Next solo show is opening Jan 25, 2013 @ The Invisible Hand in Lawrence, KS.  The gallery space looks great and I will be there for hugs and high-fives.

Cheers

Through happenstance these fine fellas and I have all found ourselves back in Dayton after years apart riding the tides of graduate studies, residencies, domesticity and random Kerouacian adventures.  We are all teaching art between various institutions in the area and finally carved out time to get the band back together for a 2006 era, PMHC monoprint session.  Hosted by Tyler Peffley and Ryan McCullough at Stiver School for the Arts in East Dayton, featuring myself and Frank (ie four-fingers) Travers.  Good time had by all, here’s what I ended up with…

Also; some final images of my Kala work should be up soon — I am still getting everything mounted and signed…  I am also working on some prints for the upcoming Mid America Print Council Conference in Missouri (two separate portfolios), so needless to say, the studio is busy.

If you’re in Iowa, I have a solo exhibition of prints up at Southeastern Community College in W. Burlington, Iowa.  Also I have some paintings at the Great Frame Up in Longmont, CO.  Daytonians will happy to know I am showing the International Print Exchange (A Funky Space Reincarnation) at Ohio Gold on Sept 1st.

Today I had the pleasure of sitting down, through the magic of the internet, with painter and conversationalist David Linneweh.  Besides making really interesting paintings of the built environment, David runs the Studio Break podcast where he invites artists to chat about their work.  What follows is an hour long conversation where I discuss my background, work and upcoming residency at the Kala Artist Institute.

I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation, give it a listen.

Additionally, I was interviewed by Chermelle over at SMDLR.com a few weeks ago.  This was also a really nice conversation and the result is a nice tidy little blog post about my show at Ghostlight Coffee

From mid June to mid July I will be an artist in residence at the Kala Institute of Art in Berkeley, CA.

The plan is to make quite a few editions of lithographs and screenprints incorporating digital printing.  For those feeling generous (or those wanting to pick up some artwork on the cheap) please visit my Kickstarter campaign page.  The project is titled “Reclaimed Verses (Traveler),” and will be in direct response to the experience of traveling and making work in a new environment.

Check it out.

Also; for those in the Dayton area, stop by Ghostlight Coffee and take a look at “Basement Occupation,” a casual exhibition of works on paper by yours truly.

SEND ME TO CALIFORNIA / I SEND YOU SOME ART

I consider myself fortunate to have a lot of great artists who I can call ‘friend.’  Ben Gardner is at the top of this list.  His work is steeped in research and he is a prolific image generator in the studio.  I admire both of these qualities about his practice and wished to have him share his insights with my students.

On March 19th and 20th, Ben visited the Department of Visual Arts at UDayton and delivered two artist talks (totaling 4 hours) and worked with print students to create a variable print edition and several works on paper.  Students printed Ben’s project, while Ben supervised and mixed inks.  The result of two 2-hour print sessions is this set of 7, nearly identical screenprints on foam and a series of screenprint monoprints on paper.

Some technical information… Ben hand drew the separate layers for the screens on mylar with litho crayon and black tempra paint.  The image size was a wee bit too large for UDayton’s screens, so the initial run had to be accomplished with two screens.
The images on foam were executed as follows:

Run 1: Two screens, dark blue  (large tree shapes)
Run 2: Two screens, medium grey (large tree shapes)
Run 3: Two screen, tan (large tree shapes)
Run 4: One screen, brown (‘spider’ shape)
Run 5: One screen, red (‘carrot’ shapes)

Ben was an excellent artist to print for–he was relaxed, open to the processes, funny and had a high tolerance for the boo-boos that most printmakers dislike.  Given the non-traditional materials Ben wished to use, we allowed the process and printing to be loose.  This was more than just for convenience… it relates closely to Ben’s aesthetic and regular painting practice. It was interesting to see Ben adapt printmaking tools and the ability to print multiples for his own uses.

The take away from this project was huge for myself and my students.  Ben was kind enough to leave works for the shop and for each student who helped print.  In return Ben got to leave Ohio with some new ink on his arm thanks to Andy Blair @ Flying Tiger Tattoo.

Please take a look at the gallery below for some shots from the project.  See more of Ben’s work at http://benjaminagardner.com.

“Reclaimed Verses,” a physical exhibition of this series of work will be on view at  Edison College, in Piqua, Ohio April 1st through 29th.

So far the studio has been quiet.  I am still fumbling around trying to find things that I need (like rosin and talc), but in the meantime here is an in progress shot of a current print.  Three color runs from the same stone… additive and reductive… accomplished in roughly 5 hours of work [small edition size].

These spare, square works on paper will get the ball rolling for what I hope will be a productive ‘call and response’ working method.

I admire the speed and quality of Jeff’s work and hope that we can find some interesting intersections for our work.  Expect more meditative and minimal images in the near future…

Personal highlights of the exhibition for me are Jeffrey Jones’s group of thoughtful, meditative paintings on paper and Ryan Adrick’s most recent and mysterious, hybrid photograph sculpture.

The show runs through February 10th, 2nd floor (get a pass from the security desk) of the CPC in Dayton.