Tonight is the annual CalArts Graphic Design show which consists of three different spaces focusing on the different parts of our program. One space will showcase the undergraduate work and another space parallel will showcase the graduate program. And in a third theater space motion work from the whole program will be showcased. It’s an exciting night for CalArts Graphic Design, a night to see all of our hard work come together.

Official information:
May 10th – May 17th 2012
Opening: 8PM Thursday, May 10th 2012

California Institute of the Arts
Room D301/300 & The Bijou
24700 McBean Pkwy
Valencia, CA 91355

SECOND STORY OF YOUR BODY
by Angela Hume

The Tiny Presses: Literary Citizenship class taught by Jen Hofer has been researching various tiny press practices from all over this term. (If you get a chance, take Jen’s class! It’s really wonderful) A few presses have visited the class talking about their various struggles and epiphanies since starting up presses, and a few have corresponded with the class over email. Each student in the class was asked to choose a press, and learn as much as they could as well as curate a few books for the class to read. I chose Portable Press @ Yo-Yo Labs based out of Brooklyn, NY.

The books are absolutely gorgeous, and all designed by Brenda Iijima, who I was fortunate enough to host an interview with. Her answers are a treat to read, and pertinent to both the writing and design communities. Definitely check out the books, they’re not expensive and presses like PP@YYL are completely financed by our peers in the design/writing worlds.

SIR by HR Hegnauer

Brenda, a running discussion in both the Tiny Press class as well as the design community has been the nature of “the book”. What is a book to you and to PP@YYL? This is a difficult question… I guess I am most interested in what the bare minimum pieces required to constitute a “book”?

Here is a rough draft of some notes pertaining to what a book might be in its potentiality. The aspect I’d like to stress most of all is that a book is a social document. A book is the skin and subcutaneous layers of culture in its formation, emergence and cohesion (how ideas link with other ideas). We need these documents as humans, to understand what we are being. How we are being. A book, if we think of it beyond genre is a body, a text, a script, a vision, a motion, a warning (of what it is not), and a guide—please add to this list. As humans we are very very susceptible to ideas. We digest ideas and they become the way we negotiate presence and action. That’s why we have to take our forms so seriously and try and anticipate subtle shifts in how we might be (begin new processes). Every acknowledgement, influence, appropriation, inclusion, etc. forms networks of relation. We are accountable to these flows of energy. We have to be utterly aware of what bodies we are placing in the position of power by these references in our work, in our published material. This then forms a contemporary identification—what it means to be in our present time. We indicate what we think is important, it is inevitable—so all acknowledgements, attributes, quotations etc. have to be very much considered.

PEACHES: THE YES-GIRL by Shelly Taylor

A book is therefore what creates the future/or lack thereof if we are simply retracing endlessly problematic ways of being (see racism, sexism, poverty and other social issues that press upon human life). The way we enter into the environment and coexist is represented in how the text finds an ecosystem in a readership. This doesn’t seem like a functioning metaphor but I think it can be. Everything pertains to everything else. We use books to make this clear, to create receptivity, connections. We also talk, discourse, and use other modes of communication, but the book is important because it is a container and stores information and feeling for longer durations. What is really ephemeral is temporarily suspended. A book is like a refrigerator! I could say more—I should. But will abbreviate here for lack of time. Thank you for this feisty question!!!!

The name: is the press portable? What is the lab? Naming a project is one of the richest aspects for me; how did you come up with that name specifically?

When I started the press I wanted its name to represent how transitional, portable and mutable the process of starting out publishing other poets works seemed. That’s to say, I didn’t know how it all would go, what would change, how I would change as a poet, editor and publisher in the process—something I hoped (and still hope) to be very aware of (those changes). It is about making books that obviously are portable—sharing ideas, creativity, the imagination, pressing concerns, etc. It was such a thrilling prospect—to be in touch with other people’s work, work that I respect and admire. That other thinkers would entrust their work with me and I set about making a scintillating, exchangeable vehicle for their work: a book. This was the way to be most in touch with contemporaries—the contemporary. How better to understand the important and vital moods, modes, political valences, feminist expressions, gendered moves, ideation, etc. The “labs” part was a bit of humor. As if there is this vast apparatus in the wings building these books when it is just me working out the details as best as I can in collaboration with the poets I publish. “Lab” also to somehow join scientific concerns with literary concerns. I hoped the name would be playful and energetic, not pretentious. 44 titles later I still get a thrill saying Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs.

When you first began the press (2002? When the first chapbook on the list is dated to?), what did you imagine happening from then until now? What do you imagine the next decade will hold for PP@YYL?

My main aim was to learn about poetry through this intimate and direct means and find out who shared affinities, interesting modes of thinking, what was possible, what was stimulating. To put works into conversation, to put poets in conversation. To get this great work out there. It was learning by doing and doing as teaching as well. I had things to offer as someone who switched over from visual arts to poetry. I hoped to make interesting, compelling books that weren’t too costly or overdone. Simple, charged and real. As time went on I saw this project through a feminist filter—how important it is to make sure women are being published.

STRAP/HALO by Jamie Townsend

Also, all underrepresented voices. I’m very keen on this and make it a demand of my press, a necessity a point of contention (with other presses). I try to reach out to poets I don’t know so I’m not only publishing my friends which can be a form of insularity or even hegemony somehow. This makes me very open to new readings, new works, new expressions. This is still an aim. Culture is constantly shifting under our gaze. I don’t publish work that is alike, necessarily. It is more interesting to see divergences and similarities together, how this works in tandem. Does this make sense?! I’ve been very committed to publishing first time authors and poets who haven’t had much exposure. This is very exciting for me. It gives someone a forum. To open the dialogue socially. Chapbooks are first and foremost social documents that need to be read, discussed, etc. I always wonder if I should publish more perfect-bound full-length collections instead of chapbooks which are much more ephemeral. I love chapbooks because they are really read. One can read a chapbook from cover to cover in about 20 minutes. There is nothing per say intimidating about a chapbook. I think this is its special quality, among other things. Chapbooks are ephemeral ideas that are easy to get out there and pass around. Goals: to be true to all of this that I have just written. To be as generous with the poets I work with—offering full engagement, discussion, networks.

STATICTICIANS by Chris Mattison

In an interview of yours through brooklynrail.org, you mentioned “I hope that someone who picks up a PPAYYL publication engages with the eyes, the hands, the ears–none of the senses should shut down once reading occurs…”. Coming from a place of meticulous creative methodologies/process, what is the process by which the visual/literary aspects of PP@YYL come together?

We are such sensory beings, humans (human-animals). We shouldn’t foreclose chances to be completely immersed in the tactile qualities of a book. Why should a book be ugly—it shouldn’t, ever. That would be sad and unfortunate. Maybe botched is a better word because these days I’m no sure I can differentiate “ugly”—it is such a loaded critique that I won’t go into here. I’m trying to make a point that when you read you stimulate all the other senses and therefore reengage with the world more fully. Reading awakens the imagination and holding an interesting book provokes alternative responses. Echoing what I said in the above response, books chronicle our contemporary times, what this means. Books that are retroactive or nostalgic don’t particularly interest me. Alive, real and of our time. Social documents that depict the real (which is of course, imaginative).

On a similar note: how does being an artist+writer play into your press? And conversely, does your press practice play back into your personal practice? Does it effect publicity for your work? Does it effect content?

It just means that I bring the knowledge of a visual artist to bear on the production/actualization of the book/making process. Paper, design and image all congeal with the work at hand. I think this does effect/affect public reception of the books and also the content. The content forms a relationship with the look and feel of the book. The public forms a relationship with the look, feel and content of the book. The identity of the book comes together when all of these factors are deeply considered. An interesting looking book begs to be read!

MENTAL COMMITMENT ROBOTS
by Sueyeun Juliette Lee

Besides the mention of open-calls for authors, how do you curate the authors you’ve published? Do you choose authors? Do they find you? Do you meet them through the process or do you know them already? Also, have publishing any of these authors led to collaborations/projects between you/them?

All of these things happen. But for the most part I go to readings and contact poets when I’m really compelled by their work. I use an open call less because it ends up meaning I have to plow through a lot of work that isn’t right for the press. Women submit much less then men so this demands active engagements to form relationships, build trust and share work. It is great to work with poets from other regions of the United States and folks I don’t know. I am committed to working with poets who haven’t published much and are just finding their way within networks, etc. Working through the process of creating a chapbook definitely expands the relationship. There’s a lot of discussion as to where the poet finds themselves community-wise, who they are linked up with, affiliations, connections and how they ground their work. The process is also about encouraging readings to take place and getting the work out there (to bookstores, book fairs, in folks’ hands), etc. Direct collaborations not so much but indirectly my authors collaborate with me constantly along community lines.

Does PP@YYL initiate public happenings or hold readings, public events or workshops? How do PP@YYL distribute aside from the website?

Yes! I’ve done a lot of curating of readings. Right now I have a reading series called 443 PAS. I also invite readers who I haven’t published. I’ve given a lot of workshops and think community participation is very important. Word of mouth is another was that the books are disseminated.

CELL by Allison Cobb

In a few separate book descriptions, I noticed a few of the authors were also published/affiliated with Jill Magi’s Sona books; is this a coincidence? How does PP@YYL go about interacting with another press?

I didn’t realize this! Which books? Jill and I are friends and I’ve published Jill’s work so there is some overlap surely. Presses get to know each other over the years and rely on each other (expertise and friendship). PP@YYL is constantly inspired by all the presses around. There is going to be a big chapbook fair at CUNY soon and that’s where I get a lot of new ideas and renewed commitment to this project.

I want to thank Brenda again, she’s been a real treat to correspond with, and I highly recommend the books, if you’re looking to purchase any of the books, check out the website. They’re beautifully written, and beautifully crafted.

Marcus Hollands recently finished his undergrad in graphic design, we wrote about him a short time ago, and then he started to contribute to FISK by posting about design students in Australia. Now Marcus has founded Styles clothing out of Brisbane, Australia. His t-shirt designs are fun and fresh. I want that Cool Banana shirt!!

From the website:
Styles is a clothing label that creates shirts that have the potential to send your eyeballs on an excursion to wizardville. Styles releases a series of 6 typoandgraphical shirts every quarterly so be quick to snap them up before they’re gone with the wind. Yes the wind is a thief.

www.styles-clothing.com

The CalArts Public Affairs design office has just launched a new website that documents the REDCAT poster series designed and printed by students in the Graphic Design Workshop from 2005 through the present.

redcatposters.calarts.edu

More than 175 posters have been produced so far, so we thought it was about time the series got the documentation it deserves.

A disclaimer: While we’ve done our best to provide the most accurate information possible, our records are incomplete and we can’t identify who some of the designers were. If you can provide any of the missing information, or see errors that need to be corrected, please contact us (at jprichard@calarts.edu) and we’ll update the site. If you happen to have a poster that doesn’t appear on the site, please let us know and we’ll add it to the archive. Our goal is to provide the most complete documentation possible, and to do that we’ll need your help.

Thanks to all the poster designers and everyone else who has been a part of making the series happen.

Enjoy!

Joe Prichard
Graphic Designer,
Office of Public Affairs

Back when we used to make tires. Thanks for the find Lila Burns.

Andrea Tinnes of Typecuts will be lecturing tomorrow night at 7pm. This poster designed by Thomas Kracauer tells you everything you need to know about Andrea!

About Andrea/Typecuts:
Andrea Tinnes is a type and graphic designer as well as educator based in Berlin. Her design practice is focused on client-based as well as self-initiated projects. Through her own label, typecuts, she publishes as well as promotes all her type designs.

www.augustopiccio.com

Collaboration with Armando Mtz-Celis

Collaboration with Alejandro Hernandez

(click images for larger view)

Sarah Heysel is a prolific student in the fine art program at CalArts. She is finishing up her fourth year and will be graduating this fall. Sarah recently exhibited her thesis show titled ‘Blobs‘ at CalArts which displayed a large body of work from 2011-2012. The work in the show displayed a comfort in a wide range of materials/colors. Sarah creates work that is very emotional and pure, all of her pieces have a very natural sense of creating that cross boundaries of abstraction and figurativeness. As well as being playful and dark at the same time.

On her website you can see that her body of work goes further than paintings and drawings, she also makes sculptures, collages, and small publications.

www.sarahheysel.com

Sean Solomon is the hyper active/passionate/motivated student we like to write about, even though he is not a graphic designer. He’s a second year in the experimental animation program at CalArts, he’s in three different bands (Moses Campbell, Heller Keller, and Keychain), he makes zines, drawings, animations and runs No Girls Allowed Records. I’m probably missing a few things but basically Sean somehow manages a million things at once really well.

The first piece above is a four-color screen print (I forgot to mention he screen prints) which is the cover of his newest zine, you can find it at Skylight Books in Los Feliz. Below that is his band, Moses Campbells, newest music video. And last is an animation he did which will be screening at the Los Angeles Animation Festival on March 9th.