Well hello. Long time no write here at SN HQ. The hustle has raised a notch or two on many fronts. I’ve been busy with volunteering at CELLspace, working for some $$ at CELLspace and elsewhere, and working on the Stencil Nation promotions. The website is up and I’ve gotten good feedback from folks about it. So glad that it’s fun to browse and easy to order the book off of. This past week, I got the post cards back from Jennifer. They look great and my design skills were worthy. I compiled a list of snail addresses, spent some painful hours putting them on labels, and then wrote personal messages for about 50 total to mail out to friends and family tomorrow. I designed and printed a small poster this week too, and also designed and cut a stencil to decorate the typically boring color copies. I took three shifts painting the 70 copies of the poster and just finished the last round today. I also designed and made 100 buttons with the SN cover on them to use as promo. The past few days have seen a slew of emails going out to confirm things, get things ready for June, and start future lectures, appearance, and promotion dates. Three people recently asked me if I was going to the Stencil Festival in Melbourne in August. I hadn’t thought of it but am now considering going. Just need to work out some details, raise funds to cover the expensive expenses, and buy the jet ticket. I think the momentum of the book makes it important to be in Melbourne this year rather than maybe next year. We’ll see how this works out. I’ve also spent time working on the June schedule, compiling June details, and speaking with Management at the Revolution Cafe about the opening on June 6. It is all moving forward at this point. Calls for submissions are out, I’ll be at Rev Cafe May 1 promoting the June event, and hope to get the Budget Gallery promotions going too. Whew! On top of this fun, I’ve made buttons for a CELL benefit, reworked last year’s sticker and reordered it for a Nov. LA art exhibit, got another stencil project going, and spent Earth Day doing the green carny thing. All in all, it’s been busy, fun, exiting, and thrilling to be in the middle of all this creative goodness.
Chaos in the Streets of CardBurg!
Dozens of buildings destroyed during sudden riot!
By Tipsy Russell
CardBurg Daily Bugle Special Correspondent
photo for the Bugle by Joe BoxCutter
Citizens who have been evacuated from the destroyed port city remained in a daze after usually somber DuckSquatch Day celebrations turned unusually rowdy on Friday. For the first time ever, DuckSquatch demanded that the Mayor and Pastor give him a virgin to take back to his lair in Mount Kilimancardboard. The Mayor and the city complied, having a grand Beauty Contest to find the winner who would get to make their fate in the neighboring mountains.
But the citizens of CardBurg didn’t necessarily comply with the planned post-Beauty Contest festivities by the ruling administration. People seemed to become tense when the Mayor’s office refused to give a definitive time for when the “End of Ages” actually began. “Later-thirty,” the out-of-town help was instructed to say. “Something-ish o’clock,” they also stated.
(more…)
The Audacity of Desperation is an art exhibition, political action, and on-going dialogue. This show confronts, expresses and unravels states of desperation. Artworks by activists, artists, enthusiasts, and very concerned people, are made in editions of 100 with the intention of free distribution to audiences. In this way, these artworks will be activated outside of the exhibition space and in domestic spaces, on bodies, clothes, bags, and in public spaces.
I want to see change happen. The last seven years has been a mess for this country. My father admitted to me that I was right all along about Iraq and Bush’s scheme to finish what his poppa started. The Federal budget is squeezed so California’s budget is a mess. This means that San Francisco’s budget is a mess too. Reagan’s trickle down theory from hell. Sure, times are tough but people are getting by. But as the cost of food, rent, and utilities continue to climb, people are working twice as hard today to make the same amount of money they did in the 1990s.
(more…)
Busy day here at Stencil Nation HQ. Today was all about gearing up for promotions. I worked out the button design this morning, set it up, and then printed it out. Just finished putting the buttons together tonight (thanks to Pip for working the button-making machine). Designed the simple 8.5×11 poster today too. Worked out a nifty stencil that’ll get painted on each poster. I just need to cut the stencil out and color copy the poster. Then paint them up! Most of the day was spent reworking the post card. Jennifer saw my design and wanted a simple version. I knocked it out in a few hours, and it’s off to press for a 1000 run. I should have those in a week. StencilNation.org is up and running. The soft release continues. I’m indebted to the master skillz of Antonio for the site. I wouldn’t have had a site if he didn’t offer to do it. So, looking at my to-do list before I retire to dream land, I’ve got a good bit checked off after today.
Whew. Had plans today to work on other pieces of the promotions, but StencilNation.org fell in my lap and ended up being mostly done today. Though it took a bit longer than expected, Antonio knocked out a great site for the book! I spent most of the day emailing Antonio with small edits, and in the XML files to format the text. There are still a few small things that need to be done, but I’m rolling out the “soft” release today. Since tomorrow’s tax day (all hail the military industrial complex), I don’t think it’d be a great time to send out emails announcing the new site. I’ll wait until the end of this week. Who cares about stencils when I have to do my taxes!? I’ve done mine actually. No money to the Pentagon for me this year. Call it voluntary poverty to protest the war(s). Anyway, have moved forward on the buttons and sent the post card files to Manic D to get approved. They offered to print up 1000 which is a great thing for me. A few donations for the tour have trickled in recently too. I hope to ramp up the “please donate” pitch as well to pay for gas on this trip. Will work on the buttons and poster bills tomorrow. Have a neat idea for the posters that I hope the store owners will like. PaperMonster contacted me to let me know that he’s working on 2, maybe 3, window displays to promote his art and the book in NJ and PA. Thanks! Also, Jennifer upped the price of the book a bit to cover for all the crazy shipping costs that have started to spike in the past few weeks. The book is $24.99 now (thanks Big Oil). Sheesh!
At last week’s meeting with Jennifer, she informed me that Justine and I had been working with the wrong subtitle on the cover! Glad she’s the editor on this book. I have the incorrect jpg image all over the web, so just now got the front and back cover pdf from Justine (it’s a real book cover!) and have been reformatting and reposting all over the place. First things, format the new cover image and send it to Antonio for the upcoming website. Antonio’s site is looking good! I’ve leaked the beta to some close friends and relatives and they’re all excited about. Antonio had to stop the Flash presses while we waited for the correct cover to get sent over from NYC. Now I need to get that new cover on the post card so they can go to press soon. Then all the other promo rolls out after that. Eeek, the photocopy flyer I’ve been giving out has the wrong title too! Ah, cleaning up the mess. ALSO: added some new info over on the temp page. Hundreds of artists! Dozens of cities! It really is a Stencil Nation, ya’ll……
