"Bon session!"

This was one of my first sort of "weekends" where I actually did very little work in quite a while. I kind of cheated and did an exposure test and exposed and washed out two screens for something I will be printing tomorrow. I'm trying out a different emulsion, and I quite like it so far. I also saw some good bands (The Flatliners and Hostage Life). My old band actually played with the Flatliners in 2005 in Ontario. It's really cool to see a punk show where people actually seem excited about what's going on. I tend to see a lot of that in Montreal--it's refreshing.
Today, I saw a French separatist rally and went skateboarding at the world famous Olympic Stadium. I met some very nice locals and got to practice frontside rocks, a bit of French, and in one case both ("C'est mon premier frontside rock en le Big O!"). It has been two years since I last skated at this spot, and it has been difficult adjusting to its unique shape and feel. Nevertheless, there is nothing like it, and I can't wait to skate there again. As a sort of outsider, I try to approach such a sacred local spot with a certain degree of cautious respect. The locals I met were all extremely nice and offered encouragement as I worked on frontside rocks, tailslides, and backside disasters. Their respective bags of tricks were much larger and considerably more impressive than mine, but as one of them said today, it's really about the energy of the session and how we feed off of and push one another. I can't help but think he was absolutely right. I ended up feeling like I was a part of the skate session rather than just some quiet American lurker. After we were all finished skating, we ended up hanging around and shooting the shit for over an hour. We parted ways shortly after it got dark.
I skated back to the Metro (Montreal's subway system) with a big smile on my face. I simply couldn't help it.

Almond milk and bagels

Greetings from Montreal! I arrived at the apartment at about 5 AM on Sunday following a fourteen hour drive across Michigan and Ontario. I've already gotten lost in the city once and have engaged in multiple faux arguments with some friends regarding the metric system.
While I still haven't totally unpacked, my light table is set up (right in front of a window, too), and I've been hard at work on two new prints, as well as finishing up some art for a band t shirt. I've also been eating a lot of veggie pâté and tofu dogs, the former being something I've never been able to find in the US, unfortunately.
I do enjoy illustration work, and I'm very happy with the project I'm working on at the moment. But I've been especially excited about these new art prints. Even as I was eating lunch today, I couldn't wait to get back to the light table to continue working.
It's a beautiful late spring evening, and I can hear a bunch of kids playing outside of our living room window. I can't help but smile a bit, as it reminds me of being ten years old again -- just counting the days until summer vacation. With that said, I believe it's time to go skateboarding!

You might go off

To the left is the art in progress for a poster I'm doing. I've pretty much been drawing since 4 PM, and I'd say it's coming along pretty nicely. However, I'm doing my best to talk myself into calling it quits for the night. I also printed a new poster on my brand new manual press this morning, so needless to say, I'm rather tired.
On Friday of this week, I will be driving to Montreal. I'm moving in with my friend Phil, and I will be living and working (from an apartment) in downtown Montreal for the rest of May and June. I plan on participating in Flatstock 21 in Chicago, so I'll be back in Illinois come July. I have lots of art prints and other projects to work on as soon as I get there, so my first week in Montreal is slated to be a very busy one. At some point, I do plan to take a short vacation and see some whales or something. Yeah, you can do that in Quebec.

Notes from the couch

Last night was the opening reception for my show at Within(Reason) in Chicago. I unexpectedly woke up on Wednesday with stomach pain, which ended up being appendicitis. I had surgery to remove my appendix and spent the following day in a hospital bed. I was discharged on Thursday evening and managed to finish installing the show with help from my friends Logan, Vija, and Ron. This show also featured a small group exhibition to raise money for a community library in Nairobi, Kenya.
Earlier during the week, I attended the first meeting of the Chicago Printer's Guild. The aim is to form a local network for support, technique/tip sharing, and social gatherings. The Chicago screen printing scene is notably tight-knit and non competitive. I'm very excited to see what great things will come from the Chicago Printers Guild.
Next on the agenda are two new posters and some prints for a couple of group shows (Screens N Beans and a bird themed print show at Liea Bell's Signed & Numbered gallery). I will also be spending some time in the beautiful city of Montreal this summer---more on that soon!

Past is Present

There has certainly been a lack up updates here, which can be attributed to the regular ten-hour days I've been putting in creating new work for my upcoming show, packing and shipping out mailing tubes, and getting all my ducks in a row for an exciting next few months. That and the weather has been (kind of) nicer, so I'm spending time on my skateboard when I can. In any event, I'm really looking forward to the opening at Within Reason in May 8th. I'm anxious to see how it will all come together.
Other than that, I've got a couple of gigposters and some new art prints in the hanger (hanger, airplanes--get it? Ha.), so while my sore wrists may be requesting otherwise, I do have quite a bit more printing to do in the coming months.Above is a shot of my light table. It actually belonged to my mother, who used to do typesetting by hand in the 70's and 80's. She taught me how to use a T-square and triangle. I snapped this picture as I was organizing my space this morning. That brand new sheet of clayboard will be occupying a portion of my day. Working with clayboard is an interesting process. Maybe I'll document its journey.

Shifting gears quite a bit here, please check out The Real News if you haven't. It's in its early stages right now, but their stated goal is to become a totally viewer-funded, non-corporate TV news network to deliver real analysis that would be crucial to a true democracy. Right now, network news is little more than sensationalism and Washington stenography. Any deviation from the official story is considered "biased" or simply goes unreported.
For starters, I highly recommend their recent report, Past is Present in Latin America.

Cheers!

Come to the Sabat

April is going to be a very busy month for me, as I'm preparing for a small solo exhibition in Chicago at the art gallery I worked at last year. Information posted below.
Gestures in a Blender
An exhibition of screen printed art and drawings by Justin Santora
opening Friday, May 8th, 2009
reception: 6:30-9:30 pm
Within(Reason)
1932 S Halsted, #408, Chicago, IL 60608
This opening will also feature an additional group exhibition of donated artwork that will be sold to raise money for community programs in Kenya. Ron Reason is an awesome guy who has been doing things to help people in Nairobi establish a community library with donated books, as well as a kids club and arts program. Check out some of Ron's pictures from his travels in Kenya.

Condition Ashland

Well, it's getting to be that time when I can go skateboarding outside again. Yesterday was especially nice, but I used the sunlight to print some cyanotypes instead. To the right is a shot of me in my friend Logan's workspace preparing paper for the process. Something I especially like about the cyanotype printing is that you can get really nice washed edges by applying the solution with a brush. Logan has also acheived some nice results by using a puddle pusher, which I suppose would be the photography world's counterpart to the scoopcoater.
The cyanotype process is rather easy, and it's a form of contact printing, meaning the film is placed directly on the coated paper and exposed to a light source. I made a negative by inverting a page from my sketchbook and xeroxing it onto acetate. We sandwiched the film and paper between two sheets of glass and exposed in direct sunlight. After exposure, we rinsed and dried the prints. I was very pleased with the results, and since I was working from an inverted pen drawing, the high contrast proved to be rather easy to print.
Expect a small edition of hand-coated, sun-exposed cyanotypes in the coming days. Ha, once a printmaker, always a printmaker.
Here is a more detailed process in the gigposters.com forums.

I printed posters for one of my all time favorites, Propagandhi earlier this week. I've been exploring clayboard as a medium lately. I love drawing with ink, but I also enjoy working subtractively. Clayboard is a remarkably versatile drawing surface, making it pretty easy to work with once you start to get a feel for it. Kathleen Judge and Dan Grzeca are two very talented Chicago poster artists who use a lot of clayboard for their drawing. Below is the final printed Propagandhi poster (original drawing was ink on clayboard) and an illustration I completed this week for the band, Caustic Casanova.


Lots of new art prints, cyanotypes, and a poster or two are well on the way, so I hope you'll check back soon!