packed with bikes. Overall, 29 artists sold about 200 posters garnering $6,000 in sales and sending about $1,00o to Bikes to Rwanda.

bikeportland.org photo

I missed the building being packed with people as I had a gig to shoot at a concert across town, but when I arrived (which was sadly after the free beer ran out) there was still a steady flow of people coming and going. In no time at all I saw my cute little squirrel print on the wall and ran into people I knew. Overall, many of the posters were great. There was really some amazing prints that well designed, thought out and printed excellently (they must have gotten theirs professionally printed ;) Then, there were some other prints that... well, the SCAD student in me comes out and I get a little critical of their ideas or process; thinking that even though at the least we had two weeks to get our stuff together, some people could have spent a little bit more time on their work. But, that's just me being a magna cum laude perfectionist (toot-toot). I admit that my work wasn't quite up to an A when it came to SCAD professors grading standards, but I did as well as I could with the allowed time and materials. No matter how hard I try I admit that I will never be an excellent paper cutter and nor will I fork out $25 for someone to cut $12 worth of paper. That's just how it is.

Anyways, I digress. This was pretty much my first art show (we graphic design undergrads really didn't have to do that in school; and besides, our job is to make other people look good) and honestly, I was nervous and excited all at the same time. Everyone gets the jitters when they have their work put out there on display for the public, and knowing that this was going to have TONS of people walking through (thanks to the free beer) and purchasing prints (thanks to the low affordable cost of posters)... I set a goal of at least selling one or two prints (which would cover my materials cost). At the show, I asked Charles Youel, the creator, organizer, and curator of the show - how my print was doing. Surprisingly, he told me I had sold ten already and the show was still open for another hour or so! And... as I stood there and chatted with him, some lady went up, requested to purchase some posters, and walked away with one of my squirrels. Seeing that I exclaimed "and I don't even know that lady!!!" That was probably a highlight for me as I was under the assumption that only people I knew were buying my prints.

Well, doing the math the average of posters that each artist sold was about 7, so by selling 10 I definitely came in above average (not that selling art is a competition, but hey... you're talking to someone who is even a competitive commuter.) Even after the show, I got a few emails from folks who couldn't attend the show and wanted a print and even one email from a lady who was at the show, but walked away buying nothing. Apparently the next morning she awoke and realized she should have bought my print. So, she tracked me down via the internets and sent me a message. Apparently her 10 year old son... who is "bike mad" really liked my print. She thought about this and said (I quote) "You should never refuse a child who asks for art the opportunity to have it." Which I firmly agree with. As small children, my mother would take my brother (who is now a big NYC architect) and I to Cincinnati's Summer Art Fair and we would each come home with some kind of art.

Anyways, after the show I've dropped the price down to $20 for each print and I still have a few left over if anyone is interested (wink wink). I'm even dropping some in the post today on their way to Seattle and other places around town and would gladly love to do the same with you. I want to see these squirrels co-exist with humans and bikes in peace. This, I believe, is the first step in the process.

Oh, Bikeportland.org had a nice write up on the event and even a photo slide show of the work and the party of people and their free PBR (have I mentioned that enough already?)

Anyways - here are some photos of the process and stuff like that.

I've got all my materials ready...

This is the "blue screen"...

the workspace (thanks Stumpd)

I have so many prints I have to lay them all over the place, yes... even on the toilet.

here is the first few runs in white, I like this but it clogged my screens real quick and started to create "printing issues"

So I ditched the white and went with some orange ink I had left over from my "squirrel print" I made three years ago in a screen printing class at SCAD. That fabric was a massive 3 yrd repeat pattern that was featured at the big SURTEX industry show in NYC at the SCAD booth.

ta-da! someone is a happy camper!

I want that $2000 slouchy bag and artistic justice!

Recently I came across this podcast regarding the recent court case of graphic artist Shepard Fairey vs. the Associated Press. It turns out that the AP is suing Fairey for copy-write infringement over their photo of Obama which was later used by Fairey for political posters, under the claim "fair use". The Obama campaign, which later supported Fairey and his designs, feared copy write issues and later had Fairey design a similar poster which was not as similar as the initial one.

The copy write safe poster, available for sale at Obama's Political Site.

I could have told you that was coming! Anyways, I'm reminded in the mix of all of this hubub, that I never posted on this blog about his window displays this spring for Saks, and how his designs were a blatant copy of artwork done by Alexander Rodchenko during the Russian Revolution. Anyways, here is that posting:

So, just the other week I was walking down Yamhill St. here in downtown Portland, and as I passed in front of the windows for Saks Fifth Avenue, I saw these bright, high contrast very Russian Constructivist-inspired black, red and white geometric style posters saying things like "WANT THIS". I stopped and looked at the windows more closely. There, in the bottom little corner was a little sticker noting that the new marketing campaign was done by none other than Shepard Fairey, (you know, the Andre Has a Posse, Obey and Obama) guy?) which... I had to laugh at because I was sure that Alexander Rodchenko had kinda coined that look to start with. Intrigued, I went inside to see how Fairey continued his pretty blantant plagarism of models posing as if they are champions of workers’ rights, with the store displays inside. I walked around perfume counters with more of the similar iconography carrying more of the same message "WANT THIS BAG!" "WANT THIS BLOUSE!" and still I giggled.

Here, is an artist... (who oddly enough, prefers to be refereed to as a "street artist" despite his big studio in LA, a new museum exhibit, works with Nike, his own clothing line, and his own design firm in LA ... ) who got his start making counter culture images and jokes at aimed at propaganda, paranoia and consumerism, is now "designing" (cough cough) ads for Prada bags that cost a few thousand dollars. Now, I'm pretty sure this is all done tongue in cheek. That Saks, realizing what they needed was propaganda to sell their spendy items in our tough economic times, went to the propaganda dude.... who basically just stole his propaganda from many a artist before him. And the thing is, it's politically charged imagery, but it's meaning is wasted on the subject matter. At least the Obama images inspired people to vote, to change the way they thought, align for the greater good - but here, "Arm Yourself with a Slouchy Bag"?

Really.... that's as good as you've got Fairey? I mean, I like you, I understand where you're coming from, I know how we as designers and artists "borrow" from those before us... but i'm pretty disappointed by the lack of creativity here and then sickened by the amount of money you probably reeled in for it.

Shepard's OBEY Obey's website

And this is nice little video taken from the opening of his exhibit at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston where he talks about being a "street artist" and having a museum opening:

Anyways, I'm not passing judgement here or calling Fairey a sell out, I'm just a little disappointed by all the hype that I don't think is rightly justified. Maybe I'm jealous, maybe I'm just being too demanding of what I expect out of people who "make it big", maybe it's just the difference between viewing yourself as an advertiser, a designer or an artist and what one does for art and what one does for commercial consumption. The door is wide open for discussion. Is it art, is it plagiarism, is it a political statement, is it a joke, and if so....how many people who just bought a $2000 slouchy bag are going to realize that?

NY Times review of Shepard's show in Boston:

what is it exactly about Cleveland that makes you want to sing about it?

Every once in while I come across something from my homeland (aka, the Midwest, that place in the middle, with cows, corn, cheese and casserole dishes with cereal or fried onions on top) that makes me smile and get a little fond of home. Just the other week I received this poster in the mail and didn't hesitate to find it an honored space on the walls of my bedroom.

This is a hand pulled six screen silkscreen on 25 x 38 (French paper lightweight stock), meaning... it's friggin huge poster. And, being printed on French paper... (with whom I printed my very first set of business cards back in college with) it's a pretty sweet setup. I received print 183 out of 300 or so in the edition. The poster was drawn and pulled by one of my favorite gig poster illustrators ever, Jay Ryan (who I had the pleasure of meeting at Bumbershoot the other year. Chances are pretty high that he'll be setting up his booth with some of the other All Stars of gig posters at Bumbershoot again this summer, so look him up and say hi at the at the Flatstock expo.) Check out more of his work at his Chicago studio, The Bird Machine.

Anyways, this print appeals to me because A) I like the colors, B) I'm from the midwest (ohio baby), and C) I heart woodland creatures. In fact, deer are rather a special animal to me. So many times over the years growing up my mom would request me to come sit in the front seat of the car with her and watch for deer. We always had a lot of people who had car accidents with deer and I have a habit of being able to spot them on the side of the road really quickly, day or night. I think it made my mom happy because not only would it be good conversation time, but also because it would remind her of her dad, who died shortly before I was born. Her dad was a really great hunter; skilled in the art of bow and arrow as well as shotgun. I don't hunt at all, but I share his keen ability of being able to spot them quickly in a corn field or in the woods. As well, I've also had many what I refer to now as "Helen Miren Moments" (aka: the "stag scene" from the movie The Queen) where for brief little seconds that seemingly last forever, I've found myself in close proximity with deer, elk, some other wildlife creature in their natural habitat. Here, in these small moments, I've been given a gift of being able to sit in on their habitats. I've heard them talking to each other, they've seen me, and no one bolted... it's been pretty special. Anyways, this print kinda reminds me of those moments and makes me smile.

Art you hang on your walls should do that.

____________________________________________

Also, if you're from the Midwest, you might have a chuckle or two out of these "retro t-shirts" from this Ohio company called Homage. Actually, I don't know if they are really from Ohio, but all the Ohio State themed stuff is making me think as much.

Also - speaking of the Midwest and t-shirts, I came across this bike shop company out of Milwaukee Wisconsin aptly named "Milwaukee Bicycle Company". I liked their script logo so much, I had to buy a t-shirt. Another beautiful impulse buy. Here is their logo on a messenger bag. sweeeet.

Also hailing from Milwaukee is what personally got me started in graphic design, what I consider to be one of the greatest sports logos of all time, the Milwaukee Brewers logo from the mid 80's. I remember clearly the day I was drawing the logo on the back of an elementary school notebook and it suddenly dawned on me... the glove of the logo was designed so that not only did it look like a glove, but it also contained the letters "M & B". Genius... Billiant. To me, that's what graphic design is! Being able to convey the most meaning in the simplest of forms. It's like a little puzzle that only half of the population really ever notices... but when you do, it's like learning to speak a foreign language. You see things with new eyes.

mid 80's Brewers Logo:

The Brewers also are currently sporting a nice script as well. In fact, I like their current script so well, it not only is the basis of our athletic logos for the Savannah College of Art and Design, but it also forms as the basis for the logo of my softball team, the Brewhers.

current Brewers logo:

SCAD athletic logo:

Brewhers softball logo:

Oh, the Midwest. Not exactly the design capital of the US, but it does have some perks.

Speaking of which... what is it exactly about the Midwest, especially Cleveland - that makes you want to sing about it?

30 Rocks thinks so...

Drew Carey thinks so...

Even these random people think so too.