GrapevineInk

Live Printmaking at Breakin the Law 3: Hong Kong

2012-01-05T15:49:00.002-05:00

In just a few short weeks, I'll be traveling to Hong Kong, the Philippines and Japan to do some international printmaking work! But the main event will be at Breakin' the Law 3: Hong Kong. I'll be helping the Hong Kong B-girls and B-Boys print some of their original work, as well as distribute some new original designs of my own!

Very excited to go back to Japan as well to see my family and friends there. I have some video work I'll be projecting guerrilla style!

Hopefully I can make some fresh new connections for GrapevineINK while I'm there! Missing all my collaborators in the crew, but we'll be meeting up soon enough!

Word up,
Chanel

Beyond Printmaking: Psila vs Queen Gidrea

2012-01-05T15:27:00.002-05:00

GrapevineINK members and public artists Elena Stojanova and Chanel Matsunami Govreau's collaborative piece Godpsila vs Queen Gidrea will be exhibited at Beyond Printmaking III, at Texas Tech University in February 2012. The piece is a wheatpaste performance installation. They will be showing a video version of the work.

This is what we do...collaborate, make, distribute!

Momma's Hip Hop Kitchen Vol. 5

2012-01-05T15:02:00.004-05:00

Check this out friends!
This is on the radar for GrapevineINK in New York!
We're working on a dope collaborative project to submit for this event involving printmaking, community, outreach and education. HIP HOP edition! So many of us in the crew are hip-hop related artists, so let's take it there!

Keep you updated!

Shani Peters: Tha Knowledge

2011-01-28T02:25:00.002-05:00

For those of you who don't know, check it. This is the work of GrapevineINK member Shani Peters, one of my favorite people EVER. Artist, community activist, educator, very good friend and my sister virgo. We have the same birthday, and one day Janet Jackson WILL pass out goodie bags at our McDonald's Playland Bday Bash- With handprinted happymeal boxes that I nominate Tyanna Buie (another Grapevinette) to print. one day.
These pictures are documentation from a performance print piece from this Fall 2010 called "We Promote Knowledge and Love" Anyone who knows Harlem knows those hardworkin' fellows in the Sandwich boards passing out the WE BUY GOLD! cards. As an artist in Harlem- Shani flipped it, challenged the passerbys to take a closer look.

Here's a print Shani did pre-performance. Pulled at the Lower East Side Print Shop where she worked as a key-holder resident artist!

Here's the card above.
Now hear Shani rep herself in her own words...check out the video

Shani Peters: History Rewritten from Under the Mush on Vimeo.

To learn more about Shani's work check out SHANIPETERS.COM
And this is a link to the original video post on underthemush.com
Here's more about Shani:

Shani Peters is a New York based artist (born in Lansing, MI) focusing in video, collage, printmaking, and social practice public projects. Peters completed her B.A. at Michigan State University and her M.F.A. at The City College of New York. She has exhibited and screened throughout New York, including group shows at Dash Gallery, Rush Arts Gallery, the International Print Center New York, and the Schomburg Center. She has completed residencies at The Center for Book Arts, and LMCC’s Swing Space and is currently participating in the Bronx Museum’s 2010-11 Artist in the Marketplace program and is a Keyholder resident at the Lower East Side Printshop. In addition to personal and public arts projects she works as a teaching artist with various community organizations –Shanipeters.com

Story Keeper: Melanie Yazzie Upcoming Show

2011-01-28T01:44:00.003-05:00

Our friend Melanie Yazzie has an upcoming show! Wish I could go!
Looking forward to more images~

Denver Botanic Gardens
Opening 2/9/11 5:30-8pm

What is up Grapevine!?!?!

2010-11-22T11:31:00.002-05:00

This weekend I received Sharita's package of our collaborative print and it gave me the push to go ahead and dig up my password to this account so I can finally get to posting! Thanks so much for sending it Sharita and for having the fantastic idea to begin with!!

SO... I have wanted to share soooo many things with the Grapevine community over the last few months, I'm just going to try catching up with a few now...

WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO- In September and October enacted a new performance project that is oh so very grapevine in theme and form: community involvement, community uplift, and printmaking in the form of custom silkscreened sandwich boards! Fellow Grapeviner Elena Sto was an awesome project volunteer- love that collective support! I'm hoping to bring this project back next September on a bigger scale and I'll need even more collective support then, hopefully a few from the group will be in and around NYC then... In the mean time please check out the details of the project at http://shanipeters.com/index.php?/projects/we-promote/.

FILM RECOMMENDATION- I saw this a few weeks back and thought of the printmaking crew...

I highly recommend it! It's well shot, informative, and oddly inspiring as a printmaker.

READING RECOMENDATION- As I've discussed with a few of you ladies I'm researching for a forthcoming video project on the intersections of Native American and Black Americans in the U.S. I came across a dope essay by a dope young writer named Wendy Walters along the way and thought of the group again. It's discussion of identity, gender, representation, and performance is right up the Grapevine alley. Check Wendy and her essay (“After the Death of the Last: Performance as History in Monique Mojica’s Princess Pocahontas and the Blue Spots”) out!

Finally, this is really a repost.... Chanel shared this with my on facebook, and I enjoyed it thoroughly... and again, it is oh-so-Grapevine!...in it's very own way...

GrapevineINK/Harlem Textile Works Re/Union

2010-11-17T17:45:00.010-05:00

I was back in NYC for the weekend! This past Sunday at Harlem Textile Works, myself and GrapevineINK members (and fellow HTW teaching artists) Elena and Shani met up with our interns Denzell, Giselle and John for a day to catch up in the studio. My old friend Ged Palmer, a graphic designer and typographer from Bristol also stopped by.

After I took this picture of my old stack of screenprint inks, I show it to Giselle and she says, "It looks like you!" Indeed, a self portrait of sorts.

Ged showing Denzell some new Illustrator tricks.. "Chanel! Why didn't you show me pathfinder!!" Also schoolin' from one Jedi to another (we call Denzell our Harlem Jedi) about some serious typography. It was my secret ambition for these two young men to meet o(^-^)o
Definitely check out his work at GedPalmer.com. It was a pleasure Ged, thank you for stopping by!

Off Denzell's Sketch pad. Look deep, he constructed an entirely new alphabet/language.

Denzell's [monkey] 'King of Abels'. Can I get this printed on some gear please?

All about teamwork. Denzell helping Giselle out with her screen.

Queen Giselle getting busy in the inks. Now that I moved, she's takin' over the excessive use of hot pink that we all need in our lives. HTW (and I) thank you Giselle!

Fierce. Look at that face- John's designs here are getting some added color and sparkle on Illustrator. He's getting prepared for Design school applications.

OOOooh, check out these colors! Lookin' hot. Mmmmen's Wear!

Elena and I reunited!

Fam Fam FAM for life! Shani and I are birthday twins which explains a lot about how we became friends so fast. Virgo artists down to the last drop.

I'm so thankful that I have this community in my life. Combining community, arts, education, taking charge of what we need in our lives to keep making our work and ourselves.

Upcoming Show: Hot Harvest

2010-11-09T18:41:00.001-05:00

Hello again!

A dear friend and fellow women printmakers are curating a show in NY. I'm def checking it out, and if you are in the area- you should too! ;-) Here's the info

ANNOUNCING

HOT HARVEST: The Gowanus Studio Space 2010 Printmaking Fellows and Friends

NOVEMBER 12TH - DECEMBER 12TH 2010

Opening Reception Friday, November 12th 7pm-11pm

The Gowanus Studio Space is pleased to announce a group exhibition curated by its three 2010 printmaking fellows: Johee Kim, Rachel Ostrow and Maggie Wright.

WITH PRINTS BY

MARTIN BLAND, NOAH BREUER, CARDA BURKE, DEB CHANEY, BEN COHEN, ANGELA CONANT, EMILY ELSEN, BEKA GOEDDE, VALERIE HAMMOND, JOHEE KIM, ILIAS KOEN, MIRANDA LEIGHFIELD, GENEVIEVE LOWE, FRANK OLIVE, RACHEL OSTROW, KRISTA PETERS, SARAH NICOLE PHILLIPS, JULIA SAMUELS, FRANCESCO SIMETI, MICHAL SKIBA, KIKI SMITH, ERICA SVEC, MAGGIE TRAKAS, TOMAS VU, MAGGIE WRIGHT

Please join us at the reception on Friday, November 12th from 7pm-11pm.

DJ POLKADOT spins that old-time country vinyl. DJ CHEWROCKS later, when the night gets dancey.

E FOR EFFORT tees by Beka Goedde and Rachel Ostrow for sale!

FREE Kiss prints by Angela Conant

While the three residents have each had extensive professional printmaking experience in New York City printshops, their show focuses instead on the self-made print, culling from a wide variety of technique, including etching, lithography, woodcut and silkscreen. Traditional uses of the medium are abundant, but several prints blur the boundaries of the expected. Inked-up Reeses Peanut Butter cup wrappers, stamped balloons and faxed pages (edition numbered by their times through the machine) prove a dedication to the idea of printmaking without the use of a press or drawn matrix. Other prints are manipulated by additional media: pencil, collage, hand-coloring; media is also manipulated by printed matter. There are experimental uses of common printmaking effects - careful cut-outs of chine collé, collages of rainbow rolls – and plates which have been cut out, sandblasted, and etched with the impression of fresh pie.

A common thematic thread was not intentional at the outset, but as the curators selected work for the show certain themes became evident. The natural world provides a strong current, with nods to folk art and the mystical. Several animals and plants make appearances, as do depictions and abstractions of the natural and man-made landscape. In contrast, many works, often saturated with color, demonstrate a geometric precision in line and detail. Humor and wit is apparent and important – the exhibition does not intend to provide a serious analysis of recent DIY printmaking. Alternatively, it strives to offer an inclusive, light-hearted view of the variety of approaches and experimentation possible within the constructs of the medium. It is a harvest of many fruits united by the same tree.

----------------

The Gowanus Studo Space is a non-profit organization and a sponsored project of New York Foundation for the Arts, providing equipment, exhibition opportunities, and space to work for the artists and designers of New York City. To learn more about our space and mission, please visit

The Gowanus Studio Space

166 7th Street, Ground Floor

Brooklyn, NY, 11215

Print/Book Fairs in NY

2010-11-07T09:57:00.003-05:00

Hey Ladies and all the followers of the blog!

Finally to catch up! I wanted to write sooner, but these past months were very eventful for me personally, I hardly set in front of my comp. Also a lot was happening in the print-making world in NY.. ;-) ...things slowed pace lately and here I am!
This weekend in New York, there are 3 Print and Book Fairs that I'm pretty excited about.
Thursday was the opening day for the IFPDA Print Fair at the Park Avenue Armory. It totally worth running on the rain to see the show! One could find prints from Durer to contemporary artists.. and it really makes a difference to see them in person, than from a reproduction. If you are interested there is a list of all the print-shops/ galleries on the website www.ifpda.org

Yesterday I visited the book fair at PS1. Overwhelming ! Everything from small print editions, silk-screened art books, activist DIY zines, and much moreee .... I was in printmaker's wonderland :-) Check out the show, or the individual publishers are on the site http://nyartbookfair.com/

Today I'm going to the Ex-Dia space in Chelsea, where the Editions/Artists' Books fair is taking place. I am expecting it to be nothing less than the previous ones... Here is the info http://www.eabfair.com/

That's all for now! Running for the train...!
Catch up with you pretty soon!

Monumental Ideas in Miniature books II (MIMB II)

2010-09-23T18:27:00.008-04:00

Dear GrapevineINK artists:

I want to invite you to participate Monumental Ideas in Miniature books II (MIMB II), traveling exhibitions.

I coordinated MIMB I last 2 years ago. this set of MIB went on show at total 40 Univ. in USA and Japan, Taiwan, China and Korea,Spain, Scotland.

deadline Dec. 30, 2010

Hui-Chu Ying,

ying@uakron.edu

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Monumental Idea in Miniature Books II

Contact: ying@uakron.edu

Coordinator: Hui-Chu Ying, Professor, The Myers School of Art, The University of Akron ying@uakron.edu

Specifications

Size: No more than 4” X 5” X 1”(10.16cm x 12.7cm x 2.54cm) but when opened can be expanded to any length, width, and depth. Three-dimensional forms are encouraged.

Weight: Not to exceed 1/2 lb.(225 gr. Or 0.23kg)

Catalogue & Traveling Exhibition: 100 books will be selected by Jurors for traveling exhibition and catalogue publication.

Deadline: Dec. 30, 2010. International deadline: Dec. 15, 2010

Fee: $50 (make check payable to University of Akron). Mail check & 5 books together. No fee to outside USA participant due to the complication of foreign check and their shipping cost .

Juror: TBA

Edition number: At least 6 editions (artist may choose to do more).

First edition: Southern Graphics Council Archives. (This set will travel in the US.)

Second edition: Washington University in St. Louis permanent collection. (This set will travel in US.)

Third edition: Traveling Exhibition. (This set will travel internationally.)

Fourth edition: The University of Akron. (This set will travel internationally.)

Fifth edition: Spare. (This set will travel internationally.) (mail $50 check & 5 books together)

Sixth edition: Property of the artist. Artist keeps the rest of edition.

Every MIMB books will go to selected permanent collections

Every Artists’ books will be photographed and listed on MIMB.org and flickr.com

No books will be returned to artists.

Publication: 140 pages of MIMB II catalogue will be printed by blurb.com (print on demand publisher)

Web Site: http://mimb.org/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/mimborg/

First Exhibition Location: SGC International Conference 2011, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Contact: Hui-Chu Ying, ying@uakron.edu 330-972-6030, 330-628-4154

150 E. Exchange St. The Myers School of Art, Univ. of Akron, Akron OH 44325-7801 USA

DOLLS: Sharita "me explico..." :-)

2010-09-12T08:03:00.058-04:00

Hello GrapevineInk!

It's Sharita Towne, I'm writing from Berlin Germany. I'm in transition to Berlin, after living in Spain for two years. Amidst all these changes, I'm looking back at this summer in NYC and the Bay Area, where I got the chance to put in some time at two print studios, and visit a third shop in Dublin, Ireland. This is what my next posts will be all about.

First, I'd like to touch on my printing experiences at Harlem Textile Works, and some more insight into the print DOLLS...

Originally, I had planned to print a small edition based on a memory I had from my early childhood. One year at Christmas, my aunt bought all her nieces Barbies. These were the Twist and Turn stomach models manufactured during the 80's and 90's. My aunt bought each niece the same Barbie, except for my sister Shadya and I. She bought us the black versions, as we are the two "bi-racial" nieces. The family threw a fit. Why did she set us a part? Why did she show us we were different? Why couldn't she have bought all black dolls? Or some other gift altogether?

I sought out the exact sihouette from these years, and wanted to print it. One black, one white, or two black and 4 white, corresponding to the 6 nieces of my Towne family.

So I traced the headless silhouette, saw it standing alone, and thought of stringing them together, like a paper doll chain, repeated identical dolls all holding hands.

But once I came to the first day of printing, feeling so excited by the presence of 6 other amazing artists and women, I realized that each of our heads had to go atop these dolls, and I'd print 7. That we were our own dolls; playing, imagining, storytelling, holding each other up simply by making the work we make. I realized that I wanted to pay tribute to each individual, but also to the community we were making, and through sharing our stories in our printmaking practice.

So from Left to right here's brief explanation of each artist, there head, and links to their work by clicking on each first name.

I'm Sharita. Little birds are flying from my head, which comes from an expression in Spain "pajaritos en la cabeza". If someone has "little birds in the head", it means they are a bit crazy and idealistic.

The next head is Ellen. It comes from this woodblock of hers. Birds are a very present element in her prints, and she told me maybe this has something to do with often going to visit birds at the zoo as a child.

Fumiko included this portrait she did of a woman, which reminded her of a doll. The circles are something she's been doing in her drawings and paintings for around 10 years.

Next there is Chanel's levitating bandaged head.This comes from a former print, and Chanel's rich imagination in character development, storytelling, and performance. I believe this may be of Queen Gidrea herself (correct me if I'm wrong Chanel :-).)

Tyanna, and "PJ Sparkle", or combine the two "TJ Sparkle" is next in line. This PJ Sparkle screenprint is just one example of how painterly and attentive Tyanna can be in this medium. Her work often depicts childhood toys, or toy ads, memory, and identity.

Next we have Elena.

She did this character with a Posca marker in about a minute. She can bust out a character like the one below with such ease, for all her years doing street art and graffiti. This image is of "GodPsila"... her bombing around town.

Last, but not least is Shani. No head at all, just a headless barbie saying "WORD". Shani has done a number of videos, and artbooks,with this element of comic strips,so the speech bubble is fitting.

It is my hope that each artist in the collective gets represented this way. Soon we can have a chain of women in printmaking, interconnected, supranational, and everwidening... WORLDWIDE!

I'm looking forward to everything we will be churning out this year,as individuals and as a collective. Again, thanks to everybody... your print from this rainbow roll edition is in the mail!

-sharita

GrapevineINK Summer 2010 Throwdown!

2010-08-10T13:15:00.013-04:00

DOLLS by Sharita Towne
with collaborations with Ellen Carranza, Fumiko Toda, Chanel Matunami Govreau,
Tyanna Buie, Elena Stojanova, Shani Peters

This past June 2010 members of GrapevineINK came together for their first ever studio collaboration hosted by Harlem Textile Works in New York, NY.
Give it up for these ladies- we truly came together and made this happen for ourselves!

Participating Members include...

Sharita Towne
Shani Peters
Tyanna Buie
Ellen Carranza
Fumiko Toda
Elena Stojanova
Chanel Matsunami Govreau

We chose the theme of ‘Dolls’ as a way to open up an artists’ discussion about our childhood experiences, cultural backgrounds, how we are viewed in society, and how we view ourselves. A simple theme to give us ground for sharing stories and creating work.

We started off with a discussion on our first day exploring our relationships and experiences with dolls and their presence in contemporary art.
Among the questions discussed-
What kind of dolls did we play with/not play with as children? What were the relationships you formed with these toys- mother, creator, puppeteer, lover? How did they affect our identity development? Who is represented and who is missing from the spectrum of dolls?

Studio Collaboration

Chanel and Sharita Printing

Ellen Printing birds/overlapping Tyanna's Busted Barbie Jeeps!

Large Textile Collaboration: Elena's background, Chanel's ranger, HTW intern Giselle's Heart

Shani working on her edition of "Reprogram" paper dolls featuring Florida Evans and Claire Huxtable.

Shani's Paper Dolls Complete!

The next two days we worked together in studio using screenprinting to create a large
textile collaboration piece, several smaller textile pieces, individual works and our collaborative print edition. We documented the collaboration and process with video interviews to be later edited into a short documentary. Sharing studio space and artistic process/technique, we were gettin' close, comfy and messy in the best way possible.

Portfolio Critique

Tyanna showing her portfolio

We do dessert with our critiques...

We finished our mini conference with a trip to the Lower East Side Print Shop where GrapevineINK member Shani Peters currently has a Key Holder Residency. Before
heading to LES Print Shop we chilled out and had lunch (and dessert) while sharing our
art portfolios, and giving critique and feedback. This was a rare opportunity to receive genuine support, dialogue and interest about our work and struggle and artists from oppressed and international backgrounds.

Studio Visit to LES Printshop

Hella Screenprint supplies at the LES Printshop

Yes indeed. That exposure unit is deliciously HUGE!

After lunch we went and checked out the LES Printshop. We might have been the loudest group in there for years. BOOM, BUST, CRACK, SLAM. YES!
How can you not be excited with this abundance of clean as a whistle equipment? However we all agreed they could of used some jams and color. Tyanna goes, "Yes, one day this will ALL be ours."

Shani Peters Artist Talk

Battle for the Hearts and Minds artist book by Shani Peters

sexy sexy transparencies

Shani shared her current work with us. Projects completed, in process and forthcoming.
We all dug in with careful fingers opening her edition of Dubois vs Garvey artist books entitled
Battle for the Hearts and Minds. Dope.

An incredible week of collaboration and discussion this is only the beginning.

Cerisse Palalagi

2010-05-29T01:15:00.009-04:00

Fresh Pattern x
Print Community Revival

Collaborative Interview by
Melanie Yazzie and John Hitchcock

Yazzie: When did you begin printmaking and why is this medium important to you?

I started experimenting with printmaking when I was at high school. My art teacher showed me how to make a reduction woodcut, then other techniques such as monoprint and etching. I always ended up going back to woodcut prints because I liked the graphic quality, the bold contrasting lines and that juicy black ink.

I enjoy the element of serendipity. Even though you plan your print out, you never really know how your print will actually look until you've inked up your block/ plate/ stone and put that sucker through the press. I still get goose bumps every single time I see the result.

I have recently completed a lithography print residency at the Auckland Print Studio set up by Mr. John Pusateri. The Auckland Print Studio specializes in stone lithography,  producing fine-art and architectural prints in limited editions. This really has been a dream come true for me as I have never made an edition of lithography prints before. I'm amazed at the consistency of each work that gets printed from the litho stone, the quality is outstanding and magical.

Hitchcock: In your prints you use pattern and portraits. Can you talk about the relationship between the patterns and people in your artworks?

The patterns I use are a reflection of my identity. I like the juxtaposition of the cultural symbols and people combined in my portraits. They are usually of people in my family, including myself. I design all of the patterns myself, as the Niuean culture does not have a strong recorded history of patterns. This is my way of reviving the culture, and showing people that our culture and language is not dead.

Hitchcock: Tell us about the Maori Printmakers Collective Toi Whakataa Press and the challenges of running a print press.

Toi Whakataa Press is an initiative set up by fabulous NZ printmakers Vanessa Edwards & Ruth Green Cole. One of the objectives I admire is to be aware of our roles as Maori printmakers/ Maori artists and to continually challenge and discuss what that means in a variety of contexts.

Toi Whakataa Press was established in January of 2006, and emerged from a need to identify printmaking as a valid means of Maori artistic expression. As a result, this Maori Printmakers Collective acts as a basic network for those involved.
I joined up in 2008, as I was invited with a few other artists at the time.
In the past when we worked on projects, we tend to do it all through email, since we all live in different parts of the country.
My printmaking process hasn’t really changed since joining. I have noticed that my imagery and symbols tend to lean more towards Maori iconography and influences from ancestral carvings. I feel comfortable with putting my own sway on these things and changing them around bringing them into the contemporary world ...(example of carving of & my image of b' boy taniwha or new print).
Since our collective is still relatively new, we are still building the group up. Most of us are young parents, doing the balancing act juggling work, student life, parenthood and our creative life.

Yazzie: How did you think of Inkteraction and why did you set it up?
I was already spending a lot of time on other social networking sites like Bebo, Facebook and MySpace..searching for other printmakers around the world. I'd spend hours on the networking sites’ search engine with keywords like :lithography, serigraphy, woodcut etc., with not much luck. I guess I was hoping to find other printmaking fanatics like myself that might participate in print portfolios on a yearly basis.

I got invited by a Tutor of mine to join a social networking site called indigenous artists.ning.com, as I was looking around the site I discovered that it was a D.I.Y networking site. From here, I decided to see what would happen if I started Inkteraction not really expecting much from it. Next thing you know, we have just under 5,ooo members from all corners of the earth.
Being involved with Melanie Yazzie in print portfolios, I loved how this gathered printmakers together from around the world. I often open my portfolios of prints and spend time admiring all the hard work that printmakers put in to each and every print. This was one of the main motivating factors in starting Inkteraction, so we can all constantly share with each other photos of new works, events, residencies etc. The list goes on.

Yazzie: What issues that are important to you? How can we learn more about who you are?

Issues in my work which are very important include language revival, living in the city & maintaining connections to your ancestral homeland, family, identity, change, and the cyclical nature of seasons and life and Celebration of Matariki - the Maori New Year (Mid June-July).

Im finding that the more prints I create, the more I discover about my own needs and desires culturally & aesthetically. I am currently working on a body of new works for a special show coming up in June of this year.

Entitled Motunei, this is my first exhibition at such a nationally recognised establishment. I have been a bit on edge lately because its such a huge deal for me, which is a good thing because its pushing me in terms of ideas and scale of works. The size of the printed mixed media works will range in size from 1400mm x 2000mm to 750mm x 500mm. I usually work on a much smaller scale, around 297mm x 420mm.

Motunei: Cerisse Palalagi
Deane Gallery
18 June – 12 September 2010

'Motunei'. In Niuean language it means, 'from this land'. I am part Maori and part Niuean, this is more of a comment on me having blood ties with both Tangata whenua( Indigenous to New Zealand) and Pacific Islander, Niuean ancestry.

Customary practices and contemporary methodologies; this is the pivotal statement in a new series of art works by Cerisse Palalagi. Of both Niuean and Māori (Ngāti Pikiao) descent Palalagi refers to the customary art making practices of her Polynesian forebears as a form of coding which relayed information about the natural and social environment of her ancestors. Following this ideology she poses the proposition that in the age of fibre-optic telecommunications, cell phones and social networking sites that ‘text’ language is now a valid contemporary form of coding. A code which she says “is increasingly becoming the choice of a new generation”. Utilising the distinctive and beautiful painted traditions of Niuean hiapo bark cloth art Palalagi provides a voice for the ‘Bebo’ and ‘Facebook’ generation, and in particular explores how young pacific people have embraced this coding in order to communicate with their friends and family all over the pacific.

'Motunei' will take place at The City Gallery Wellington, Wellington being the capital of N.Z.

As a contributing member of GrapevineInk, what do you want to see come out of the collective? How can we build a strong international network?

We can build a strong network by having regular contact with each other through artist exchanges, residencies, and print portfolios. Maybe even using Skype and MSN chat for direct communication.
The U.S has such a strong following within the world of printmaking and I envy this a lot. I really want to help be a part of a collective that can push print to the foreground of the arts realm here in Aotearoa ,New Zealand. I have much to gain from GrapevineInk and all members involved, inspiring!

Shani and Chanel Featured on M.I.S.S.!

2010-04-23T13:40:00.005-04:00

GrapevineINK members Chanel Matsunami Govreau and Shani Peters were recently featured on the web-based M.I.S.S. magazine.

Click Here to check out their interview, bio, and pictures.

Eloisa Cartonera

2010-04-12T17:24:00.005-04:00

Cooperative Art and Publishing in Argentina

Last month I attended Philagrafika and the Southern Graphics Conference in Philadelphia. I’ve been writing several different reviews/reflections on the exhibitions and events I experienced.

Discovering Eloisa Cartonera was a highlight of my trip.

The Philagrafika exhibition in the Print Center extended upstairs where I found books by Eloisa Cartonera, a publishing cooperative from Argentina that uses recycled materials to create handmade artist books.,
They describe themselves on their website,
“We produce handmade books with cardboard covers. We purchase this cardboard from the urban pickers ("cartoneros") who pick it from the streets. Our books are of Latin American literature, the most beautiful we had a chance to read in our lives, both as publishers as well as readers.”

The books published by Eloisa Cartonera were extraordinarily unique. Every cover is hand painted in bright colors that combine with the unique patterns of the rescued cardboard. With mass publication, many forget the craft that goes into bookmaking. Their collective has revived the intricacies and individual charm of simple bookmaking that has been erased by corporate publishing.

Their story is inspiring, and works to challenge the economics of art making. Funding seems to be constant hurdle. However, should lack of funding and grants be an excuse give up projects? Further, can funding restrict our creativity? Are we using too many material resources when we print without looking at other options and researching recycled materials?
As a teaching artist currently working with a screen printing and design non-for-profit with limited funding, Eloisa Cartonera has inspired me to be more creative and conscious about finding new resources. Stop moping about what we don’t have; discover and utilize what we already do.

As I’ve been thinking about the future of GrapevineINK, I’ve been considering dynamics of the independent artist vs membership in a collective. It seems many artists engaged in social justice have been involved in collaborative and community projects. Yet, there are artists that produce their own political work, and contribute to a larger movement in that way.
Eloisa Cartonera is an example of a successful cooperative of artists and community leaders pioneering in arts activism.
My question is, what is the balance? How does one sustain a collective commitment while still respecting one’s own ambition and need to express as an individual artist? For artists that are exclusive to one, either group work or individual work- do you ever feel as though something is missing?

I take this quote from their website, which is primarily in Spanish, but has
an English page. As a former member of a living cooperative, women’s collective, and now member of GrapevineInk, I found this very inspiring and exciting,

“Overall, the best thing that happened to us, besides meeting all of you, was to become a cooperative. It was a true awakening to how work can become the best part of your life, and never an obligation, something unpleasant. It became a dreamcome true, to work in our project.
We learned to trustone another and to be better partners, to strive for a common purpose, for something more than our own bellybutton. Cooperativism showed us our strength. That was how we learned everything we now know, and we remain eager to learn more.

We now have a new project. We will buy a piece of land in Florencio, in Varela. One hectare of land. We will build a house and start an organic food garden, and in the future a school and everything that might come to take us ...”

Souljah-Sotomayor

2010-03-07T00:18:00.018-05:00

Above image:
Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor meets with SISTER SOULJAH/

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV).
(revised Alex Wong photo), 2009
digital print, 11”x15”

Ayanah Moor / Shani Peters
Discussing Ayanah's Souljah-Sotomayor Project

Shani Peters:
Your recent series Souljah-Sotomayor touches on the timely and highly recognizable appointment of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, yet simultaneously parallels this current topic to a public debate that is nearly 18 years behind in the collective memory of the U.S. – the public words of Sista Souljah, and former President Bill Clinton’s denouncement of them. While Sista Souljah continues to write and lecture and is surely a role model for some black girls today, she was best known as a key figure in the politically active hip hop scene of the late 80’s and early 90’s. Unfortunately, I’d venture to that today, she is what most mainstream media folks would refer to as “an obscure figure.” Now, I’m looking at “The Coldest Winter Ever” on my bookshelf right now and I’m peeping the side pony-tale in the work ; ),
What are your thoughts behind making a key character out of someone who so many viewer’s may not recognize? Do you struggle with decisions to insert these types of figures into your work? Are your intentions to educate? How do you answer the question when you are asked who is the audience for your work?

Ayanah Moor:
The Souljah-Sotomayor project developed over the course of about a year, and was largely informed by hearing cable news pundits and commentators describe certain political figures as having a “Sister Souljah Moment.” Cable news networks fascinate me, like MSNBC, Fox News and CNN and I also read a lot of news blogs/magazines such as Huffington Post, Wonkette, and Slate. As someone whose work is highly informed by popular culture, and has paid a lot of attention to hip hop, my curiosity was piqued by the repeated reference to Sister Souljah. Ultimately if the viewer didn’t know who Sister Souljah was, they’d only have the commentator’s usage, that is, to denote controversy. I regarded cable pundits’ conjuring Sister Souljah, (her name, absent her physical body) as a concept worth interrogating. As a result she is today both absent and hyper-present. She is not a participant in current political discourse, but is forever impacted by a political strategy Bill Clinton employed 18 years ago. And that is the very meaning of the Sister Souljah Moment. In fact if you look up the term on Wikipedia it states:

In United States politics, a Sister Souljah moment is a politician's public repudiation of an allegedly extremist person or group, statement, or position perceived to have some association with the politician or their party. Such an act of repudiation is designed to signal to centrist voters that the politician is not beholden to traditional, and sometimes unpopular, interest groups associated with the party, although such a repudiation runs the risk of alienating some of the politician's allies and the party's base voters.

Basically Clinton is regarded as using charged language by Souljah (outside of the context of her longer quote) as a means of distancing himself from Jesse Jackson when both were trying to earn the Democratic Party nomination for President. Clinton used Souljah as a scapegoat to appeal to mainstream white voters. So with this project I am drawn to both Souljah’s presence and absence. It’s a circular logic but one worth playing with. Use of my image as a surrogate is also a familiar tactic in my work. So performing Souljah is a way to examine public memory, or its mis-remembering. There was so much documentation of Sonia Sotomayor meeting with senators to win support for her nomination to be Supreme Court Justice, that I thought it’d be interesting to substitute white U.S. Senators with Sister Souljah. What would it be like if Sotomayor had to repeated meet with Sister Souljah in order to become Supreme Court Justice? President Barack Obama, it has been said, had his “Sister Souljah Moment” when Sonia Sotomayor spoke about how her Latina heritage impacted her decisions, and how this may be different from the experience of a white male (paraphrasing). So the Souljah-Sotomayor project is navigating a wide terrain. I am creating a fictional meeting of two women impacted by so-called controversies. I am commenting on the delicate tightrope women of color have to walk when they participate in political discourse, I am also revisiting, re-contextualizing, and revising the way that we think about Sister Souljah and Sonia Sotomayor.

Lastly in reference to your question, I never struggle with the figures I put in my work. My audience is the public, but depending on the viewer’s cultural/social/political context they may also have to share the thinking load of the work I’m presenting as well.

Interview with Ayanah Moor

2010-02-03T03:06:00.015-05:00

Hip-Hop, Revision, Chocolate Cakes and Print Intervention
Collaborative Interview by Shani Peters and Chanel Matsunami Govreau

Question #1 (Shani)
I love seeing the word “revise” (revised, revision) throughout your website and writing about your work. Can you talk about your concept of this verb? Further, can you talk about what motivates towards this action? In answering these questions can you address your decision to appropriate in your work?

A.Moor:
This is a great question. I think I have always been sensitive to the need to self-define, because black people in America have historically been affected by the ways in which others have defined them. For me, to revise: is to act upon a history. It is both an acknowledgement of history, a critique of it, and an alternative view. I am intrigued by the social constructs of race, just as I am intrigued by gender and sexuality. In my work I often play upon notions that we think of as fixed, to invite new definitions.

Question #2 (Shani)
I see your work as a professor and curriculum writer at a prestigious western university as seriously meaningful extension of the cultural revision you begin in your artwork. How do you go about this transition? Do you feel internal or external pressures on you as you go about the work of formal education and course design. When first offered the position was it a task you felt fully ready for, or did you feel some trepidation?

A.Moor:
I am an artist first, but when I began teaching I was an artist in need of a job. My initial post was a Visiting Artist position. It allowed the perfect balance between staying in my studio, and exchanging information/generating knowledge with students. Carnegie Mellon is a research institution, so there is an expectation of professional development that is different from a teaching university. It is also known for its innovative leadership in education. My post is now Associate Professor and over the years I’ve had the fortune of creating courses that emerge from my creative practice. Hip Hop and Contemporary Art is a lecture course that examines the ways in which popular culture has impacted art making and art world discourse. It’s built on the premise that if Pop Art developed out of 50s & 60s era artists paying attention to the popular aesthetics of the period, then the same could be said of the influence of the hip hop generation and its creative use of materials, language, high/low culture, etc. My use of appropriation is an extension of this type of logic. It’s very hip hop.

Question #3 (Shani)
Strictly out of curiosity… are there any other professions or artistic mediums you hope to explore in the course of your life?

A.Moor:
I’m more of a generalist than a specialist. I have love for print media, but don’t consider myself the printmaker’s, printmaker. I like using varied tools. For a while I was an active dj in Pittsburgh, and it was really important to represent as a woman; be a part of the hip hop scene from an underground perspective, not solely an academic one. Last year I played women’s professional football as an extension of my interest in popular culture… I think the future may see me return to my roots and explore painting again. Lately I’ve been really excited about painting chocolate cakes!

Question #4 (Chanel)
You describe your 2008 piece Get Money Teach Kids as “print media intervention.” When do you find it necessary to pursue guerilla art distribution?

A.Moor:
Well, I hesitate to refer to it as guerilla because I obtained permission. But in the case of that work, I liked the idea of an announcement of sorts without a clear meaning intervening into a space in which other print media does have clear objectives. It wasn’t an ad to see an exhibition, nor did it attempt to sell a printmaking textbook, or share some new print technique. I obtained permission to place cards in all the conference bags of the attendees of the 2008 Southern Graphics Council Conference. The SGCC event was at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. (My BFA is from VCU, 1995) I liked that my card had a hand gesture on one side with the words GET MONEY and the reverse, an image of a little boy with text that read, TEACH KIDS. Just as I mentioned earlier, I started teaching initially because I was an artist who needed a job and teaching seemed a good fit. Well a lot of artists teach, and so the question becomes, are we teaching art to get money, or teaching art for kids (young people)? Moreover are we teaching young people how to use art to get money? I also wondered whom we’re teaching? Do our students look like the boy on that card, and how might we use art to help him or kids like him obtain success? Which side of the card is read first? How does that impact the meaning? How is this logic different from the stereotypical rhetoric around getting money in hip hop? I think it’s hypocritical not to recognize that some people are in the teaching business, not because they fell in love with the idea of academia, but because they were struggling artists looking for a job. I liked the idea of inserting that language/question in an academic conference bag.

Question #5 (Chanel)
Do you consider viewer accessibility to your work, when you are creating a new piece or putting together a show? How do you reach your desired audience?

A.Moor:
My audience is mostly the audience that attends art shows. Depending on the city my exhibit takes place in, effects how diverse that audience is. So an exhibit in Harlem, NY, is going to be different from a show in Pittsburgh, PA. Class/education also plays a large role. But these matters don’t figure into my thinking in my studio. I’m going to make the work I want to make. My work reflects who I am. Progress is relative. It’s important for my work to be in a gallery but also engage spaces outside of the gallery. Doing so will ensure that a wide audience sees my work.

Question #6 (Chanel)
How should Grapevine Ink work to establish itself as vital and necessary to the printmaking world and distinguish itself from other printmakers’ collectives?

A.Moor:
I think it’s great that Grapevine Ink is creating a space of interaction and exchange for women of color. It provides a platform to showcase voices that are often under-represented, particularly in printmaking. But just as the collective is centered around cultural /racial /ethnic similarities, I think it should also strive to interrogate those sites of display as well. I think the goal is to initiate a dialogue that is both specific and inclusive. Good luck Grapevine Ink, and thanks for inviting me to be a part of your conversation.

Interview with Melanie Yazzie

2010-01-07T22:16:00.012-05:00

A Collaborative Interview by Melissa Bob and Chanel Matsunami Govreau

1.What projects are you presently working on? What are current challenges you experience in your work?
I am currently participating in a couple of folios and making pieces for them. They are about hair farming and helping others who are in need for hair for wigs. The other is about making a connection to a group of artists in Korea.
I have been invited to do another one that requires me to work with a former student. That one is going to be really fun to collaborate on and I am working to finish printing that. There are others, but I will keep this short. The challenge I face most often is finding funding to keep my work going. All these projects cost money and for some reason it’s always a challenge. I am always working on how to make each one happen. And the next and the next... it’s hard but I love what comes back so I keep doing what I do.

2. Animals seem to hold an important presence in your pieces. What inspires your use of animal imagery?
I have had many pets in my lifetime. When I was young I use to walk to the dump in our small town and find abandoned puppies and kittens then try to bring them home. I was always told, “Do not hide animals under your bed. They are dirty and a lot of work.” I always loved them, and somehow once thought I could be a veterinarian. But, when we had to have our Saint Bernard, Chubba, put down because of cancer I felt it would be too hard to be a vet. So, I aspired to work at McDonald’s since they always were smiling on the TV. My recent love affair has been with my chow chows, Luna and Sombra. Luna past away last year and that is still hard for me. I wish there was a way to see her again. So, I make work about animal critters to remember them and to honor them for sure!

3. Was your goal in life to be an artist and teach art? Are there any other pursuits you would like to explore?
I believe that I never knew quite what I wanted to be. I know that I always was creating and loved making art from a very early age. It brought me happiness like no other thing. Well, besides eating too much. Both eating and making art are my obsessions - I must do both and I try hard not to do so much eating but it really is a problem.
I am too sheltered at home but the love in my life, travel, is getting harder and harder to do. I have fears that I cannot explain. I get worried and freaked before travel now. Yet, I love going into new art stores in new places that have new or different art stuff. I also love papers. I love pens and pencils too. Okay, and all things cute. Sorry about that, but it is very true. They make me happy and that helps me create and get into a place of comfort.

4. How has the printmaking community changed since your introduction into it?
Printmaking when I began in high school was just about some friends and I making art together. I stalked the graduate students at my undergrad school. I did not know what it meant to be a grad student but I knew they were the other people always in the shop just like me and I loved being with them. As I have become more and more aware of the print community, I believe it saw it as a way to fill me with connections I wished I had in my own family. We love seeing each other and always have something to share. It’s very much like a family - often yes with weird ones that are on the fringe:)

5. How would you like to see the print community change or expand in the next 5-10 years?
I would love to see more of my international family of print makers and be closer to what is important to them. Just learn from them about their ways and their processes. I have so much to learn from them. But my growing fear of travel keeps me from wandering about as much as I use to.
Conferences are fun, but often I feel like it can be like high school. There are the popular kids, the new kids, and the ones just trying to break into the scene. It’s hard. I try to find the new ones and the nice ones and just have coffee and sandwich with them. We then sit and watch the others. Then I go home and create a project to collaborate with the fun new printmakers I've met. I would love for the printmaking community to become more open and welcoming to everyone! In 5-10 years it would be nice to see more events happening locally. I wish that travel would become less expensive so more of us could travel and meet each other. I think that Hawaii or an island place should always host an event so we can make art then go swimming or snorkeling:) More conferences in which we go and make stuff together would be great. Making and connecting...

6. What times are you inspired to take an idea and organize it into a folio exchange rather than a personal piece or series of work? What makes a folio exchange successful?
Well, often the folios come out of me seeing an idea or thought and wishing I could converse with other artists about the idea. Then I begin to send out the call. After people start responding and the 1st set fills up, if people are still saying, “Please, please let me participate,” then that leads into another set. Before long, I have many ideas in motion. I also have a great helper, Kathryn Polk, who makes all my colophons and that make the projects happen so much more easily. She is an amazing artist that everyone should know, look her up! What makes it successful? Well, first when people respond with yes. 2nd they pay their fee - if there is a fee. Then they make all deadlines with no excuses. This one is huge - making deadlines= great artist/printmaker. The bigger tell of something being successful is when one or more people decide to exhibit their set without me begging them to do it. This is the cherry on top for sure! It shows me that people are giving back and it’s not just about being in and sitting back with an awesome set of prints. Do not get me wrong, that is totally okay. But, when one or more does the next step = creating and exhibiting. Well, that is so awesome. That I believe is a huge success for any folio.

7. How should Grapevine Ink work to establish itself as vital and necessary to the printmaking world and distinguish itself from other printmakers’ collectives?
It can engage with the people that follow it or just keep doing what the mission is no matter what. Love and follow the mission. It will make itself important by just doing it and doing it well. Watch the others, but most importantly just do the real work everyday. That takes love and when you love anything it will grow! Do it for the important things that feed you and know that we are human and there is always someone else who is hungry for the same stuff out there and they will find you! Like good chocolate or good Indian food... everyone will begin to talk about it! Then watch out because everyone will want in - so many that one day you will wish for this day again. You say, "wow - Melissa lets do an interview and then talk about it" - later your people will have to call her people etc. then we will say, “Wow remember how it was in the beginning...”

Introducing Melissa Bob

2009-11-21T12:15:00.012-05:00

Hello Grapevine Ink!

Organizing and being in contact with many of you through
email, I've had the unique opportunity to exchange significant thoughts, ideas and dialogue on a 1-on-1 basis.

It is important to me to share these exchanges with the larger group when possible.

I would like to introduce to all of you
Melissa Bob-
a Grapevine Ink printmaker and activist!

Melissa has been an incredible support for Grapevine Ink,
and our exchanges have been inspiring. This past summer she visited Japan with a group of other printmakers including
Melanie Yazzie and John Hitchcock. Melissa is currently working
on prints for a folio exchange with these artists based on their trip.

Below is an excerpt from Melissa's emails to me that include a short bio about her and
dialogue that I found particularly inspiring-

"My art background is mostly in printmaking. As an undergrad I studied printmaking and indigenous art history with Joe Feddersen, who is a Native artist. I also attended graduate school to obtain a Master of Public Administration in Tribal Governance degree. I am working for my tribal government (the Lummi Nation) to reform and integrate the children's mental health services on the reservation. We are looking at how the integration of cultural art and healing practices improves the effectiveness of our services. We recieved a six year grant from the federal government to do this. I live in Bellingham, Washington, which is quite close to the Canadian border near the water.

For the past few years I've been doing stuff other than printmaking, so I am dying to get back to the printmaking world. I am about to start a suite of prints about the trip I took to Japan with John and a couple of other Native artists.

I was thinking about how you had a difficult time figuring out how to describe this collective without sounding exclusive. Here's my thought:

As women of color, we are contextualizing our perspectives and approaches to our art and world. We are not just existing as women of color and writing and creating in a reactive manner to the world as closed entities. We are proactively working and creating from this perspective as women of color, which is a conscious approach to our daily lives. It's not that we are exclusive, it's that we are a population with a shared experience and we wish to work together from that foundation to pursue and focus on a shared vision of growing together so our perspectives are honored and we strengthen each other's voices."

She has a way with words...
I feel Melissa was able to verbalize much of the essence of why I wanted to start this collective.
What do you think?

Until next time Grapevine Ink~
Look forward to hearing more about Melissa and her work in the year to come!

Let's do our research!

2009-11-13T09:27:00.004-05:00

Hello Grapevine Community! I'm Shani, this is my first actual post to the Grapevine Blog. You can see what kinds of things I'm into at www.shanipeters.com. The more I talk to Chanel the more excited I am about this Grapevine project. It's just a good idea, plain and simple, and I for one am down to make it work.

To piggy back on her last post, printing with Juan Sanchez and Chanel the other night was definitely a positive learning experience. He offers so much wisdom, made all the better via a kind and gracious character.

In the course of the nights conversation Sanchez mentioned several collectives/workshops that you've probably all heard about and may have even visited or worked at. Still, as we embark on this new experiment printing, it will be wise for us to go back and research existing organization for successes, failures, and lessons learned. Here are a few links:

Robert Blackburn Workshop- http://www.facebook.com/rbpmw

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/25/arts/robert-blackburn-82-founder-of-the-printmaking-workshop.html

Lower East Side Print Shop-http://www.printshop.org/web/Home/AboutUs.html

Dieu Donne- http://www.dieudonne.org/main.cfm?chID=12&inc=aboutus

Please, add more links to orgs your interested in the comments section- we can build our own web resource library...

A talk with Juan Sanchez

2009-11-09T00:51:00.005-05:00

Hey there Grapevinettes-

Today I had the opportunity to work with artist Juan Sanchez in studio at Harlem Textile Works. My friend, and fellow teaching artist Shani Peters is aiding him print a series to be displayed at a solo show at Southern Graphics Conference 2010 in Philly.

I told him about my idea for Grapevine Ink, and my desire to start up a Women of Color Printmakers Collective but also my hesitation to call it that. My concerns ranging to how the term people of color is thought of internationally, to how people of mixed race heritage identify, and also how exclusivity can sometimes be damaging or limiting.

Sanchez was very supportive about Grapevine Ink, and dropped some knowledge on me. I wish I had a tape recorder cause that woulda been posted UP for ya'll!

He made the point that while some people are opposed to making groups exclusive, its really important that oppressed people work to make opportunities and venues FOR THEMSELVES and that those avenues should be preserved for future generations of artists. It's not about excluding anybody or so-called "reverse discrimination", but recognizing that as women and peoples of oppressed nationalities, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation etc. we have been and continue to be marginalized in the art world and we have to work together to give ourselves spaces to change this.

I am still struggling with the right kind or rhetoric to use when describing Grapevine Ink. The mission statement is so important, and I've received so much great feedback, ideas and encouragement from all of you!

I look forward to your comments, and hopefully some posts from ya'll!
Expect an email soon from me!

Much Love,
Chanel

*This image displayed is by Juan Sanchez
entitled
Victoria de Samotracia (Afro-Taina)
Collagraph, duotone litho, hand-painted, feathers, raffia
2000

Welcome to Grapevine Ink!

2009-10-24T01:05:00.005-04:00

This blog is the beginning of an International Women in Printmaking Collective, discussing intersecting identities within art practice, theory, community and education.

I started this blog in order for us all to start interacting with each other and share our opinions, ideas and work.

Originally I wanted this group to be a Women of Color Printmaking Collective-
However, while the term “person of color” is widely used in
the United States, it may be perceived differently in other countries.

How do we define our collective?

I feel as though the group should not be as broad as just ‘international,’
or just ‘women in printmaking’-that would be diluted, too broad, and boring.
I want this to be a powerful collective of women, critically addressing
experiences and struggle as artists outside of the white dominated
and male dominated printmakers world.

Please introduce yourself with your post and put up thoughts, input, ideas, etc!