And Then She’s Like
And He Goes
Curated by Chris Campe

August 9 – September 15, 2012
A+D Gallery, 619 S. Wabash Ave, Chicago

Gallery Hours:
Tuesday – Saturday 11 am – 5 pm
Thursday 11 am – 8 pm

Closing Reception: September 6, 2012, 5–8pm
ColumbiaCrawl, a campus-wide evening of visual and performing arts
6pm, Gallery Talk with the artists followed by a performance of
The Wilhelm Scream by Jeff Kolar

Participating Artists:
Anne Vagt
Jana Sotzko & Elen Flügge
Deb Sokolow
Mark Addison Smith
Tony Lewis
Jeff Kolar
Chris Campe
Mark Booth

And Then She’s Like/ And He Goes combines text-based visual art with language-based sound art. The visual pieces in the exhibition emphasize the audible qualities that hand rendered letterforms add to text, and the audio pieces play with the visual potential of sound.

Someone is telling us that she said something and he answered—what we don’t know. What we do know: there are at least three people involved here: she, he, and the person telling us about their conversation. And actually, we are involved, too. It is up to us, the audience, to speculate what she said and he replied, or what she inquired and how he responded, or what she threw at him and what he retorted. Even though the content of the dialog is left out its colloquial language evokes distinct voices in our head and entices us to imagine what is going on.

The exhibition And Then She’s Like, And He Goes combines text-based visual art with language-based sound art to highlight the works’ multi-sensory appeal as a mode of storytelling. Seeing and reading text in an artwork involves hearing, even if only inside the viewers head, and listening to spoken words and sound involuntarily brings images to the mind‘s eye, even when the language is not straightforwardly descriptive. The artists examine these audible qualities of image-text and the visual potential of language and sound. Intertwining documentation and fabulation they give us audio/visual bits and pieces and use non-linear narrative to draw us into their stories. Rather than over the course of the traditional beginning, middle, and end the narrative comes alive in the overlap between word, image and sound. Although there is no way of knowing for sure what she said and he replied, the works in the show invite us to be involved in the story.

More information?
Here’s a link to the show’s catalog, with an essay by John Corbett:
http://www.colum.edu/ADGallery/Exhibits/2012_and_then_shes/andthen_issue.pdf

Did you know that Spudnik Press can accommodate your class field trip? We can customize a printmaking workshop just for your group! Target Field Trip Grant can help make your field-trip-to-Spudnik dreams come true! Click the image link to learn more about applying for the grant and email Angee@spudnikpress.com to start planning your trip!

Our donated Hot Foil Stamper is now up and running! Use heat to transfer metallic foil to a solid surface. Use it on business cards, invitations, and other special projects. Be careful because this baby reaches temperatures up to 300 degrees so you must be authorized to use it. To get authorized, email brandy@spudnikpress.com to set up an appointment.

Welcome Tara Zanzig from all of us here at Spudnik Press. Chicago artist, Tara Zanzig, is now renting out one of Spudnik’s private studios. We can’t wait to see what you will be working on. Next time you’re at Spudnik say hi, and feel free to see what she has been up to.

“Megan, what do you do as an intern at Spudnik Press?” Well, it’s too hard to answer what happens here briefly. The truth is that I get to dip my feet into a variety of projects. I get to be a photographer, teacher’s assistant, and social media guru. I lend a hand in printing, hanging art work, tidying up, and administrative organization. Also, I get to observe the constant traffic of talented people who hang out at Spudnik for classes and studio hours.

In addition to all of that, I’m working on an individual project for Spudnik. As an Ad Art Direction major I’m creating a mini-campaign. I want my campaign to show all that happens here at Spudnik and the talent that comes through these doors. I will show how Spudnik is a resource to outsiders looking in and to those who are already familiar.

You might see me sifting through artwork for inspiration or testing out fonts for my headlines. Be on the lookout for the launch of this campaign mid August!

Take a look at this audio slideshow of our most recent community workshop, Paper Making. Thanks to John Santore for visiting Spudnik and documenting this fun event.

Sunday, October 21, 2012
3:00 pm to 5:00 pm
at The Annex (next door to Spudnik Press, Suite 303)
FREE!

At this Chicago Metal Arts Guild workshop, held at Spudnik Press’ Annex, we will discuss how to organize your inventory, how to select management systems for inventory tracking, how to achieve and maintain consistency in labeling, how to prepare your inventory for tax time, and more.

Transit is currently accepting submissions for their third exhibition, Building Blocks: TRANSIT’s Print Community, a print invitational that will run from October 1–27 in conjunction with Chicago Artists Month 2012.

Regan Golden-McNerney from Temporary Art Review spent some time talking to Spudnik director, Angee Lennard. Ever wondered where the name Spudnik Press came from? Where we got started or what’s in store for the future? Check out an in-depth interview here to get all the secrets.

I’m Bianca, the new intern here at Spudnik Press this summer. There’s always tons going on here any day of the week and it’s been a blast so far! Here are some pictures to make you jealous and want to come have fun with us!

Spudnik Summer Drink & Draw: Surrealist Games

The theme of this month’s Drink & Draw was surrealist games. Everyone had a lot of fun collaborating and letting loose. No experience required!

The beautiful finished work. Not shown here is the terrible drawing my mom and I did. Bring you mom! She’ll love it.

The Adventure School for Ladies

An awesome experimental graduate program for lady comic artists from around the country. It was a fun and hectic time while they visited and learned to screen print.

Spudnik’s 5th Birthday!

We’re all so happy to have Spudnik around, we had to celebrate the baby Spud’s 5th birthday! Screen printing the tail on the donkey, whacking a potato piñata and having delicious cake were just some of the highlights.

That’s all for now. Check out the website for all the summer fun classes and events coming up!

Having been affected and deeply influenced by the work and teaching of Joey Hannaford and Stephanie Smith, Spudnik Press Studio Assistant and Teaching Artist Brandy Barker, curated an exhibition of these two Atlanta artists’ print work. Both artists work in a form of relief printing, ranging from lino & wood cuts to letterpress with an expressive use of color.

Visit the exhibition at Spudnik Press beginning Friday, July 13 until August 31, 2012.
Spudnik Press gallery is open for viewing Mondays & Thursdays, 6:30pm until 11:00pm and Fridays & Saturdays, 12:30pm until 5:00pm and by appointment.

Images
XXO by Joey Hannaford (left)
Learning to Breathe by Stephanie Smith (right)

Check out this awesome poster printed at Spudnik by Derek Smith spotted at Hot Doug’s. Not only did Derek print the posters for “Kind of Blue“, a monthly comedy event at The Hideout, but he will performing stand-up at The Hideout July 8, 2012. Don’t miss it! He’s a multi-talented guy!