Renegade Holiday Fair from chiafrica on Vimeo.
Here’s a quick video recap of our time at the SF Renegade Fair, 2009.  I hope you like it!

Things at the Renegade Holiday Fair have been great.  Thanks to a lot of friends who have stopped by, and for new folks that have been interested in my work.  All of my prints are about 20 – 25% off for this weekend, so come on by to check things out.  Kimmy and I are sandwiched between Paper Scoundrels and Bunny Butt Apothecary ( and across from Oaklandish ).  See you soon!

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.

( more after the jump…)

In other great news,  I went to the Depot today with Kimmy.  The Depot is awesome.  I think I pump 80% of my spending money into that store.  You can find all sorts of crazy stuff there, and a lot of times I’ll score on some really great are supplies for cheap.

Here’s the damage:

We had a set of these info cards when I grew up.  It’s old-school wikipedia.

Take off!

Landing.

Origami folds.  I liked these, but what do you do with them?  No buy!

All the Star Trek VHS you could want.  Check out: “Dagger of the Mind”.  Intense.

And finally, my score: transparent graph paper ( for drawings ), a two hole punch ( which i’ll use for registering my screenprints ), and a couple of woodblocks to help me print on wood panels!  Awesome.

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.

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.

I didn’t get to read the note until later, but as you can see, the lady had her own agendas.  Now this isn’t a knock against anyone’s religion, or any religious or spiritual practices at all.  I consider myself to be a spiritual person ( at least i try to be aware of my own spirit), but I really had a hard time with this woman’s methods.  I feel that spirituality and religion have a lot to do with relating to people and being connected to the culture that is present.  This woman wasn’t relational at all, and just down right strange within the cultural context.  

It made me feel irritated and a bit sad that she had something she clearly cared about, but expressed in a way that kind of turned people off.  Well, at least that’s my opinion.  There is a place for sharing and expressing ideas, but I just didn’t really agree with her approach.  It lacked any sense of connection with people.

I’d hope that in the context of an art show, and in the case of East Bay Open Studios, that people are there to communicate and experience a different kind of interaction.  I’d hope that folks would See and read the artwork in front of them, and that they would also take the opportunity to talk to the different creators about ideas, process, and intentions.   That’s why I really like the idea of Open Studios.  It’s about a dialogue between people about art and ideas.

Here are some more pictures from the event.

Postcards for sale.

“Halftoons” Print

Photograph Cards

Sandra Oseguera’s work

Pete Villesenor and Alexi Babayan’s work.

Mike Kimball’s work.

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.

( more after the jump… )

Sometimes, I forget that many people don’t know all of the different art process, at least the ones that I practice.  It’s been fun to explain to people how Screenprinting works, how I’ve been working on different surfaces ( wood and paper ), and also how classes at Laney are going.

Here are a couple more photos from my space.  Thanks for coming out, and hopefully I’ll see more folks today!

East Bay Open Studios is starting tommorow! The Laney group is getting ready, in spite of some minor room-assignment snafus, and all out hustling and finishing artwork.  

Here are some set up shots of my little space.  Thanks to Mike Kimball for helping me set things up and get ready for the show!  Mike has some great work ready for show, and I think we’re going to have a really strong group showing.

(more after the jump…)

Overall, the preparation in itself has been a good experience.  I’ve had to really dig through a lot of my work, price it, consider it, prepare it for showing, etc.  It’s basically forced me to be a lot more intentional, organized, and prepared with my work.  All of this is good for me, because I’ve just been making stuff for a while, without putting time into the presentation / business side of things.

The space in looks a little different now, but it’s basically like this.  I’m excited, tired, and I’ll be happy to see you there!