Yep, today is the day! Join spurse and I at Rochester Contemporary Art Center (RoCo) for a day of foraging and conversation! For more information, check out the FB event page and/or the project website.

10AM – 4PM Eating Place: An urban foraging workshop
Join us for a gleaning walk to share knowledge and sense a world of pleasures under our feet. Is it possible to map new habits and ways of being in the city? How can sensing our environment activate non-consumer patterns? We will collect edibles from parks, dumpsters, restaurants, markets and create a “freegan” picnic. Dress code: be ready for a little dirt and adventure. Meet us at RoCo at 10am. 137 East Ave.

7PM – 10PM: The Civil Appetites
Taste the local with food gleaned from the streets of Rochester. Come celebrate the launch of spurse’s experimental cookbook Eat Your Sidewalk and join in the discussion!

Also, I am thrilled to report that my Indiegogo campaign was successfully funded on Tuesday! THANK YOU to everyone who donated and helped spread the word! I really appreciate it.

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photo courtesy of spurse

Remember back in March when I was a guest contributor on the George Eastman House Blog? My post, Riding Around In A Camera, was a look back on my experience with the Liminal Camera in response to my visit to GEH to check out the Silver and Water exhibition.

There are two really great events, presented by Metabolic Studio, coming up next week in conjunction with Silver and Water. I will be attending both – join me!

Tuesday, May 7 at 7 pm
Visual Studies Workshop
Pinhole Cinema and an Aesthetic of the Handmade

Robert Schaller will present a theoretical framework for pinhole filmmaking and discuss the implications of the handmade as a part of photography in general. The presentation will be part talk and part film show, illustrated by screenings of Robert’s short handmade pinhole films and documentation of other handmade projects.

Wednesday, May 8 at 6 pm
George Eastman House

An 8-foot by 12-foot negative of Kodak’s chemical factory has sat for the last two months soaking in a shallow bath of water at the George Eastman House, its silver image slowly decaying. Now Bon and her team invite the public to participate in a darkroom performance—the South Gallery will be converted into a darkroom for the evening, and a giant contact print will be made with audience participation.

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please note: I took the photos of the exhibition above back in March – the print submerged in the water has greatly degraded since then.

I finished printing my thank you cards last night! It did NOT go as planned. This is a perfect example of 1. learning from your mistakes and 2. making it work.

If you remember from last week the plan was to print a 2-color thank you card. After spending about 20 mins deciding on a color, I set-up the press making sure my text was centered. Well, my text was centered all right, but somehow didn’t start out that way! As you can see above my print revealed a huge gap between “THANK” and “YOU”. My word spacing was severely off. What to do? Well, I could have trashed the cards and started over, but wanting to save the cards (and not be wasteful) I decided to do a quick re-design. My instructor suggested I browse the ornamental type to add a little interest between the words. After briefly entertaining the idea of adding a martini glass, I went with the Art Deco type you see above.

Since I was now adding a third element to my card, I decided to make the “YOU” black ink and the ornament my second color – Pantone 485U. So, technically, although 2-colors my cards ended up being 3-impressions.

What did I do wrong? Honestly, I’m still not entirely sure what happened. What I do know, is that I could have caught this mistake earlier on if I proofed with the “THANK YOU” and then printed the “THANK” and “YOU” separately. Learning moment!

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Read about Lovin’ Letterpress II – Week 1!

Above are a couple of Instagram photos of my Collaborator Tote Bag I designed for my Indiegogo campaign. There are 3 days left to donate – want a tote bag? Donate $25 today!

Folks have asked if I will be selling the bags in my shop after the campaign is over. Since I designed the bags specifically for thank you gifts for my campaign funders, I’m waiting for the campaign to wrap up before adding them to my online shop. For now, donate $25 and receive a tote! THANKS!

The tote bags are handprinted by Hey Buddy! here in Rochester, NY.

I’m back in the print studio! Last night was my first Lovin’ Letterpress II class at the Printing & Book Arts Center (PABA) at the Genesee Center for the Arts. I am thrilled to share that I am able to take this class right now because I was awarded a scholarship from Ladies of Letterpress!

Since it’s been nearly two years since I took Lovin’ Letterpress I (doesn’t feel like two years!) my goal for last night was to simply re-familiarize myself with PABA. I was surprised when I walked through the door and saw that PABA moved some things around! The place looks great. There is a “new” (to me) reception area and mini-gallery to showcase student work and give project samples. A majority of the type cases are now in the basement which allows for more room in the main space. PABA looks great! Such a nice space to work in.

After I spent a good hour looking around I got to work. Going into class I knew I wanted to make a batch of thank you cards for my Indiegogo campaign funders. I also knew I wanted to attempt to print 2-color since I have only ever done 1-color. Last night I printed the “THANK” and “www.megancharland.com” in black ink. Next week I’ll be printing the second color which I haven’t decided on yet. At first I wanted to use a hot pink for “YOU”, but I’m not sure. I’ll post photos of the final cards next week!

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Lovin’ Letterpress | RECAP – read a recap of my 10 week experience in Lovin’ Letterpress I –> this post links to each individual weekly post on my old blog: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 & 4, Week 5 & 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9 and Week 10!

I’m excited to be sharing my current work in progress with The Rochester Critique Group at Imagine RIT on May 4th! I’ve been working on a new book project since this past fall and looking forward to spending more time on it as I wrap up my thesis project. So, mark your calendars and JOIN US! Also, HUGE thanks to our fearless leader Alyssa Marzolf who brought us together, started The Rochester Critique Group, and signed us up to exhibit on May 4th! YAY!

Imagine RIT
May 4, 2013, 10AM-5PM
Free – Rain or Shine

The Rochester Critique Group Exhibit
Exhibit Code: LOW-110
Zone: Business District
Location: Max Lowenthal Hall (LOW/012) – Second Floor
Time: All Day
Age Group: 15-adult

Description:
The Rochester Critique Group’s mission is to foster creative growth in a positive, supportive, and stimulating environment for artists, critics, curators, and/or those interested in forging a position in the art community. The Rochester Critique Group is presenting an exhibit that is comprised of various artworks by Rochester-based artists. Our group aims to grow exponentially as local, emerging artists discover the vitality of the critique in their works’ developmental process and growth. The Rochester Critique Group plans to participate in various aspects of the art world, including exhibitions and print-on-demand books.

Members:
Alyssa Marzolf, Whitney Warne, Justin Schmidt, Nick Marshall, Tim Avery, Nick Brandreth, Jim DeWitt, Greg Caggiano, Adam Maida, Peter Lazarski, Travis Johansen, Kaitlin Legg, Cameron Farash, Paul Schlieter, Doug Weglicki, Margaret Storms, Amy Lula, Laura Walczak, Greta Page-Mann, Kathryn DeFeo, Jesse Ames, Jenna Shay, Ali Sable, Declan Ryan, Megan Charland, Janna Salmin, Cory E. Card, Ben Gilberg

Have you been in to see Eat It: Artists Explore Food & Consumption at Rochester Contemporary Art Center yet? The opening was a couple of weeks ago – you can read more about that and see more photos (photo above from opening reception of Eat It) over on The Civil Appetites blog. There is also an invitation to dinner over on that blog – join spurse and I on May 3rd!

PRESS: there is a nice Eat It review over on City Newspaper’s blog.

Today is the last day to submit to 6x6x2013! It’s been great watching the photos from RoCo’s Facebook Page cross my feed – so many photos of boxes upon boxes of 6×6 entries! I can’t wait for the opening on June 1st!

Details:

- RoCo is open from 1-5pm today, so get your submissions in! Finish up your submission with your cup of coffee this morning!

- Each artwork must be 6×6 square inches (15cm) or mounted to a 6×6 board, and signed only on the back, to be exhibited anonymously.

- All entries will be accepted, exhibited and will be for sale to the public for $20 each (in the gallery and online for global purchasing) to benefit RoCo.

- Artist names will be revealed to the buyer upon purchase and all artworks remain on display through July 14, 2013. Sold Out artists’ names will be revealed next to their work online on July 5.

- Anyone may enter up to 6 artworks of any medium (2D or 3D) and there is no fee to enter.

Ready to submit? Let’s do this! Here is the Entry Form – PDF and check out the 6×6 website for FAQs.

I cannot emphasize enough how FUN this exhibition is to participate in and it gets even better every year! 6x6x2013 – you’re already looking good!

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photos from 6x6x2012 – click link for even more photos!

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I love 6×6 season! Last year I assisted RoCo Staff in photographing 7,505 works of art (donated by 3,050 artists from all 50 states and 45 countries!) for the 6x6x2012 on-line gallery. 2011 I assisted RoCo Staff in photographing 4,407 works of art (donated from all 50 states and 34 countries!) for the 6x6x2011: Global on-line gallery. I assisted RoCo Staff in photographing 5,004 works of art for the 6x6x2010: You Asked For It on-line gallery, I personally photographed 3,077 works of art for the 6x6x2009 – Second and Final Year! on-line gallery, and I assisted in the design and coordination of 6x6x2008 – the FIRST 6×6 exhibition! Love 6×6. Love.

Just a reminder that the opening of Eat It at Rochester Contemporary Art Center is tonight from 6pm-10pm!

–> read the rest of this post over on The Civil Appetites blog!

I am SO EXCITED to share with you what I have been working on for my MFA thesis project! I am producing and co-curating The Civil Appetites in conjunction with the exhibition Eat It at Rochester Contemporary Art Center (RoCo).

The Civil Appetites is an experimental dinner event with research and design collaborative spurse, aimed at exploring future food ways and commons. TCA is co-curated by Matthew Friday.

Yesterday I launched The Civil Appetites website where I will be posting updates regarding the project. Matthew, spurse, and I are currently planning our installation. I’m installing NEXT WEEK!

There are two components to this project. One is the installation which will be up at RoCo from April 4 – May 12, 2013 and the second component is the dinner event on May 3, 2013. To fund the dinner, I have launched an Indiegogo campaign!

When coming up with the “perks” for our donors, spurse provided goodies from their EAT YOUR SIDEWALK cookbook/project. I designed the Collaborator Tote Bag (who doesn’t love a tote bag?!) and I’m having them handprinted by Hey Buddy! here in Rochester, NY. Yay!

Please consider donating to our Indiegogo campaign! Every dollar helps! THANK YOU!

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RSVP to the Facebook Event if you want to join us for the dinner on May 3rd – which happens to be First Friday!

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sketch of the Collaborator Tote Bag above. I will share the final product once printed.