Response to Trafficking

My book making class just completed a project to increase awareness of human trafficking. Its kind of an intense subject, but its a great opportunity for artists to enact social change since the primary roadblock to stopping human trafficking is a lack of visibility. The aim of the project was to react to an issue of human trafficking. My book, Bind, is currently on display in the John and June Allcott Gallery.

Here are the pics:

December Print Sale at UNC

It's almost December, which means that we are gearing up for the 4th annual print sale at UNC. This is a sweet opportunity to buy some really cool artwork, especially the ceramics which are always unbelievable cool and reasonably priced. All of the proceeds to students and to maintaining the art department studios. These are the perks of going to the print sale:

1. Really awesome artwork is on display, including prints, artists books and ceramics
2. It supports the UNC Art Department
3. I will be there, so you can hangout with me
3&1/2. If I sell a lot of prints I can buy Christmas presents


Now that I've sold you and you are definitely coming, you need to know that it is at the Artery Student Art Gallery at 136 Rosemary St, Chapel Hill, NC, on Friday, December 10th, 9am to 10:00pm. This is the Artery';s new address; it is right next to the old Artery space, which has been turned into a hookah lounge, so don't get confused.

Book models...

What the heck is an artist's book? More than the fine art equivalent to scrapbooking

My artistic life the last few weeks has been dominated by books...I'm not talking about doing research or reading literature or even trashy novels, I'm talking about the kind that are sculptural, conceptual, reflexive and critical of their own form, AKA the ARTIST'S BOOK. What is an artist's book, you ask? Its a book that has intrinsic value outside of the information it contains, so it is in itself a work of art. Sounds like the nerdiest art form ever, right? Making books doesn't really have the heroic monumental action painting vibe, does it? But I'm really embracing this concept because it lends itself to printing and just by using a book form introduces a ton of notions about how we approach information. Plus, tiny books are so freakin cute!

Josh Hockensmith's Blog

I just found out Josh Hockensmith (aka my boss at the Art library) has a great blog about book artistdom: http://bluebluerbooks.blogspot.com

290 Hours Down and 30 to go!

As the title of this post suggests, I have completed 290 hours of my internship and have only 30 more to go in the next week and a half. I have been obsessively updating my Slimtimer account (my online time sheet) at the end of every day. Its my Carolina Countdown. I really do love my internship, I couldn't have imagined anything better for my summer. I feel much more competent as a printmaker and I learned about all of the administrative work that goes into running a studio. Plus, I get to work with an awesome group of people who are really dedicated artists who feel tons of ownership for the shop.

Last night we had our July meeting, the only one we are having this month because so many people are on vacation, including the shop manager, so I got to run it. Needless to say it was laid back. We went to the bar across the street and discussed scheduling and scoop coater etiquette over Abitas. We got a lot accomplished. For one, we made a new policy that leaving burned screens in the shop over night will henceforth be a privilege for monitors only. We discussed the need for everyone to pay monthly dues in a timely manner so that we can order materials. Our new monitor, Maureen, offered to create a chart to keep track of who pays monthly dues where each payment is earns the monitor a gold star sticker. Some things work at any age.

For the next week, I will be working to make sure that the monitors have everything they need until Meg gets back August 5th. This includes prep for Teen Screen, the week long summer printing intensive for teenagers which is completely full with ten students. I'm stoked the class is full, because this summer will pave the way for teen programming for the rest of the year. My other project is photographing all of the projects I've been working on the last few weeks and uploading photos to the blog!