The Simplest Solution

I've been trying to work on packaging for sending zines that is efficient, attractive and preferably reused in some way and this morning I remembered how I used to send mail. So here it is, an old print re-purposed.



The backyard garden is defying my expectations. Here, Yzah Yzah inspects the first pea blossom.




Friday I made a little salad of radishes, chard and spinach from the backyard to top falalfel sandwiches. It doesn't look like much but all these were grown in containers in the back yard. A little compost, a little love and some planters I found on the side of the road.

Good Things Going On

The New Orleans Bookfair is one of my favorite events in the city. The ninth annual book fair will be November 6th from 11 am - 6 pm along Frenchmen Street. Radical publishers, independent shops, individual authors and letterpress printers (like me!) will have tables for you to browse inside local businesses who give up their bars for a few daylight hours. It's free and fun. There is usually also refreshments and music. Two years ago, some tables were outside. It was sunny but windy! We had weights on all our things to keep them from flying away. Go to www.nolabookfair.com for information or to register for a table.
Also, my friend Myrtle has put out the call for a second Automata show in New Orleans. The show is for anyone working with kinetics, robotics or bio art and there is a companion show in miniatures, cabinets and models. The show is in April in New Orleans and the deadline for submission is February 18, 2011. There is a rumor that maybe my friend Molly will leave Montreal to construct a site-specific camera obscura. I visited her in Montreal once and she had created one in her front hall way. Good things are happening. Don't forget it.

Fall Break?

So October's postcards are going in the mail today if I can convince myself to leave the house. Technically fall break starts tomorrow but this is really just a chance for me to catch up on things I am behind on. Such as: grocery shopping, baking a cake, cleaning the bathroom and printing! I don't really take breaks. Not with so much to do. Tonight I am printing the covers for Baby Boy's demo for their tour on Halloween weekend. Also, I have been experimenting with the angle grinder as a tool for an intaglio plate. I'll let you know how that comes out. Today though, enjoy a glimpse of these postcards printed as a collaboration with my high school friend, Adam Ross. He finished art school years ago and now lives in Portland Oregon. The last time I visited him I really liked the paintings he was working on. Maybe we will work together again.

For Middle Schoolers!

I am teaching a class with the Baton Rouge Arts Council Community School for the Arts. It is my first workshop with them and I am excited. It starts Tuesday so if you know any one interested, contact Robin at robin@acgbr.com .

A Good Gesture

First project in my wheel throwing class: construct a building out of clay. This is a church from Brazil. It is hard to eliminate your style from anything you do and so this building swoops and leans. Luckly for me it looks alive and not sloppy.


Meanwhile, I received this in the mail a few weeks ago, a belated birthday gift from Andy, purchased while he was on tour this summer. The artist is Scott Young. It is painted and cut out masonite. Someday we will have live chickens.

Tint Troubles

I'm glad I wasn't the only one having troubles mixing ink yesterday in the shop. Katy asked me for advice as I created so many fleshy shades for a screenprint, it looks like I am working for Cover Girl. The last of the unfinished summer projects, here is layer one of four for the Where You From zine (volume 2).
If only the layout was done for the inside.

Back to School!

This morning the ride to school was cool enough to be wearing a sweater even if it is 90 degrees now. I have been running between the ceramic building and the print shop. And finally, I finished two of three summer projects before the autumn equinox. Here they are: Keep Writing number 22, a collaboration with Becca Hebert and a special Ladies of Letterpress postcard exchange.
Tomorrow: zine covers will be silk-screened with screens I burned a month ago. All this and homework too.