The show’s filmmakers and artists include David Ahuja, Jon Audarson, Michael Bartalos, Spencer Bewle, Rob Bindler, Adam Calvert, Matt Campbell, Manuel Dilone, Paul Eng, Rob Erickson, Jenny Figaroa, Greg Hill, John Hobbs, Guido Jiménez Cruz, Philip Kelly, Raina Kumra, Todd Lamb, Ruth Mamaril, Anthony Marinelli, Ted McGrath, Bill Moulton, Christian Svanes Kolding, Russ Stark, Takako, and David Art Wales.

There will be drinks and music, and videos will be shown throughout the space on four projectors. Sounds like fun and if you go, be sure to say hi to my talented designer friend John Tymkiw who conceived and curated the program.

For those who can’t make the show (like myself), the video collection will eventually be posted to supershortvideo.com. (I’ll post my piece here then too).

Secret Project Robot is at 210 Kent Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211.
Tel. 917.860.8282.
Directions, hours, and info at secretprojectrobot.org.

Gail Wight’s text invites Charles Darwin’s ghost to sail to San Francisco and wander with her through the greater Bay Area terrain. The focus of the journey is three part: to celebrate Northern California’s unique species; to look at the ways in which Darwin’s legacy has impacted contemporary Bay Area culture; and to acknowledge the fragile and endangered state of many of our local flora and fauna caused by environmental degradation.

Wight’s specialty is experimental media art focusing on issues of cognitive science and the history of scientific theory and technology. She is currently Associate Professor at Stanford University’s Department of Art and Art History, and Director of Graduate Studies in Studio Art and Experimental Media Arts.

Restless Dust’s launch party is free, open to the public, and takes place on Friday December 4th from 7 to 9 P.M. at the San Francisco Center for the Book. Artist and author Gail Wight, who hand-set the text in metal type and carved linoleum blocks for printing, will give a brief talk about the project and copies of the book will be available for the final time at its pre-publication discount. It may also be ordered online along with the Center’s other fine Imprint products.

Big thanks to our crew of Rhiannon Alpers, Katherine Case, Colleen Stockmann and our fabulous team of volunteers who enable production of the Imprint’s editions.

The SFCB is at 300 DeHaro Street (entrance on 16th Street) in San Francisco.

415-565-0545 | www.sfcb.org | imprint@sfcb.org

Nahá printmaking workshop '09. Photo by Janet Schwartz.

Several years ago a group of artist friends and I had the amazing experience of conducting childrens’ art workshops in the Lacandon Jungle of Mexico. We were hosted by the indigenous Mayan communities of Nahá and Lacanja Chan Sayab in the state of Chiapas near its border with Guatemala. New York artist Kelynn Alder conceived the project and led the drawing and painting workshops, Josh Gosfield offered collage, Nola Lopez led mask-making and polaroid photography, and I held the printmaking sessions. The kids drew on their environment, culture and dreams to create a unique collection of artworks which we later exhibited at the Children’s Museum of the Arts in New York City.

Lacanja printmaking workshop '09. Photos by Janet Schwartz (left) and M. Bartalos.

This past month I took the opportunity to revisit both communities and reintroduce the program to a new generation of youngsters. I was joined by photographer Janet Schwartz and Na Bolom projects coordinator Adriana Chamery García. We offered printmaking and digital photography workshops which, as before, were greeted with great enthusiasm and creativity.

Lacanja printmaking workshop '09. Photo by M. Bartalos.

We’re now planning the next round of Lacandon art workshops for the spring of 2010. We have five artists lined up and have been invited by the village of Metzabok in addition to Nahá and Lacanja Chan Sayab. Our project is named LCAW which stands for Lacandon Children’s Art Workshops, though Lacandon Community Art Workshops works as well since all age groups are welcome to participate.

Lacanja printmaking workshop '09. Photos by Janet Schwartz (left) and M. Bartalos.

Our program’s three main objectives are to preserve the oral history of the Lacandon people through visual art; to provide participants with the opportunity to express themselves creatively in a workshop situation that they otherwise don’t have access to; and to create a greater international consciousness about the Lacandon jungle, its people and culture. We have a project website in the works and plan to publish artwork through limited-edition prints and artists’ books. Proceeds and donations will fund successive Lacandon Art Workshops and benefit the communities through Na Bolom, the non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the Lacandon Maya and the preservation of the Chiapas rain forest.

Lacanja digital photography workshop '09. Photo by M. Bartalos.

We’re really grateful to our friends at Na Bolom whose generous guidance and logistical support make this project possible. We also thank Club Balam and the Lower Eastside Girls Club of New York for sharing their equipment for the digital photo workshop.

More news and an artist roster to follow as the spring program takes shape. Stay tuned!

This Thursday evening I’ll be giving a talk at the California Academy of Sciences as part of their weekly NightLife event. My presentation will focus on the Long View Project, my work-in-progress supported by an Antarctic Artists and Writers Program grant from the National Science Foundation. Please join me for a look at Antarctic exploration, sustainability, and creativity at the crossroads of art and environmental science.

When: Thursday, October 22 at 7:30 P.M.
Where: California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park,
San Francisco CA 94118

Learn more about the lively NightLife program here and obtain advance tickets here. Hope you can attend!

From James’s press release:

CUTTERS showcases a variety of contemporary collage from North America and Europe. The selected artists range from young google-image searchers to collage veterans with roots in the 70s punk scene. Each one has a unique vision and exciting visual vocabulary that includes collections of images sorted and stacked, layered and glued, cut to pieces and ripped apart.

With over 40 artists contributing close to 150 works of various sizes, shapes, and colors, the gallery will be transformed into one giant assemblage, glue stains and all.

Participating artists are Andreas Banderas (Norway), Michael Bartalos (USA), Melinda Beck (USA), Brian Belott (USA), Jorge Chamorro / La Cáscara Amarga (Spain), Brian Chippendale (USA), Ophelia Chong (USA), Saiman Chow (USA), Cless (Spain), Rebecca Conroy (USA), Cristiana Couceiro (Portugal), Valero Doval (UK), Andy Ducett (USA), Carl Dunn (USA), Lisa Eisenbrey (USA), Elroy (Germany), James Gallagher (USA), Jason Glasser (France), Hort (Germany), Jordin Isip (USA), Lidy Jacobs (Netherlands), Sophie Kern (UK), Eva Lake (USA), Vanessa Lamounier (Netherlands), Matt Lipps (USA), Sean Mackaoui (Spain), Max-o-matic (Spain), Taylor McKimens (USA), Cameron Windish Michel (USA), Agnes Montgom-ery (USA), Justin Mortimer (UK), Pedro Oliveira (Brazil), Julien Pacaud (France), David Plunkert (USA), Kareem Rizk (Australia), Matthew Rose (France), Brion Nuda Rosch (USA), Joe Ryckebosch (USA), Katherine Streeter (USA), Mario Wagner (Germany), Oliver Wiegner (Germany), Johanna Wilhelm (Germany), Jessica Williams (USA), Bill Zindel (USA).

CUTTERS: An Exhibition of International Collage runs from October 16 through November 15 at Cinders Gallery, 103 Havemeyer Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211.
Hours: Wednesday through Sunday, 1-7 P.M.
Tel. 718-388-2311 | cindersgallery.com

This diptych celebrates Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth David, renowned geologist and direc-tor of scientific staff on Shackleton’s 1907-09 Nimrod Expedition. He led the first parties ever to reach the South Magnetic Pole and the summit of Mt. Erebus, the world’s southernmost active volcano.

Read more about David’s exploits on my Long View project blog hosted by the California Academy of Sciences, and see the original artwork in the CUTTERS show at Cinders Gallery in Brooklyn from October 16 through November 15.

This recent study for my ongoing Long View Project re-imagines some of the undiscovered species that call Antarctica home.

The piece was created in graphite and cut paper (using mostly found and recycled stock
in keeping with the project’s theme) mounted on a gessoed 8″ x 8″ x 2″ wood panel.

I’m happy to announce its inclusion in CUTTERS: An Exhibition of International Collage curated by James Gallagher, opening Friday October 16 at Cinders Gallery in Brooklyn.

I’ll be one of four Bay Area-based artists discussing various aspects of traditional and contemporary book arts and our personal involvement in the medium. My fellow panelists are Charles Hobson, Penny Nii, and Emily McVarish.

Charles Hobson operates Pacific Editions which publishes limited edition artist books. His work is archived at the Stanford University Libraries and he teaches at the San Francisco Art Institute.

Penny Nii is a computer scientist, a researcher in the field of artificial intelligence, and gallery owner. Her artist’s book structures are engineered to function sculpturally and have been exhibited widely.

Panel Moderator Emily McVarish is a writer, designer, book artist, and Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at the California College of Arts. She has operated her presses, Axel & Otto, in both commercial and experimental ventures since 1990.

Our panel will also reference the San Francisco Center for the Book’s role in the local arts community through its workshops, exhibitions, and public printmaking events such as the Roadworks Street Fair featuring large-scale printmaking with a steamroller. Accordingly, an exhibition of past Roadworks prints are on exhibit at the Club from September 12 through October 29. Many thanks to Anne W. Smith for organizing these programs.

Book Arts Today: Amazing Intersections of All Kinds takes place on Tuesday, September 15.
Location: Gold Room, Commonwealth Club of California, 595 Market Street, San Francisco
Time: 11:30 a.m. check-in, noon program
Cost: $8 members, $15 non-members
Tickets available online and at the door.

Rabbitpox and Bichos del Campo are the second and third titles in our 2009 Small Plates series, issued quarterly and limited to 100 signed and numbered copies each. This year’s theme is anatomy, interpreted uniquely by each of our participating artists in a 4″ square letterpress-printed book format.

Pam DeLuco (left) and Allison Weiner at the letterpress.

Rabbitpox, written and illustrated by Allison Weiner, casts rabbits as the heroes and the pawns in a tale of biological warfare. The story is inspired by a 2004 Harper’s Magazine item describing American scientists as having engineered extra-lethal forms of mousepox, cowpox and, of course, rabbitpox. Allison’s book combines text, inventive design, and diagrammatic illustrations with a whole lot of personality to find humor, absurdity, and alarm at the dark extremes of biological science.

Rabbitpox's pages are bound with genuine rabbit fur thread.

The type in Rabbitpox was hand set in Century Schoolbook and printed on a Vandercook proof press by Allison, Katherine Case, Pam DeLuco and the Center’s generous volunteers. Each book is housed in a handmade box and bound with thread spun by Pam from the fur of her pet rabbit Charisma, a white German Angora who reportedly had a show career.

Allison is a Bay Area creative who studied at Stanford University, The San Francisco Art Institute, and the California College of the Arts. Rabbitpox is her first artist’s book edition. It is Charisma’s first foray into book arts as well.

Daniel Gonzalez at work, and his new edition's title page.

Bichos del Campo is a bestiary of three Mexican folk tales re-told and illustrated by artist Daniel González. As the artist relates: “My work is inspired by the folk stories that my parents and grandparents have passed on. I have a desire to invent and share my own narratives and vision through printmaking. I want to be able to communicate through the image an invitation to tell a new story to be told or an old one to be remembered.”

Bichos del Campo translates as Creatures of the Fields. Its introductory text and fables are illustrated in Daniel’s signature linoleum block print style, delivering on the mood set in his preface: “If there was ever a setting where anything was possible, where the real and imagined can coexist, it would be in the ranchos of my grandparents. At night, the small flicker of the kerosene lamp was the only light for miles in a night filled with sounds. In these adobe homes, I learned that bees pray, snakes steal milk from cows, and some people fly in the shape of owls.”

Daniel studied graphic design and printmaking at the California College of the Arts. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles where he served a two-year apprenticeship at La Mano Press before striking out on his own. He draws on his Mexican heritage and bicultural experiences in much of his artwork. “Culture is about change and growth,” the artist explains, “I feel that it is my responsibility as an artist to be a vehicle for culture, to inspire a sensibility of the creative, to pierce the fence we have built to keep ourselves apart and to remind people of the common experience we share in life.”

Bichos del Campo is letterpress-printed on Rives Heavyweight 175 gsm and bound in Bhutan Shawa covers. The binding was designed by Vi Thuc Ha.

Many thanks to SFCB Letterpress Studio Manager Katherine Case, Bindery Manager Rhiannon Alpers, and our valued volunteers for their help in producing both Allison’s and Daniel’s editions.

Come help us celebrate our double launch event. The Imprint’s previous editions will be on display too and available for purchase.

When: Friday, August 28 from 6-8 P.M.
Where: The San Francisco Center for the Book, 300 DeHaro Street (entrance on 16th Street) in Potrero Hill. 415-565-0545 | www.sfcb.org | imprint@sfcb.org

Stay tuned for news of Emory Douglas’s Small Plates edition slated for production this fall. Please visit the Imprint page for more on the Center’s publications and our Etsy page for sales.