Last week I went on the road to New Orleans for the South Graphics Conference. This was the first time attending this conference, actually this was the first conference Spark Box Studio has ever attended, needless to say I was pretty excited. Sadly, since we had residents booked in I had to make this trip alone, which meant a lot of long days and lonely travelling. Lucky for me tons of like-minded printers attend this event every year so the loneliness was short lived.

The trip began early Thursday with a 4 am drive to the Toronto airport. With just one minor hang-up with customs, I was quickly jet-setting to Louisiana. I arrived early afternoon, dropped my publisher booth stuff off and headed to my accommodations (which I found on Air BnB). The rest of Thursday was made up of searching for groceries and relaxing on the roof top of the loft I was staying in.

Friday was day one of the conference. Spark Box had a booth in the publishers fair so I left early to set-up my table. I took a walk through the beautiful, yet very smelly, French Quarter to the Sheraton Hotel where the conference was being held. I was the first publisher to arrive … which made me feel like a silly eager Canadian. But my eager attitude paid off leading me to meet so many nice people and share information to them about our studio and residency. Because of that minor customs hiccup I wasn’t allowed to sell any prints … but I did get to speak about them and the great printmakers who created them. I was set-up near the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop Program and got to met Chris Dunnett and Phil Sanders. I now hope that I will get some time to go to NYC and check out their space.

I left the publisher fair early that day to attend one of the demonstrations being held at Tulane University. The demonstration was being done by our university print professor Otis Tamasauskas. The drive to the demo was longer than I thought so I only caught the tail-end but made plans to go out with Otis later in the evening. We met up at the hotel and together with Gravity Press owner Brandon Graving we went to the evenings art walk. My camera died by this point so I didn’t get any pictures but the night was great. We stopped at the Community Print Shop, the exhibit at the Healing Center and Deborah Cornell and Barbara Putnam’s exhibit at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts.

Saturday was another early morning walk to the hotel in order to re-set-up the publishers table (they moved us for day two). I decided the smell of the French Quarter at 7AM was a bit too much so instead I walked along the river. Day two of the publisher fair was held in conjunction with the portfolio sessions.  It was a great day. I split my time standing at the table and walking around looking at all the amazing and talented printed works. Splitting time between the table and other events was a challenge since I was by myself but next year Kyle will attend as well and we will have more time to go to the lectures and demos.

Past resident Josh Dannin came by the booth just as I was packing up and we headed to the Wolfbat Railroad event that he had been participated in over the week. The BFT Wolfbat Railroad was another printmaking project going on at the same time as the Southern Graphics Conference but not in conjunction with it. Wolfbat Studios (Dennis McNett) & Woodcut Funhouse (Sean Starwars) teamed up with Vans Custom Culture to host a three day customization event that was 100% free and open to the public. As the organizers explained it “The event included the construction of a wooden train consisting of 1 steam engine & 20 box cars. Artist, educators, and college students from across the U.S. tricked out their boxcar with screen prints, woodcut prints, flags, paper mache structures, and what ever else they can come up with. Each artist or team worked with at least 2 local high school and/or middle school kids.”

Saturday evening was the culmination of this three day event and was celebrated by taking the train on parade through the Marigny/Bywater area. After the parade there was a party with a great brass band and tons of dancing printmakers. It was a great time and a wonderful way to end the weekends events.

Sunday was my last day in New Orleans and I spent most of the day hanging out with Josh. We did a ton of tourist like things – walk through the French Quarter market, check out all the great street performers, eat beignets at Cafe du Monde and walk around Bourbon Street. After Josh headed back to Philadelphia I went to the botanical gardens with my accommodations host Andrea and then out to dinner.

It was a great trip and I am happy that we decided to participate in the events this year. We are definitely going next year in Milwaukee.

-Chrissy

It has been a busy month here with all the holiday sales over the past two weeks. Nell and I were making new items inspired by the galaxy for this holiday season, including cards, bags, pins, housewares and toys. Now that the sales are over it is time to reflect on all the great people we met while running around from sale to sale. The first sale was the OCAD Book Arts Fair in Toronto. It was a great Saturday and we met a number of really nice people. Our booth was right beside Jeffrey Macklin owner of Jackson Creek Press in Peterborough. Jeffrey’s printed work is so much fun and all made with by hand with a genuine old-school letterpress.

We did some great trades at this sale with Alex Froese and Tiny Press and met some really awesome crafters like the two ladies behind Good Plant.

On the Sunday we participated in the Fat Goose sale in Kingston. This is another fantastic event and always a good night. It is so nice to spend time with some of our favorite Kingston artisans like Vincent Perez of Everlovin Press (featured in Square2), Julian Berry of Ironclad Graphics and Brandy Olley of Salvage Designs. It was also a great place to meet new people like Jeff Woodrow of Joy T-Shirt. Joy T-Shirt is a really interesting idea, Jeff creates graphic t-shirts that are inspired by a real people. The shirt has a drawing of a real person printed on it and the idea is that when you wear your shirt you are encouraged to think about that person and how your everyday actions can affect others and the world we live in.

Last weekend we were part of the Busy Hands sale in Picton. Like Fat Goose it’s always a great time to re-connect with local crafters and say “hi” to people we haven’t seen in awhile. I got a chance to meet a few new people at this sale as well like Kathyrn Orok and Mags Kandis. It has been a fun two weeks but I am excited to spend a weekend at home and in the studio. If you missed the sales and are curious about what we have been up to please feel free to stop by and visit us.

Pine cone Card by Spark Box Studio

On the drive home from Belleville this Wednesday Kyle and I listened to a segment of the show “Spark” on the CBC about letter writing. Producer Michelle Parise talked about going through her basement and finding shoe boxes full of old love letters from high school boyfriends. She reflected on these letters and questioned how technology is changing the way we communicate with one another. She asked if text messaging and emailing have killed the physical love letter. (the link to this broadcast is below)

I thought this was a pretty cool question. I know I have cleaned out spaces and found old letters stored away in boxes. I used to keep every letter I ever received from a friend, boyfriend and family member. In fact, I have photo albums filled with letters instead of pictures. These messages mean so much to me –I cherish them and enjoy going back and re-reading. Maybe this is why I make printed material and use archaic machinery. I loved how Michelle talked about the experience you have with reading and writing a paper letter.

Octopus Card by Spark Box Studio

When I send a letter I think about how my paper or card selection says something about me. Then I know that the person I send at letter to will get to have a little part of me with them for as long as they keep the letter. When I make cards I imagine a person sitting down and writing out a letter to someone the care about and that my image means something to them. How do you feel about paper letters?

If you would like to listen to this broadcast click here >> and scroll to the last broadcast in the “Personal Connections in the Digital Age” section.

We have been working hard on putting together the merchandise section of the studio. As some of your will remember the “sale” area of the last space was crowed in a hallway, not the most convenient place to look at printed goods. We decided we wanted to make one full wall of the new studio dedicated to printed goods that were for sale. This would include materials from our craft sales, Square2 Magazine and personal art work. Like most projects it took a lot longer than we anticipated to get it together the way we wanted … but it finally feels close to finished.

We have also been updating our Etsy shop with new products and recently put up a table on the Poppytalk Handmade Online Market. So, if you are looking for a handmade gift for the upcoming holiday season please make sure to pop in. We are open year round Tuesday – Saturday 12 – 6 PM (Thursday we are closed).

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Sometimes, when you don’t have time to create a whole body of work, it is fun to participate in a collaborative project. That is why this past summer I applied to be part of the Littlest Print Exchange. The Littlest Print Exchange is an annual juried trade of tiny art prints. Fifty artists are each invited to submit an edition of 50 prints and in turn receive a complete portfolio of 50 prints from all 50 contributing artists.

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To my luck I was picked to be one of the 50 printmakers involved. So in early October I got to work making my 50 3″ x 3″ etchings to send off to Illinois. Why did Christopher Clark start the Littlest Print Exchange? He says that  ”in truth, the Littlest Print Exchange is a chance to defy the notion that bigger is better, to prove that good things really do come in small packages, and to build connections between artists working around the globe.”

Being the owner of a print studio I encourage any opportunity to see the work of other printmakers and to connect with them. Because of this I was really excited and happy when I say the little package sitting in our mail box from Chris. I am also happy to announce that all of you can see these great prints as well. We will have the Mini Print Show up at Spark Box Studio until the end of the month.

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Join us for a night on the town! We will bring Prince Edward County’s newest arts & culture magazine to life June 10th starting at the Regent Theatre at 6 PM.

Performance art, poetry readings, live music and visual art will be occurring throughout down town Picton. 

Participating locations include:

Books and Company

Kelly’s

Spark Box Studio

The Regent Theatre

Acoustic Grill

Purchase a numbered limited launch edition of Square2 that night!

Event will be free of charge.

Sponsored by Angeline’s Inn and Restaurant

RSVP: info@sparkboxstudio.com

In the past two weeks I’ve met nearly half a dozen of people who had actually hand-set type at one point. Emerging from this labour heavy printing process came the automated printing press. These mechanized machines further increased productivity by introducing plate printing techniques apposed to hand-set type. They have become more complex over the years and are still in use at commercial printers.

I highly suggest taking a tour of a commercial print studio, you’ll probably find a few old and wild looking machines. Generations today will likely not get to experience lead type used for an off-set printing press or a clunky typewriter. Unfortunately, like many things today I feel the inkjet version of type just isn’t as fascinating as the original handmade, hand-set, hand-inked, hand-printed quality of letterpress.

We’re proud to announce the most recent addition to the facilities at Spark Box Studio a 1928, 3″ x 5″, letterpress and three font sets. Set the font yourself, mix your own ink, hand-print every piece and feel the power of type.