Yesterday, I began an apprenticeship at a letterpress shop in Oakland. The shop is called Painted Tongue Press. So far, it’s been a good experience. People are nice, and the apprenticeship is really structured, so I appreciate that. The commitment is once a week, for a whole year, so I’m going to use this space to try to remember what I’ve done, what I’ve been learning, and what’s stood out to me.
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I’m also a teacher at an after school program at Sequoia Elementary School in Oakland. It’s been my second year with this organization and I really love it. The staff is great, kids are great, and it’s fun to make cool stuff with kids. I kind of take that back, the kids aren’t always great, but most of the time, they’re really cool. (It’s all part of being a kid)
Still, I really enjoy teaching at this school, and I really appreciate the community that I’m able to be part of.
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This year has been one of inspiration and determination. Dan and Melissa were getting married and they invited me to their wedding last September. I was to be their guest and photographer. It was a great experience. The photos turned out great, and I had a really fun time back in the South. Dan is connected to the lady at Mok Duk, who made these awesome invites. I got mine in the mail, and I was totally inspired, then determined.
Inspired by the sheer beauty of the printed invitation, and determined that this was what I was going to try to do.
Joy and Ray ( also friends with Mel and Dan ) asked me to shoot for their wedding, but that didn’t exactly work out, but I offered to do their invitations. Here’s some of my process.
I started by designing the invitation. I wanted to make something long, to fold and fit into the kraft envelopes. Their only stipulation was to use bright pink, yellow, and orange. We quickly agreed on a design and it was off to the print shop.
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East Bay Open Studios finished really well. I was in San Luis Obispo for my sister’s college graduation, so I wasn’t able to make it Saturday. Early on Sunday morning, I drove back up to the Oakland to attend the last day of the show. To my surprise, one my art pieces was missing, and in it’s place was a nice red dot. I was excited to hear the story of how the piece sold. It’s a good feeling to have good things happen even when you’re not there.
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I was able to meet my hero today. Well, at least a screenprint hero. Jason Munn is The Small Stakes. He’s a great Graphic Designer and Screenprinter, and he’s also an Oakalander. He was showing his posters at Design Within Reach in Berkeley. Kristin and I went down there and I was able to look at his work, chat a little with Jason, and I even showed him some of my prints.
It’s great to actually see the work in person. I really appreciate the way his designs are really simple, yet really complex and humorous in design and content. He does really to create posters for a lot independent bands who have unique sounds and followings. He was also really friendly and we may possibly swap prints sometime.
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A good thing about participating in East Bay Open Studios ( sorry it’s all about that in these blogs these days ) is that it’s really forced me to get a lot my work organized and prepared to show. I’ve been learning about the other side of art making: the organizational, business, marketing side of things.
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Good news!
I’ve been listed as one of the critic’s top picks from the 400 participating studios. Click here to read DeWitt Cheng’s article in the East Bay Express.
Day number two went pretty well at Laney. Sunday started really slow (compared to Saturday) but eventually people started trickling in. A couple people were really positive about the work, and I was able to make a couple more sales. Really great stuff.
The strangest moment ( so far ) was when a woman came in, and handed this paper to some friends who were hanging out and looking at art. She kind of forced into the hands of one my friends, then stepped to the side and started looking at my artwork. Then she just disappeared. I think one my friends looked at the note, then just put it to the side.
Outside of Long Beach and Brooklyn, Oakland has the more artists per capita than any other city. My sources aren’t great ( look it up on google ), but I think you should see for yourself. Here’s a link to all of the artists from Oakland that are participating in EBOS.
Day one of Open Studios went well. A lot of ( new and old ) people came out to see my artwork. It felt really good to have a lot of friends come through to see what I’ve been working on. It was also neat to meet new folks who are interested in what I’m doing.
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