Just thought I would point out an up-and-coming project in the works.

The Dirty Printmakers of America is a collective of printmakers founded by members of Drive By Press and other accomplished printmakers promoting the education, awareness and democratization of printmaking to the masses. The DPA board has been arranging a portfolio exchange, called States of the State, surveying  artists who specialize in certain print techniques. I was invited to participate in the relief portfolio. This project will consume the rest of my free time from now until mid-October, so I’ll hopefully blog some progression posts (keyword is “hopefully,” I might want to keep it a surprise until the very end).

Anyway, explore the site, check out the other artist participants and stay tune to other updates in the near future.

Image © Kurt Hippauf

Official Press Release:

ABOUT FACE: An Exploration of Identity and the Human Experience

ABOUT FACE is juried and curated by SSCA Exhibitions Coordinator and artist J. M. Culver.

When: SEPTEMBER 11 – OCTOBER 10

Where: SSCA GALLERY

Opening Reception
Saturday, September 11, 7-10pm

Live music by DEDMONDSON

The human face is so central to how we view other people, whether meeting someone for the first
time or scrutinizing an old friend’s reaction, that imagining a world without addressing the familiar
set of features on the front of our head seems unthinkable.  The mood, confidence, innocence,
beauty, honesty, brutality and sadness of a person are so often indicated (sometimes falsely) by
their face.  Even as social media evolves to replace encounters with clicks, replication and broad-
cast of faces remains essential to the way we want to connect with others.

It is with these considerations in mind that ABOUT FACE at SSCA Gallery features artists employ-
ing traditional and experimental means in communicating their own unique expressions of the
human face, including painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, sculpture and mixed media.

Highlights of the exhibition include Megan Frauenhoffer’s darkly beautiful mixed media prints, which suggest transformational narratives and move with skillful, selective illustrative detail. Weaving myth and memory, and exuding a curious emotional tension, her work invites a close look here.

Cult Status Gallery owner and painter Erin Sayers showcases work from her distinctly graphic series of pop icons; and the surreal, abstracted human archetypes of John Vasiliou round out this assembly of talented visual artists.

Artists Involved:

Nate Courteau
J.M. Culver
Megan Frauenhoffer
Louisa Greenstock
Kurt Hippauf
Nathan Lewis
Erin Sayer
John Vasiliou
Amzie Wendt

Awhile ago, I got asked by Jordan Shiveley of Grimalkin Press to create a cover illustration for Hive 5: A Somewhat Quarterly Comics Anthology. For the illustration, I stuck to basic concepts. I took some inspiration with the title “Hive 5″ sounding similar to “high five” the hand gesture.  Since I had a nice ink drawing of a arm with a bee gracing the top, I took that as a starting point and progressed to the final draft of the image. Mark Leicht, Hive’s designer propose the possibility of a vellum dust jacket to separate the image layers to mimic the layering in my thesis prints. I’m excited to see the final design.

Started off super minimal and black and white. Placed temporary title design to work around the illustration.

Added some more atmosphere similar to my thesis prints.

Worked with color and nixed the title since that’s a design decision for Mark to handle.

The “final draft,” Mark Leicht will take the image and finish off the rest of the cover design.

I gave up on just using the arm and decided to include the figure that’s attached since it still felt so disembodied. I was stubborn about it since it felt overused in my thesis work, but it translates really nicely for the design.

Hive 5 will be on sale in the next few months, which I’ll be sure to announce along with showing off the final design. You can buy previous issues through their Etsy shop and see more of Hive/Grimalkin Press at their blog. They’re nice people, say hi.

*Exhibition announcement taken from this page . Also,  I’m dealing with weird formatting issues that’s probably due to the copy/pasting and the wordpress code clashing (the weird misplaced red text)… I’m making due with what I’m able to fix. -Megan

‘SHY RABBIT Print National 2′
A National Juried Exhibition

September 4 – October 17, 2010

Juror:
Yuji Hiratsuka
Professor of Art, Oregon State University, Corvallis

Please join us for an Artists’ Reception on:
Saturday, September 4
5:00pm to 8:00pm
Several of the artists will be in attendance

Featuring 90 fine-art prints by 45 Printmakers
representing 21 states, Canada and the U.K.
using traditional to contemporary printmaking techniques

Also showing works by:
Juror:  Yuji Hiratsuka
(in the SHY RABBIT Foyer Gallery)

SHY RABBIT Print National 2′ SHY RABBIT Art Center is honored to announce the opening of the Second Annual SHY RABBIT Print National 2: A National Juried Exhibition.

This prestigious Juried exhibit came about as the result of an enormously well attended and highly applauded Inaugural Exhibition – the SHY RABBIT Print National, 2009, Juror: Michael D. Barnes – an event that was so successful that the decision was made at that time to continue it as an Annual event.

Local artist and renowned Printmaker, Ron Fundingsland stated when asked about the 2009 show,”I would call it an exceptionally impressive gathering of prints executed by an equally exceptional group of seasoned professors and emerging independents from across the country.”Fundingsland went on to say what a rare opportunity it was to see such high quality prints exhibited in the Four Corners area.

The Juror selected for SHY RABBIT Print National 2, 2010 is Yuji Hiratsuka, Professor of Art, Oregon State University, Corvallis.

Hiratsuka’s work is represented in numerous collections including: The British Museum, Tokyo Central Museum, New York Museum of Modern Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Library of Congress, Cincinnati Art Museum, Portland Art Museum and the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, San Francisco.

The Call for Entries for the Print National 2 resulted in the receipt of 505 submissions from 150 artists located throughout the U.S and abroad.

After a painstaking and often difficult review process, Hiratsuka selected a total of 90 prints for inclusion, representing 45 fine-art Printmakers.

Hiratsuka writes in his Juror’s Statement:

“I was very honored to have been invited to serve as the juror of the Shy Rabbit Print National 2 Exhibition. I would like to thank Michael & Denise Coffee for providing me with the great opportunity to view the wide spectrum of the contemporary printmaking taking place in the USA.”

“Overall, the prints submitted were of very high quality and were visually impressive. It was a difficult task to trim the exhibition to less than one hundred pieces out of the approximately 500 works submitted for this year’s competition.”

“The criteria I set for inclusion was based on technical execution, presentation, originality and consistency of the work presented. In other words, regardless of color or b/w, or any printmaking media used I selected the print if it had a compelling visual message or had intuitive, intriguing elements which drew my attention.”

This exhibition is FREE and open to the public.

For more information on SHY RABBIT, please Click Here.

Having a website with a site tracker, I keep record of what pages, posts and images people visit. Despite the push and pull graduate school gave me, the two pieces that continually receive the most attention are The Wound and The Swarm:

vs.

I’m not sure how I feel in response. They’re my first pieces done at MCAD and yet I was more or less bashed for the illustrative qualities of the work. But this is the work that has been the most successful outside of school for reasons other than the “Lowbrow” or “Juxtapoz” connection (always a slight cringe now whenever I hear that comparison). One the prevalent comments I receive about the newer work is that, while the new series is great, people have a hard time “remembering” the art, or perhaps specifics about the work fail to stick on the forefront of their minds. This feedback is somewhat frustrating and not easily resolved.

Revisiting the subject of the summer job, one of my former critique teachers visited and inquired about my post-graduation life. When I told her of my lack of motivation on art-making, she replied that it’s my “recovery period.” It’s normal… I suppose. I remembered this recovery period previously mentioned by other MCAD MFA alumni and younger art professors. The recovery period estimates taking half to equal the time spent in school. If the theory is right, I hit back into my studio stride within the 1-2 year mark. That’s reasonable…if it’s a guarantee… but I get anxious, fearing that time’s passing creates more difficulty for the eventual return to the studio.

I’ve started to map out plans for research and lists of what I want to incorporate visually. Sometimes when I feel stuck in my studio, I backtrack my steps in order to explore alternative routes. I contemplate previous prints/drawings in relation to current studies.

What elements in The Wound/Swarm need to be reexamined in future works? What technical/narrative aspects succeeded in those images that I neglected to include in recent series?  I sense that the new series needs to merge the strengths of the earlier works with current strengths in an attempt to pare the re-occuring weaknesses. Time to reflect and research for future visual study.

Sage Dawson has a blog that updates her printmaking process and inspiration. I went to undergraduate school with her and her mixed media prints have improved beyond my comprehension from graduate school.

Emmy-Ray‘s blog showcases her jewelry making, inspiration and creativity that bleeds into her home life. Lately, I have been enjoying her home projects and making mental notes for future decorating ideas.

I graduated with my MFA! It’s good to be finished. Now I get to spend the next six months to a year to adjust and manage an art life outside of school. Whoohoo?

The art page is updated with the Thesis work. It’s going to be awhile before new work will be seen. I have no studio or printshop access. Have a good summer everybody!

Work is up!  The installation was kind of stressful and things kept falling on me, but it’s up! I’m on a different wall now with more prints showing. Now I just need to hammer out that artist statement…

My wall for the Thesis Show. It’s about 25 feet of space, so I’ll be able to fit 5-6 pieces of the 20 prints I finished this semester. It was possible to acquire more space but I just want to show my strongest work and not break my back during the installation. I’ll show more of the series later in the summer. Starting August, I’ll have work up for 6 weeks at the Spyhouse Coffee shop. This semester was weird, I wasn’t nearly as stressed about the work as I was in my undergraduate days. I think a lot of it has to do with how anti-climatic my BFA show turned out. I stressed out so much and got mono on top of it. That show was so IMPORTANT at the time… looking back, I realized it wasn’t that big of a deal. It was just a group show, so is this one. It’s not the last one and it certainly doesn’t culminate the work as being “perfect” and final. The work will always be unresolved in some sense and that’s fine by me. It just means I will always have something to continue my exploration. I’m just happy I’m leaving graduate school with a grasp on what I want to do with my work. That’s what I wanted: change in my approach and solidification in the art. I came to MCAD with such an identity crisis, both in my work and myself. I think I’m starting to resolve those issues.

2010 MFA Thesis Exhibition @ The Soap Factory

MCAD MFA Show
Friday, May 14, 6 – 9 PM // Exhibition Runs: Apr 30 – May 16, 2010

“Thesis show featuring work by candidates for the MFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

Participating artists: Tim Baias, Thomas Boyer, John Bell, Garrett Bergemann, Adam Caillier, Mary Davis, Aaron DeYoe, Megan Frauenhoffer, Sara Green, Chris Held, Amanda Lovelee, Ginny Maki, Branden Martz, Lu Mulder, Amy Pleticha, Nick Tews, Leo Winstead”