June 2023 Newsletter
/
Stay out of the rain and in the loop!
We’re right in the middle of the summer. Here in Miami, it’s hot, it’s raining, the plants are green, the ocean’s blue, and there’s a million and one things to do. We’re having the best time making prints and books at the studio between openings and summer art-related road trips.
There’s no shortage of wonderful work to see this month in South Florida, so if you’re looking to stay cool, maybe put these on your calendar?
You can see some brilliant work by Donna Ruff in her solo exhibition Terra Incognita at the Deering Estate until August 31st. We are incredibly grateful to have been able to work with Donna to produce many of the gorgeous screenprints of archival images which are on view in this exhibition.
A dear friend of the studio, Luke Jenkins of In Bloom Studio, has a solo exhibition of his own on view at the Coral Springs Museum of Art. The exhibition, Consumption, is on view through the summer. In Bloom Studio has been absolutely essential to the completion of so many of our projects (and the construction of many of our walls and wacky wood structures) over time, so we were delighted to be able to help Luke explore some of the possibilities of printmaking for this show.
And if you’d like to come to an opening reception, we’ve got one coming up fast! At the end of July, please join us at Studio 18 in Pembroke Pines for the opening of Chance Encounters, an exhibition we have curated of portfolio exchanges. This started with the kick off of our portfolio exchange program with our first annual IS Projects Portfolio Exchange, Under the Sun, and has grown to include a handful of exchanges we’ve borrowed from folks we love and a special exchange organized for this exhibition by a group of artists with studios at Studio 18. The opening reception is Friday, July 28th from 7-9PM. Keep an eye out for an announcement about a live performance being planned for the opening.
Will we see you there?
The new workshops are out!
We’ve got all new workshops published on our Classes + Events Page for July, August, and September. There are some tried-and-true classics and some brand new special offerings. Head over to our website to see them all! We’d particularly like to highlight these two, though:
Print Club: Pochoir with Sammi McLean: Saturday, July 8th, 10AM-12PM
Pochoir is a fantastic low-tech addition to anyone’s toolbelt. “Pochoir” is just French for “stencil”, but if you’d like to learn the ins and out of making effective stencils and getting great results with them (plus a little background info and all the essentials print skills involved to produce small editions with multiple layers this way), this demo is a must. It is followed by a special Open Studio Session from noon to 4PM that is only available to the demo participants. Don’t forget that all Print Club demo + open studio days are 50% off to Print Club members!
Longstitch Binding with Brooke Frank: Saturday, July 29th, 12PM-3PM
Longstitch is one of our favorite bindings to teach at IS Projects. You don’t need any bookbinding experience at all to learn how to make these books, and they always come out looking sharp and luxurious. This binding results in beautiful exposed stitching into a soft leather cover, resulting in a book with a flexible spine which lays flat when open. No glue required!
Members Only
We’ve had a wave of incredible new folks become Studio Members this month (hello! thank you!) and we would love to see that continue. If you’ve been looking for a good time to come in and get acquainted with the presses, there’s really no time like the present.
We have plenty of availability for assisted and unassisted studio time, a whole summer’s worth of Open Studio Sessions are soon to be announced, and Member’s Only Monthly Studio Passes published on our website from now through November. If you’re working toward big things, definitely check out the passes — if we’re open, the pass gets you in!
The discounts on our scheduled workshops and custom private workshops just sweeten the deal.
Apply to be an Intern or Key Holder
Summer Intern Angelina Parrino wearing all the right PPE and preparing to bust into a bucket of haze remover so she can freshen up our screens. The Coveted Gold Raincoat is definitely essential.
All the things we do here are made possible by a wonderful network of artists with all different backgrounds and goals. Most folks who want to get involved from the inside and be a part of our day-to-day operations end up applying to participate in either our Key Holder Residency or our Internship Program.
Our Key Holder residents need to be able to work independently in our facilities. They trade the equivalent of 4 hours of work per week in exchange for 24/7 studio access, a flat file drawer, and their own shiny studio key.
Our Interns work a total of 120 hours, learning many of our most important studio skills on the clock so that they can assist us with events, projects, and studio maintenance, and are granted 120 hours of studio access during our open hours and are paid a stipend of $1500.
Both programs put these artists right at the center of Miami’s vibrant print, book, and paper community. If you want to make art and make friends here at IS Projects and you’re interested in getting started this fall, get ready — applications for both programs are due on July 15th.
Don’t hesitate and don’t wait! Application instructions are linked above.
Artists’ Book Feature
For this month’s artists’ book feature, we wanted to put Convergence by Michelle A M Miller in the spotlight.
Convergence was produced at IS Projects in 2020 as a part of the Existent Books publishing program. The book touches multiple disciplines and utilizes a wild number of the processes we’re best at here at IS Projects as well as a few that we don’t. It involved letterpress and screenprinting, both in algae-based ink. It has a 3D-printed slipcase and laser-cut pages, a drum leaf binding and a foil-stamped cover. Michelle even managed to incorporate an accompanying musical composition, which can be heard on her website.
More importantly, Convergence offers a stunning insight into art’s power to give the things we care about a life beyond their own. To say that Convergence documents Miskitu — an endangered language of which Michelle’s mother is one of few remaining native speakers — is to understate the role of Miskitu in the book. In it, we see words from this language in use. They take on a meaningful role in Michelle’s own exploration of the ideas and interests that motivate her movement through the world, and we come to understand the words through their context. The words, in essence, aren’t just recorded, they’re meaningfully used.
Michelle has just returned to South Florida from the Artist’s Book Residency Grant at Women’s Studio Workshop. We can’t wait to see how it has shaped her practice, and how she will continue to shape the world of artists’ books in the future.