I recently wrote a review of two related shows by master draftsman and book artist Karen Anne Klein and her entomoartist (as he calls himself) son Barrett Klein for Pulp Magazine.
To read more about the two shows (on view until May 3) go here
I recently wrote a review for AADL Pulp of Works in Progress, a group show at Ann Arbor Art Center. Consisting of work by 24 (mostly) Detroit/Ann Arbor-based designers at varying stages in their careers, the exhibit illustrates the creative process of gifted thinkers and planners who bring functional works to life through fashion, graphic design, furniture, architecture, and industrial design. To read more about them, go here.
In this dreary and discontented winter season, Public Pool in Hamtramck aims to treat our tired eyes to Printers Without Presses, an exhibit of informal and mostly one-of-a kind printed artworks that “by hook or crook explore ingenious methods of printmaking.” This loosely organized collection of Public Pool regulars (and their friends) showcases artists who are fully literate as conventional printmakers but who, for the purposes of this show, have discarded the more technical aspects of the printmaking process to create work that is personal and playful. Several of the artists are gifted writers as well as visual artists, so text and narrative content play an important role, resulting in a roomful of fresh, unassuming and conversational artworks.
Chicago/Milwaukee artist and accomplished printmaker Tyanna Buie seems not limited but liberated by the simplicity of her means. She employs hand applied ink, hand-cut stencils, collage and photo-based digital images to create Object and Ritual an ambitiously scaled, three-dimensional sculptural print that dominates the center of the gallery.
The seamless connection that the artists display between their online worlds and the lo-tech, hands-on life in the studio is striking. Matthew Milia describes “What’s a Print”, his hand-stenciled rendition of a cell-phone text complete with reception bars and battery status, as an attempt to playfully “subvert the instantaneous, sometimes mindless facility modern technology has afforded correspondence.” Dessislava Terzieva freely admits her piece “We didn’t Start The Fire” is the result of an internet search.
Three of the artists share an interest in the urban natural world of Hamtramck and have clearly influenced each other. In Baby’s Breath and Obsolescence, Keaton Fox compares and contrasts the marks created by inked baby’s breath with the trail of a computer mouse as it is dragged along the surface of the paper. Teresa Peterson and Anne Harrington Hughes have each put together a collection of leaves which they have subsequently used to create print series that are visually related but thematically distinct.
Jeffrey Evergreen and Bayard Kurth III rely on text to convey their colloquial content. Evergreen’s small printed brown bags fit seamlessly into the world of Hamtramck’s bars and he has humorously directed gallery visitors to take one but only “wrapped around a beer.” In addition to prints in the exhibit, Kurth has produced a zine “Improve Your Fishing” which establishes that he is a writer and thinker as well as a doodle-ist. Though not formally included in the show, another zine Stupor/Soft Gun, part of an ongoing series by Knight Fellow Steve Hughes and with illustrations by Alexander Buzzalini (who is in the show), merits attention and you can buy it for the low, low price of $2. 
More purely visual, as opposed to text-based, pieces are provided by Jide Aje and Tim Hailey. Although they trend toward painting with a more distant nod to printmaking, they still fit within the rather loose parameters of the show and provide some nice shots of color.
Alexander Buzzalini contributes a Giacometti-esque branding iron that somehow also recalls his characteristic gloppy painting style. This is accompanied by several branded discs that might be coasters, and the whole thing ties in with his ongoing interest in imagery of the mythic old West. For more about Alexander Buzzalini you can go here to read an essay written (not too co-incidentally) by Steve Hughes, his collaborator on Stupor/Soft Gun.
Like many of the non-profit art spaces in Hamtramck, Public Pool has limited hours, but it’s well worth your time and effort to see this work, on view until February 25. Artists in Printers Without Presses are: Jeff Evergreen, Jide Aje, Bayard Kurth III, Teresa Petersen, Alex Buzzalini, Mathew Milia, Tyanna Buie, Keaton Fox, Anne Hughes, Tim Hailey and Dessislava Terzieva. The gallery is open on Saturdays from 1 to 6. For more information on Public Pool, go here.
(Image: Like a Fish Out of Water, Julie Friedman)
Nature Revealed: The Paper Cuts of Julie Friedman
Opening reception with the artist on Sunday, September 27, 2015, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
The exhibition will be held in the gallery at Firelands Association for the Visual Arts, an arts advocacy and education organization located at 39 South Main Street, Oberlin, Ohio 44074. Gallery hours: Tu-Sa 11-5, Su 1-5. Phone: (440) 774-7158.
Exhibition runs from September 27 – November 8, 2015
Gardening and living close to nature, since moving to Medina County 24 years ago, has slowly influenced Friedman’s artwork. She is drawn to the relationship between the natural world and the man made environment. The themes she investigates relate to the beauty and the power or dominance of nature. Additional touches of magic realism or uncertainty and a mixed up evolutionary process (fish flying, out of scale insects, birds, pets) create a sense of surreality or dreamy make-believe.
The artist finds the physical cutting out of the negative shapes a magical and satisfying act. The abstract shapes fall to the ground to be swept away and reveal the silhouetted image. The shadows created by light illuminating the cutout produce another stratum to the art on walls and floor surrounding and drawing in the viewer.
About the artist:
Julie Friedman studied with book artist Walter Hamady while working on an M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She has a B.A. in Interior Design and B.F.A. in Printmaking from Kent State University. She works in multiple media (cut paper, drawing, printmaking, artist books). She is an adjunct professor at Kent State, John Carroll University and Cuyahoga Community College and is also director of Gallery West at Cuyahoga Community College. Friedman exhibits her artwork regionally and across the country. She has received an Individual Artist Fellowship Grant and a 3-month summer residency at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA through the generosity of the Ohio Arts Council.
Margi Weir’s drawings are now showing in several exhibits around the U.S.:
Rustbelt Arts 