November 2023 Newsletter
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Scenes from September’s Screenprinting Intensive
Art, love, and money
The holiday season has arrived with full force. The arguments about when is too early to start seeing tinsel in the stores and listening to Mariah Carey are coming to a close — Thanksgiving is imminent. There are a million things to love and dread this time of year, and a million more arguments to have about all kinds of things, big and small, but wherever you fall in the vast assortment of perspectives about these holidays and the traditions and conversations they bring, trying to keep love and connection at the center will make it easier to handle any friction that comes your way. And if your plans are friction-free? Then you’re in an even better position to focus on the care you’re putting into things — yourself, the people you love, your community, the world around you.
That’s what it’s all about, right? It can be hard to keep an eye on care and gratitude when there are so many distractions and horrors at our fingertips. Those small acts of care add up, though. They’re where resilience comes from (fun, too.) So this holiday season, take care. You have tons of options for how you can do that, ranging from the thoughtful to the absurd, and generally speaking, a mixture of approaches can be pretty effective. We’re excited to have things to celebrate, and you can celebrate them with us if you read on!
So that’s all the “love” side of that headline — we’re a little more specialized to address the “art” and “money” parts. Art and love are intertwined and the specific ways they mix together is unique to each artist, and to each piece they make. The money part, in many cases, is just an obstacle. Money can mean new skills, cool materials, and the time and space to make art. It can feel blasphemous to get money involved in love and art, but if you feel that love knows no bounds and art involves transcending its limits, you first need to know what the bounds and limits are (and a lot of times they’re budget.)
For the sake of love and art, we have a few ways to help. With all the irony and sincerity in the world, we have Black Friday/Small Business Saturday/Cyber Monday deals for you. We have a few incredible gift ideas for artists and art lovers. And if you or someone you know is really in the giving spirit, reach out to us! We would love to create more pathways to all the things we do here through direct or institutional sponsorships and partnerships. We would love support for a workshop scholarship program, for our paid internship program, or our residencies.
First: Celebrate with us!
Michael Loveland, Buff Environmental I, 2023
Miami print headed to the the Met!
We’d like to start by taking a moment to give a shout out to an artist we love to work with. Michael Loveland, whose monoprint Buff Environmental I (2023), has been acquired by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York through the generous gift of an anonymous patron. This print is one of several in a series that Loveland worked on here at IS Projects. Being in the room while those prints came into the world was every bit as exciting as you might guess from looking at the print. If you’ve spent any time around the studio, you know there’s never a dull moment here, but the collaborative printing projects we do with artists are pure joy. That is seldom more evident than it is in working with Michael Loveland. Congratulations to you, Michael and to LNS Gallery! The Met’s stewardship of your work is a win for us all, for many years to come. Thank you for letting IS Projects be a part of what you do.
There’s new work on the project wall from the Ouroboros series by Michelle AM Miller!
We are happy to present new work by Michelle AM Miller from her series, Ouroboros. The six pieces are all artist-made shaped paper, pigmented with hand-crushed oyster shell, graphite, charcoal, burnt ash, combined with help from a variety of plastic-free binding agents and adhesives. The care that Miller extends to the world around her through the sustainable materials and processes she uses to make her work are not an obstacle to the mystery, vulnerability, curiosity, and beauty that many of us come to art in search of; her conscientious studio practice is at the heart of these qualities in her work.
From Miller:
”Ouroboros, is part of my ongoing experiment to redefine waste as material opportunity. Through this work, I explore the use of a biomaterial categorized as ‘nuisance waste’ as a viable and beautiful fine art pigment. To do this, I collect discarded shells from local restaurants and use ancestral techniques to clean, cure and process them into an unrefined pearl white. Transformed, the shimmering calcium carbonate is then incorporated into my drawings on recycled fine art papers.”
Please join us for a reception celebrating Michelle and her incredible work on Sunday, December 3rd from 4-6pm (after Progressive Art Brunch). The artist will be present and we will have snacks and bevs for all artists, enthusiasts, and art curious folks who stop by. You can even pick up some last minute holiday gifts while you’re here!
In addition to the handmade paper works installed on the wall, Miller’s 2021 artists’ book, Convergence, will be here in the studio to explore. Convergence was produced through our Existent Books publishing program.
Gifts for the Gifted
Give the gift of new skills (at a discount)!
Start 2024 with a new set of printmaking skills and new friends from your local print community! To help get you started off right or to help you secure the perfect course for your loved ones, we’re having our first ever Small Business Saturday sale on workshops starting today through Monday at Midnight EST!
Receive 10% off all scheduled workshops with code: INKYANDBRIGHT
IS Projects Members receive 20% off all scheduled workshops with code: PRINTINGALLTHEWAY
Gift a Membership
Is there someone in your life who would benefit from an inky community and a place to explore new ideas and new projects? Consider gifting an IS Projects studio membership!
Our Basic Studio Membership includes:
2 hour Welcome Course, which includes studio orientation and a one-on-one strategy session with IS Projects staff to figure out how to best use your studio time.
10% Discount on our scheduled workshops year round
20% Discount on setting up Private Instruction sessions
Invitation to our free Member Nights
Invitation to participate in the annual members print exchange
Quarterly member newsletter
An end-of-the-year print
