Japan 2009

We just took an amazing trip to Japan (May 31 to June 7th, 2009) with Melanie Yazzie, Emily Author Douglas, Melissa Bob, Yazzie Family, and Verna Billiman family.
On Sado Island we were hosted by the Ao Family. We visited The Birth of the Sado Woodcut Print Village Museum where Melanie Yazzie gifting a set of the folio Another US and Another New Zealand to the Museum. We also toured the Kodo Drum Institute, the Toki Forest Park, and the Kanai-yoshi elementary School on Sado Island.

Melanie Yazzie and Emily Author Douglas gifting a set of the folio
Another US and Another New Zealand to the Museum.Melanie Yazzie at the Kodo Drum Institute. Emily Author Douglas at the Kodo Drum Institute.

On June 4th will be depart Sado Island by ferry and headed to Tokyo. We were hosted by the Hagiwara Family at the Choukouji Temple in Tokyo where we met an incredible group of creative people who we gifted several prints and received many artworks.
Hagiwara Family and Yuki Fukuda at the Choukouji Temple in TokyoYazzie with her good luck kittieTakeshi Suzuki and I Takeshi Suzuki spraypaint art Takeshi Suzuki with The Amazing Hancock Bros. patchThe food was amazing!

While in Tokyo we met a performing group of Ainu’s at the Foundation for Research and Promotion of Ainu Culture. It was a wonderful adventure!

Going to the Southern Graphics Council Conference in Chicago?
Check out the MONUMENTAL IDEAS IN MINIATURE BOOK exhibition at Columbia College Exhibition Space, 1006 S. Michigan Ave. Dates: March 6 - 28 Reception: March 27, 6 - 9 pm. Organizers: Hui-Chu Ying and Alicia Candiani. Check out the Flickr site images. Hui-Chu has done an AMAZING job rounding up more than 100 artists small print books for this show!

One of my new screenprints Descendants. Size: 4” x 20” x 1/8”

Rebellious Integration at Chicago Printmakers Collaborative

Michael Barnes

If your going to 2009 Southern Graphics Council Conference in Chicago (March 25-28), come check out the Rebellious Integration exhibition curated by Megan Sterling and Katarzyna Cepek at the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative 4642 N. Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60625 March 14 - April 25

Rebellious Integration toys with the contradiction of a printmaker's continuing subsistence in contemporary art culture and the mores of our society. Although many printmakers work to integrate themselves into the social ranks-- working mainstream jobs, teaching in academia, etc.-- we at the same time continually find ways to be subversive, to challenge the rubric of each institution that we labor so hard to pervade.

Participants were asked to rebelliously integrate themselves into this exchange- that is, there were specifications that had to be followed, ie size, edition size, etc., but were then encouraged to rebel in any creative way they liked, be it in their subject matter, mediums, three-dimensionality, shape, materials used, etc.

Duffy O'Connor, "Happy Fuckin Birthday", hand painted etching, 8 x 8 inches,©2009

Artists include:
Megan Sterling, Katarzyna Cepek, Deborah Maris Lader, Duffy O'Connor, Oli Watt, Stephanie Barenz, Barbara Madsen, Candace Nicol, Cerese Vaden, John Hitchcock, Jill Fitterer, Kimiko Miyoshi, Laurie Blakeslee, Michael Barnes, Oscar Gillespie, Priya Nadkarni

Satisfaction Town at the Southern Graphics Council Conference Chicago

Howling Print Studio (Dennis McNett)

David RaineJoe LerouxActual Size Artworks (Gail Simpson)

Satisfaction Town consists of the new breed of printmakers, artists, musicians, performers, poets, activists, and makers. We plan to create an interactive collaborative print environment with a parade of dimensional and flat prints. Traditionally in museum and gallery settings, art is put on a pedestal or framed under glass, removing it from the audience. Our approach for Satisfaction Town will be interactive. We will bring the art directly to the viewer, to distance the work from this hierarchical standard. We will create an active live print space with collaborative teams handing off prints to each other and to audience members.

Featuring: Midwest Pressed (Tim Dooley/Aaron Wilson), Howling Print Studio (Dennis McNett), Peripheral Media Projects, Actual Size Artworks (Gail Simpson/Aristotle Georgiades), Satan's Camaro (Lenore Thomas/Justin Strom), The Amazing Hancock Brothers, Derrick Buisch (202c), Vitamin DD girl on girl collaboration (Jess Wilson, Erin Lee Jones, Tara Mathison, Kassie Teng and Jenny San Martin), The Scavengers (Jason Ruhl/Amy Newell), Fresh Hot Press, Mess Hall Press, Bikini Press International, Bastards of Print Society VS. Dirty Printmakers of America (organized by: Jon Goebel, Brandon Gardner, Meghan O”Connor, Nick Alley), Reptile Worship, beskoniste', Marwin Begaye, Curtis Jones, Nick Alley, Dusty Herbig, Erin O'Connor, Michael Rae/Joseph Velasquez, Joe Leroux, Imin Yeh, David Raine, Amze Emmons, David Teng Olsen, Emerson Stone III, Tim Speaker, Tyanna Buie, Mike McMann, Chris daCRe™, Mark Hosford, Jonas Angelet, Morgan Sims, Steven Hixon, Amanda Knowles, Tom Jones, Keith Lemley, Matt Bindert, Chinn Wang, Justin Maes, and selected prints by The Frans Masereel Centrum Belgium.

Featuring the exchange portfolio: AngelFuck organized by Curtis Readel and Michael McGovern.

In conjunction with Satisfaction Town:
Corner to Corner: Urban Poster Explosion (Coordinators: Stacy Elko and Sang-Mi Yoo artists: May Aboutaam, Corey Escoto, Anita Jung, Sang-gon Chung, Dirk Fowler, John Hitchcock, Denise Bookwalter),

Time: March 27, 2009 from 5pm to 8pm
Location: Columbia College, Chicago
Street: Conaway Center, 1104 South Wabash Ave, ground floor
City/Town: Chicago, Illinois
Website or Map: http://www2.colum.edu/sgc/Events.html
Contact Info: http://www.colum.edu/About_Columbia/Maps.php
Event Type: art, exhibition
Organized By: John Hitchcock

Satan's Camaro (Lenore Thomas/Justin Strom)

Marwin Begaye

Actual Size Artworks (Aristotle Georgiades)
Midwest Pressed (Tim Dooley/Aaron Wilson)
Imin Yeh

Wisconsin Books To Prisoners Art Show

Check out the Wisconsin Books To Prisoners Art Show at The Project Lodge, 817 E Johnson St., Madison, WI 53703, ph: 608-442-5339 The show is open 1am - 5pm, M-F, until Feb. 5th.
Wisconsin Books to Prisoners (WBTP) is a nonprofit cooperative sponsored by Rainbow Book Cooperative (www.rainbowbookstore.org). Their goals and mission are described at the Books to Prisoners link at Rainbow Book Coop site. They send donated books to prisoners in Wisconsin and other states, in response to prisoner's letters - knowing that prison libraries are very poorly funded, and that even prisoner's access to the libraries is restricted. WBTP attempts to get books to the prisoners that they can keep in their cells, pass on to others, or donate when they're finished. Interestingly, the most requested book is a dictionary, and requests range from popular fiction and urban fiction to history to instruction manuals to art books, and many others.

WBTP often receives art work from the prisoners in thanks for the books. They have saved these works, and this exhibition is the result. In addition there will be a set of 20 silk-screen prints with prison themes created by different artists under the sponsorship of Justseeds Visual Resistance Artists Cooperative for the tenth anniversary of Critical Resistance, a prison abolitionists movement. Other local artists will also be displaying works in support of WBTP.

Show continues through Feb. 5th. Info? sarah@wnpj.org

SuperBug: An Installation by Jennifer Angus and John Hitchcock

Jennifer Angus and I collaborated on a series of flocked and screenprinted works. The show is up at the James Watrous Gallery of the Wisconsin Academy, Overture Center 201 State Street, Madison, WI from January 23-March 8, 2009. Some buzz here in the Onion.

Jenny Angus and Kara Ginther discussing flocking strategies.Kara Ginther flocking the prints for Superbug!

OBAMA! YEAHHHHHHH!

Obama is everywhere! Yeah! Stopped off at the Washington Dulles Airport on way back from Belgium and felt the pre inauguration buzz. Very excited to help out and make things happen. What a wonderful day!