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What better way to celebrate 6 years of making art than to get that art into people’s hands at an extremely affordable (like out-of-control affordable) price?  If you have ever wanted to buy something from TPG but haven’t, or might want to start checking off your holiday list, the time is now.  From today until December 24th, our entire inventory is 20 – 80% off.  Some of these editions have very limited quantities available (like only 1 left of Steve Lambert’s I want you to have this,) so get your orders in fast if you want your choice!

We love it!  In honor of their fiftieth issue, “Printed Matter,”  Art Practical is embarking on a new venture that rethinks how their editorial work could reach an audience and enter their homes and lives.   Each month for 6 months a different artist will choose an article that resonates with them from the AP archive, create an offset limited edition print in response, and send each subscriber a postcard, the print, and the original article.  It is limited to 150 subscribers and costs $150 for the six month subscription. Learn more about AP’s Mail Art Subscription>> From the site:

In conjunction with “Printed Matter,” and in honor of our fiftieth issue, we want to encourage you, our readers, to think about the value that exists in both the undifferentiated and ready access to information, ideas, and archives that online publishing grants and about the intimacy of a hand-addressed envelope intended for a single individual. In some sense, to consider how Art Practical might arrive in your mailbox.

This year we combed through our back catalog and picked out what we think are great gifts for your hard to shop for loved ones.  These people don’t fit into categories most often associated with gift guides, so we thought we’d give them a little love.  Hope you enjoy it. If infographics or spreadsheets are your lover’s passion, this poster by Ingrid Burrington may be a good fit.  Parsing out  Missed Connection Posts in New York City, this hand silkscreened poster is fun for everybody to read.   At only $20, it’s a steal. >> You know the type.  While others check out the bar at a party, you find him at the bookshelves.  $65 >>   If the person on your list most enjoys walks in the woods or staring into a fire, this might be the present for her.  Presley Martin’s performance leads us gently into a place where we can let go and let the forces of nature do it’s bidding.  $55 >> Does this person constantly keep you updated about the latest in tablets, phones and other gizmos?  Then this piece is for them.  Aaron GM’s interactive video will keep them guessing technically and fill their minds with a whole new meaning of data overload.  $75 >>   This do-gooder has asked you to skip material gifts this year.  A membership to Art Micro Patronage fits this bill quite nicely.  Not only are you giving the recipient a 6 month pass to experience all sorts of innovative digital art, but you’re also filling the stockings of a whole slew of artists to boot.  $60 >>   Always on the lookout for interesting classes, museum shows, and new experiences, this person loves to learn about the world and the creative people in it.  A subscription to The Present Group Art Subscription Service gives them food for thought throughout the year, filling their life with wonderful works from artists of all varieties.  $150 >>

Here’s another!  Project Dispatch was started in the fall of 2009 and is run out of DC by two Corcoron graduates: Chandi Kelley and Rachel England.  They were looking for a way to create a small revenue stream for artists, but it sounds like the project is more about mandating the artists to continually make small works and get their work out to a broader range of people, creating a new group of collector/artist relationships. It’s a slightly different version of the subscription art model.  Subscribers choose not only the price point they want ($25/50/75 per month) and the number of months they want (3/6/12 months), but they also choose from the group’s current list of 21 artists to get all their works from.  They do, however, have an option to randomly get work from a different artist each time.  Then on the artists’ side, they get a list of people to make work for every month and the artists are responsible for sending out the artwork to subscribers.  The Project retains 10% of the sales, but passes on the rest to the artist.  Artists pay a small membership fee of $18/year to be listed.   It is fun to see how flexible the subscription art model can be.

LxWxH is an art subscription project founded by Seattle artist and curator Sharon Arnold, which came out of the idea that (perhaps in the tradition of local agriculture movements) art should be sustainable, and accessible. Similar to the Art in a Box and Community Supported Art models of subscription art, each issue is one box containing two pieces by two artists, but they have the bonus of a short essay by a local writer.  Artists have the option of creating either editions or individual works for each box. Subscriptions are $700 plus shipping, or $130/backissue plus shipping. Seems to be a trend of art subscriptions getting more expensive as people figure out the best way and most sustainable ways to keep the practice going…

A couple of weeks ago I made the claim that the Bay Area is the Capital of Art Subscriptions.  I still think that holds true.  HOWEVER, the mid-west is a burgeoning center for them as well.   After the debut of mnartists.org and Springboard for the Arts’ Community Supported Art last year, two more CSA style art subscriptions have popped up:  CSA Chicago and Risograph CSA.

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CSA Chicago is a program run by Threewalls.  It asks shareholders to invest directly in the arts community with a “buy local” mentality. Each share costs $400 and subscribers receive 6 artworks over three months. Each artwork is a limited edition of 50 and shareholders receive a random selection from participating artists. Subscriptions are limited to 100 per year. CSA Chicago’s season is from April to June 2011.  The pilot year of participating artists include Conrad Bakker, Sara Black, Edie Fake, Jessica Labatte, Laura Mackin, Eric Fleishchauer, Aay Preston-Myint, Pamela Fraser, Steve Reinke, Dan S. Wang, Jason Lazarus, and Jesse Harrod. Included in the monthly box: 2 signed and numbered original works of art by contemporary Chicago artists (6 total over three months) Coupons and ephemera from local artist-run and creative businesses Essays contextualizing the work They will be having a launch party on April 30, 2011, in conjunction with Art Chicago/NEXT Art Fair from 6 to 9 pm. The event will feature food, drinks, music, the 1st editions of all 12 works for auction and a chance to meet participating artists. There is also a special deal if you sign up before April 30th ($50 off)

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Risograph CSA is a project out of Grand Rapids, MI.  I think it will be run by and out of the Division Avenue Arts Collective.  The Risograph CSA project will commission 6 artists and artist groups to produce prints for an art subscription service. A total of 60 editions will be made per image on a Risograph Digital Duplicator. Of those, 30 will be available as subscriptions at rate of $120 per year for 6 pieces. Remaining editions will be given to participating artists and sold individually. If the subscription sells out, each artist or group will be paid $400 and 50% of the sales from the individual pieces. Collectors will have the opportunity to pick up their newest acquisitions at the bimonthly CSA pickups and listen to a talk by the month’s artist. These events will be held in conjunction with that month’s Sunday Soup to augment that evening’s programming. At the end of the second year there will be a retrospective gallery show at The DAAC featuring each of the 12 works commissioned by the Risograph CSA Project. Unfortunately they don’t seem to have a website or they are not quite up and running yet.

Nava Lubelski is using the new “Kickstarter for Artists” called United States Artists to make another machine embroidered piece like she did for the (sold out) TPG15. You can bid to receive one of the edition for only $150. She is also showing in Santa Monica at Luis de Jesus in March and in Raleigh at Artspace in April.

Not the TV show!  Kelly Lynn Jones from Little Paper Planes is interviewed on her project, gives us a cheat sheet to local affordable art resources.

Good to know

FYI this roundup is totally unfair to people working in video or performance.  The opening show is much too chaotic, crowded, and loud to experience those things. Jen Susman Jack Leamy Emily Dippo made viewers that correlate with walks around the city “to encourage wonder while experiencing the city” Kim Cook made water bottle backpacks and drawings of their (impractical) usage Ashley Harris

Exciting!  Another player on the subscription scene, St. Paul’s Springboard for the Arts and mnartists.org have teamed up for a hyper local version of this idea to support local art, artists and collectors.   Over the course of 3 months, collectors will receive 3 boxes containing (I think) three works each.  There are 9 artists who will be commissioned to make an edition of 50 and the cost for a share is $300.  It is pretty exciting to see that their network is so involved that they sold out in less than 12 hours!  And they are already taking reservations (for a $100 price) for the fall season.  Similar to Art in a Box, they will have local “Pick up Parties” at different art organizations, furthering the feeling of being part of a community. From their press release:

The goals of the CSA program are to support artists and to create a community of engaged local arts supporters.  CSA supports artists: in the creation of new work, to establish relationships with local collectors and patrons, and to participate in the launch of an exciting new model of art support and distribution.  CSA Share member benefits include multiple works of art from local emerging and mid-career artists at a fantastic value! Additionally, CSA Share members have the opportunity to develop relationships with the local artists and art community, discover new artists, explore a variety of disciplines and support artists’ careers and a vibrant community.

We’re honored to be included in this roundup by Emilie Raguso of Oakland Local of Art Subscriptions in the Bay Area.  There’s starting to be quite a number of us! It is really wonderful how this idea is spreading, and people are making it their own.  Thanks to Emilie and Oakland Local, and Welcome to any new visitors!

TPG #11 artist Helena Keeffe has teamed up with Amber Cady to start Alula Editions, a new art subscription whose focus is to work with artists to create repeat patterns for textiles. They collaborate with individual artists and also organize participatory group drawing activities in order to create textiles that defy expectations and move beyond purely aesthetic considerations. They have an Open Call for Submissions with a deadline of April 28th, and artists receive a $500 stipend. Starting off with a bang, Alula Editions was a recipient of this year’s Southern Exposure Alternative Exposure Grant, will be collaborating with artists in Portland, Oregon to create the official tote bag for the Open Engagement Conference at Portland State University, and will be printing their first edition as part of a residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts. They haven’t figured out their pricing structure yet, so subscriptions are not yet on sale.  But you can get on a mailing list so you will be the first to know when they are.  The first work is projected to go out this summer. Welcome Alula!

NOMA GALLERY is proud to present its first solo show by TPG #3 artist Christine Kesler. “in a world where you are possible” features an installation where the artist intersects and collides paintings, drawings and sculptures as well as a new video piece.  TONIGHT there is a closing reception (though the show has been extended a week so you can still see it!) and it should be a good time. An evening of Sounds and Words: Drawing on the influence of poetry in Christine’s work the gallery put together an evening of readings and music. Kevin Killian will read from his new book ‘Impossible Princess’ (City Lights), Christine Choi will be reading portions from her work ‘Swollen Animals Dream: Fifteen Love Letters’ accompanied by projections and a hacked “lyre”, Christine Kesler will be reading some recent poetry and there will be a music performance by James Devane.

Back when we did the E|AB fair in New York, our next door table neighbors were Purgatory Pie Press. After the show was over, we traded a set of State of the Arts posters for a subscription to their postcards. They work with different artists and poets and letterpress an edition of postcards each month. We just received another in the mail yesterday, and it is one of my favorites. Here are the highlights: Nice =New by Dikko Faust (one of the owners of PPP) PORNTOUM by Marc Nasdor: the lastest installment.  Click on the image to see the whole card. While working on this post, I started thinking about how postcards are a great little medium, especially for poets or artists who sortof work like poets.  Here are two examples of artists who send out postcards as part of their practice. You can sign up for free postcards on either site. Andrew Venell sends out postcards irregularly. Buck Downs has been sending out poems on postcards since 1993.

Know what I have been a little delinquent in doing?  Charting the growth of art subscriptions.  I’ve been doing it in my head, but now I’d like to finally share with you just what has been happening in the world of art via subscriptions. 1. Papirmasse

#5 May 2009 by Kirsten McCrea “Papirmasse is a magazine, original art, and social experiment rolled into one.”  Papirmasse is a monthly edition that gets delivered quarterly.  It is a poster-sized double sided print folded to fit in a 9 x 12 envelope.  For the most part, one side is an image and the other is mostly black and white text.  The limited edition prints are numbered at 1000 and are signed by the artist.  It is a project created by Canadian artist and illustrator Kirsten McCrea.  She seems to create much of the content, though there are certainly many other artists involved. Somewhere between an edition and a periodical, this subscription only costs $60 per year which is pretty sweet.  As she puts it, Papirmase rallies under the slogan, “Art is for Everyone!” 2. Art in a Box This monthly subscription run by Compound Gallery in Oakland is unique in a few ways.  First, it only uses local artists from the Bay Area – mostly from Oakland and San Francisco.  Second, the art that you get is original pieces, not editions.  I’m not sure exactly how it works, but the large group of artists that they use all produce a few pieces each month and then the whole lot gets divvied up, so each subscriber gets something different and unique each month.  Third, because not everyone is getting similar stuff, subscribers have the ability to state their preferred medium of artwork.   And lastly, one does not have to sign up for a full year at a time, they only require 3 month increments.  It is a higher pricepoint, however: $50 per month unless you want to pick it up at the gallery (then $30 per month). This model could be a quick platform for artists to get a little exposure and probably get somewhere between $10- $20 (I’m guessing) per piece.  This may not be much, but it does encourage artists to have deadlines, try out new ideas and still get a little pocket change for it.  From the gallery’s perspective there is much less organizing, as they aren’t the one producing the projects.  Because it is very locally focused, I also like that they have “Pickup Parties” where people can get together, get their art, and probably meet the artists from time to time.  The art subscription model can be adapted to fit so many styles and configurations.  Some might classify the art that comes out of this subscription as verging on  “Dude/tte art”. 3. The Thing I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to write about these guys.  We even traded subscriptions with them.  Ah well: THE THING Quarterly is a periodical in the form of an object. Each year, four artists, writers, musicians or filmmakers are invited by the editors (Jonn Herschend and Will Rogan) to create an everyday object that somehow incorporates text.  They also sporadically produce other projects, some of which they send out to the subscribers as a bonus, and some of which they sell or give out to other people. I really like how they invite a wide variety of creators to contribute projects, but my only criticism would be that the pieces come so out of context, that sometimes it is hard to figure out how they fit into the artists’ work as a whole.  Because one of the joys of art can be the connection with an artist’s ideas and perspective it would be great to get a little more insight into the creator’s general practice and trajectory of their work.  The limited scope of the project, everyday objects that somehow incorporate text, is an interesting parameter.  When we first started The Present Group, we would explain the project and get a lot of confused looks and bewilderment in general.  Now, we run across that much less often and I contribute a lot of that to The Thing.  Their success in the media has definitely helped to spread the idea of an art subscription and they have gotten a lot of people to start collecting and supporting artwork.

We’re going to be part of this Fair from November 6th through 8th.  It’s free and will be neat and fun so come and see us.  There will be lots of great exhibitors and there will be editions made on site and sold from Dim-Sum style rolling carts. Hurrah!

Just as David Horvitz’s piece (TPG9) reminded you to take a pause and gaze at the ocean or the sky, Helena Keeffe‘s upcoming edition from The Present Group will help you reconnect with the movements of our astral partner, the moon. In some ways, art serves as a gentle reminder to see the world a little differently every day. Click here to support Helena and three other talented artists in the coming year. Keep your life filled with reminders of the world, the people in it, and their creativity and ideas. Have you noticed what the moon’s been up to lately?

The Brooklyn Museum has a Twitter Art Feed!  Every month they welcome an artist to utilize twitter as a medium for their work.  This is wrapped up as part of a benefit for their 1st fans program- where you get to go to parties and meet artists, skipping ticket lines and such.  They call it a “socially networked museum membership.”  So you get some of the benefits of being a museum member without the high price and free access to the museum.  It is $20/year to join.  I’m not sure how they handle the yearly resubscribing – do they just block people and then allow them again? The part that seems so great to me is that people have to pay to see this twitter feed.  And that is the only way that people are going to be able to see those artworks  Now, it seems from their open call that the artists would be doing this for “exposure” which I do not like.  I could be wrong about this, but there is no mention of money on the submission form at all. However I love this idea and it is really simple. It does seem as though they’ve gotten some backlash for charging people to see their twitter feed.  But I don’t think they are explaining it right.  If they were giving money to the artists and it was clear that the money that people would be paying was giving them access to art and not just a twitter feed, then I think people would be more open to it.  People pay $20 to get into museums all the time. I came upon this through Maryann Devine’s smArts & Culture blog.  She did an interview with An Xiao, one of their 1st Fan twitter artists.  Xiao used the twitter space to think about the evolution of communication and the similarities between twitter and morse code.  She tweeted in morse code for a month. You can watch a short video of her explaining the project below. Go here for more info on 1st Fans. Go here to follow Brooklyn Museum on twitter. Go here to follow An Xiao on twitter.

Invisible Exports, a gallery out of New York, is getting into the subscription game.  They’ve invited 12 curators from all over the world to choose one artist each to create a limited edition to be sent out to their subscribers.  Their price point is higher: $2400 for the year (including shipping) and it is limited to 50 subscribers on a first come-first serve basis.  They are promoting it not on the tails on the artists that will be chosen (subscribers won’t even know who will be on the roster until the edition arrives at their doorstep), but instead on the tails of the curators – whose bios you can peruse on their website.  Their tagline: “HAVE MUSEUM-LEVEL TASTEMAKERS CHOOSE WORK FOR YOUR COLLECTION”  It seems as though the works will be mostly prints of one kind or another at the 17 x 22″ size- but they allow for the possibility of alternative formats. Info on the AMC (Artist of the Month Club) here.