Just got back from a week long vacation in sleepy St. Simon’s Island, Georgia. First real family vacation I can remember. Most of the ‘vacations’ growing up involved packing the family into a car once a month for a trip to the Grandparent’s who lived in Hannibal, MO.
The shots above sum up the trip: lots of kids, lots of bikes, lots of heat. Overall it was a great time, and Holga shots are in development at the moment.
Below are shots I’ve sent in for dArt St. Louis, which was an event at FK where they projected a large map of St. Louis city and anyone was welcome to throw a dart at it. Where it lands is where you shoot. I aimed high, but landed at 20th and Clark, which is seen below… a desolate corner surrounding Union Station. All work from those who participated will be displayed on May 28th at FK.
More information can be found here.
I’m looking forward to see what everyone got — see you there.
I don’t care how easy they make it to update a blog, some people just aren’t cut out for setting aside time to write anything of value (or attempt to)… especially about themselves. Regardless, here’s my catch-up entry on whats been happening in the last month or so, and what’s coming up for me in the next few weeks:
The AIGA St. Louis Chapter Annual Meeting/20-20 Show seemed to be a hit, great turnout and everyone seemed pretty excited about all aspects of the event. I printed 20 letterpress posters on Kirsten’s Vandercook that were given away at the event (along with 20 other local designers/illustrators). I am planning on releasing the extras and test prints that I printed for cheap-purchase on etsy in a few weeks. Shots from the event and my work can be seen here.
For the past 5 years I have been casually looking for a small letterpress. Tabletop presses are hard to find, and when you do see them, the prices are astronomical and keep climbing. Printing this job for the AIGA pushed my search from a casual search to a very involved one, and within about 2 weeks of scouring a few sites daily, I finally found one that was in a weekend-driving distance. So I’m heading to Denver in a couple of weeks to bring it home. It’s a fully-restored 5 x 8 Imperial, and if this takes off for me like I hope then the next hunt is for the beloved Vandercook.
Here she is:
Also in big news, two of the sites I worked on last year: Dan Flavin: Constructed Light and The Light Project both were selected for the AIGA National 365 Annual and Design Archives, — the Flavin site also won a National Addy, but it hasn’t been announced yet if its gold or silver. The last AIGA National award for me was the FK Photo site way back in 2005. I’ve always held certain awards and publications in high regards, AIGA National being one of them, so I’m very honored and happy for everyone who was involved in these sites.
Listening to:
Lots of things, its been a pretty good year for new music. But here’s the list I jotted down to remind myself which albums I really wanted to take in an upcoming weekend of 26 hours in a car: american analog set (hard to find bsides), the wooden birds, papercuts (new), pains of being pure at heart, fever ray, jens lekman, crystal stilts (ep), here we go magic, deerhunter (new ep), grandaddy (old), miles benjamin anthony robinson, lotus plaza.
Reading:
In slow motion: Gun Germs & Steel and The Age of the Unthinkable.
Going to:
Denver (see above) in car and in 3 days.
The coast of Georgia & Savannah, for the first ever family vacation.
Thinking about:
Making some hand-drawn type as eps sets.
Playing some washers.
Buying this waterproof lumix.
Not spending any more time than I need to in a hot attic behind a computer screen.
iPhone camera apps.
Cleaning up this blog.
Lakes.
Dealing with:
Being a landlord… or attempting to. There’s nothing fun about taking applications, running credit, rejecting people (the worst), showing property, and dealing with no-shows. Especially when you and your wife don’t really have the time to do it in the most organized and effective way.
Seasonal Allergies.
Water leaking into my house and out from under my toilet.
Sneak peek at some Letterpress posters I designed and printed a couple of weeks back for the upcoming 20:20 project for the AIGA St. Louis Chapter. 20 designers/artists/ilustrators were asked to design 20 posters which will be available at the chapters 20th anniversary event.
I’ll post better shots after the event, as well as linking to some prints and test prints i’ll put up for sale on etsy after the event is over. The event is May 7th at FK Photo Studio in the LBD, for more information on the event: click here.
Wish List: This House
Just launched the TOKY News Blog as part of a ‘phase 1′ for launch of the new site and project archives. I seem to spend the majority of my awake hours here, and happen to post a lot of what you see on there, so I’ll likely be updating that with new work more than this, but who knows.
Back from Museums & the Web in Indianapolis. Pretty good conference dedicated to Museums and online collections. Interesting to hear the pains and challenges of building a massive presence online from the client’s perspective, directed toward other museums about to undergo the same process (in the case I’m referring to from SFMOMA, MOMA and NGA).
Other non-conference highlights from the trip:
Navigating through Teabaggers on arrival
Tata Cuban Cafe
&
Dave Churchman’s Letterpress Warehouse in West Indianapolis. Over 30 years of accumulating (and rotating) wood and metal type, letterpress equipment as well as cuts and caps. My quest for a pilot press of my very own was halted when I found out how much they are now going for (thanks etsy). Kirsten made out well. A few pics follow, more can be seen here.
I’m packing up this week to spend some time in Indianpolis at the Museums & the Web Conference. This is a conference “devoted to the exploration of art, science, natural and cultural heritage on-line.” Should be interesting and relate well to some recent and upcoming work.
Speaking of… We just launched a site for the Old Masters exhibit which is still on display at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts in St. Louis. A while back we launched the kiosk, and now that the content and shoots for the exhibit have been finalized, the site has launched. Screens below, view the full site at oldmasters.pulitzerarts.org.
Accident from an old Diana roll.
A recent trip with the Diana turned out to produce a blank roll of film, which is disappointing after I had thought there would have been some great shots. More to come.
Going through the archives this afternoon. Found a still from a video that never was.
A couple of years ago now, Photogravure.com launched and quickly became a premier online resource dedicated to the Art of the Photogravure. This site is continuously updated and maintained by Mark Katzman of FK Photo in St. Louis, Missouri.
Since the launch, the site has received numerous accolades. To name a few: Communication Arts Web Pick of the Week including a full page dedicated to the site in a print issue, inclusion in the PDN Design Annual as well as making TED’s list of 100 sites you should know and use.
I’ve also since added a few Photogravures to my collection such as: E.O. Hoppe, Fassbender, Seely, De Zayas and De Meyer. I’d love to get a hold of Bradford Washburn’s Photographing in High Places, if anyone is offering.
Check out some not-so-great shots from the Photogravure.com launch party.
New category: Wish List. First Item: These Globes.
The only time it wasn’t pouring rain was when we stopped at Cornerstone Gardens off of 121.
Each landscape artist gets 1800 sqft. to do with as he/she wishes.
A few months ago we were asked to build a quick kiosk for the opening of Ideal (Dis-)Placements: Old Masters at the Pulitzer. From this kiosk users can explore the works, but the key component are the videos. Each of the curator videos cover an aspect of the works or how they work with Ando’s Pulitzer design. From within each video, users can ask a question for the curator, then that question is mailed to the curator and the answer is posted to the web site.
As I write this, the current web site is an interim site. The upcoming full site will have more features and content, and will be live in March/April 2009.
Also to note: This kiosk isn’t a kiosk in the true sense. It’s a full-screen all flash site running locally and using plainview on a station located in the building. Which is how these guys pictured below left this hilarious pic on the computer, apparently the passcode wasn’t set when booting it up one afternoon.
Make sure to stop by the Pulitzer before this show is gone forever, the exhibit runs through June 20, 2009.
