Another example of someone believing in creating change in small doses- Ramit Sethi isn’t waiting around to see the change he wants in the world.  He’s contributing to it. Check out the grant/advice he is offering. It’s due this Thursday!!

The end of the year is always crazy- holidays, getting sick, and a TPG release.  But for some reason, this year it seemed even crazier.  Maybe in part because our car was totalled by a drug-crazed lunatic, we did a show in LA and we were leaving for the holidays even earlier than normal. When we got to my parents house, we got crazy sick, but in the end had a long, forced rest that we badly needed. And now it is a new year! Here are some of the things we’re looking forward to: *Another year of making great projects happen!  TPG9 already in the works! *We’re taking the car crash as a cue and testing out life without owning a car. *We’re gonna work from home in a different place: 1 month in Utah *We are going to let more people know about TPG. One way or another. We love this project- it needs to be able to sustain. *Exercise and healthy living. *Finish some projects and organize our life. *Perhaps we will unveil our next level of TPG projects.  TBD. It’s gonna be a good one.

Facilitated by Artists Space curator Joseph del Pesco, “State of the Arts” is an unconventional exhibition project where the medium is the message. The four enclosed letterpress posters are the result of two think-tank style conversations between groups of artists living and working in San Francisco and Oakland. During a series of follow-up emails with the curator, major points were identified and distilled into arguments, demands, and observations about the conditions for artists. Two of the posters address the situation in the state of California in general, and the other two speak directly to the SF Bay Area. All four posters will be delivered to elected officials in the Bay Area in addition to the subscribers of The Present Group. It is an edition of 96. In the conversations: Amy Balkin, Anthony Discenza, Aaron Gach, Eleanor Hanson, Packard Jennings, Helena Keeffe, Mads Lynnerup, Anthony Marcellini, Christian Maychack, Lee Montgomery, Lucas Murgida, Steve Shearer, Chris Sollars, David Stein, Oliver Wise Joseph del Pesco is curator-at-large for Artists Space (New York) and co-founder of the Shotgun Review (San Francisco). He has organized independent curatorial projects for the Walter Phillips Gallery at the Banff Centre, Canada; the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco; the Rooseum in Malm, Sweden; and the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin, Italy among others. His writing has appeared in various magazines including Proximity, Fillip, NUKE, (and the next issue of Flash Art) in addition to several international exhibition catalogues. Documentation of these exhibitions and other projects can be found at  www.delpesco.com

UNIQUE LOS ANGELES is an exciting two-day shopping event that showcases independent design talent at great prices. Just in time for the holiday shopping season, the event brings together 200 of the best designers, artists and merchants. AND we are one of those amazing vendors.  We are sharing a booth with our good friend Lauren at Sweet Meats and it’s gonna be great. There are crafting stations, a funny mod bar/lounge, yummy local food, and tons of shopping. If anyone is in the LA area and wants tickets- we’ve still got some free ones for you!  Just email us and we’ll leave them at the front desk for you. But if you do buy tickets, 50% of the proceeds go to Create Now! a LA based non-profit working with at-risk youth. THE DETAILS: December 13th and 14th, 11-7 California Market Center (Penthouse – whatup) $5 Admission (unless you get some free tickets from us!)

 

A Sneak Peak into the making of TPG8 and into the life of James D. Lang, the owner of Horwinski Printing Company.  Founded in 1906 and dedicated to the craft of letterpress, this business has a long history of  working with artists, unions, politicians, and businesses of all sizes to spread their message. more after the jump >> Continue Reading »

Congratulations to our friends Alex and Petter on their happy day

– Coleman Barks reading/translating Rumi

I woke up to Christmas music this morning and it seems to have gotten me in the spirit.  I don’t think it will ever stop being funny to me to dress up and make little scenes for our avatar bobbleheads. Have a wonderful, warm, and fun holiday season.  Thank you to all of you whom have stuck with us, read our blog, sent us encouraging notes, proposed interesting projects, and made everything in our life just a little bit better.  To another year!  May it be a whole lot better than most people are predicting!  If nothing else, let it be filled with art. Warm wishes, Eleanor and Oliver

It has been decided, and the wheels are in motion.  You can order your very own I heart art t-shirt here. All profits from sales of these sweet t-shirts go directly towards artist stipends.  So you are doing a good thing with your holiday dollars, meanwhile looking really really awesome. We will begin shipping t-shirts on December 11th.  Get yours!

Come out and enjoy the music, food, drinks, late night shopping, carolers, and general good cheer!  We, along with 25 other artists, created wreaths to be auctioned off in Hayes Valley storefronts to benefit Opportunity Impact.  Opportunity Impact is a non-profit that works with students in the Western Addition during their critical formative years, grades 4-8.  They work to develop life skills and provide education in order to create new opportunities and a better future for young people. The details: Auction: Friday, November 28th – Friday, December 5th at 9PM Hayes Valley Block Party: Friday, December 5th, 6-9 PM Participating artists: Blair Bradshaw, Chris Thorson, Lauren Fleischer, Andrew Venell, Don Ross, Lucky Rapp, Mark Paron, Christopher W. Stokes Inside Modern, Ginny Parsons, Kevin Grady, The Present Group, Justin Trigg, [mm+gf] Ally Trigg and Bethany Snyder, Lori Stein, Storm, Matt Silady, Ed Luce, Ben Collison, Madeline Behrens-Brigham, Nicole Baugass, Gregg Casin, Kirsten Tradowsky, Michael G. Broeker

Our very first artist/writer pair have teamed up again for an exciting new web project entitled “Tumbarumba.” Tumbarumba, by Ethan Ham and Benjamin Rosenbaum, is a frolic of intrusions, a conceptual artwork in the form of a Firefox extension. Tumbarumba hides stories, twelve new stories by outstanding authors  where you least expect to find them, turning your everyday web browsing into a strange journey. The project is a 2008 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc., (aka Ether-Ore) for its Turbulence web site. It was made possible with funding from the Jerome Foundation.

From the people of We Can’t Paint:  Wassenaar photo: Andrés Marroquín Winkelmann From the Editor’s Letter about Wassenaar: “Wassenaar is an Internet specific publication that focuses its curatorial eye on emerging photographers, photography books from established, independent, and self-publishers, as well as interviews conducted by bloggers. This simple formula, while structured much like a magazine, takes the ethos and subjective freedom of blogging by existing as both absent of commercial interests and free from a specific template. The ability to take risks in an online space means that the following issues of Wassenaar may only focus on a specific artist, type of photography, a single book, or even simply feature a collection of artist portfolios. In short, Wassenaar aims to be an online magazine that reflects its place within the web as an entity that continually evolves, never forgetting that this form publishing is indefinable.”

We’re going to make t-shirts for this holiday season… Anyone (anyone?) want to vote for the design they like better?

Each time we get better and better proposals.  Though fun, it makes our job challenging.  So without further ado… we have chosen David Horvitz as the artist for TPG #9 (Winter 09: Release March 09). David Horvitz was born in Los Angeles and currently lives in New York. He is an artist that works in many forms, including photography, books, curated projects, writing, multiples, and video. He has been featured internationally in exhibitions and publications, and has had solo shows in the US. “Two photographs of the light in the sky on the 2008 summer solstice – the longest day of light in the year. Wake up before dawn and walk out to an empty field. When the sky begins to illuminate make the first photograph. Wait there the entire day. When the sky begins to darken make the second photograph.”

In this election year, there has been a lot of energy focused on the “other side” of whatever your political views are.  There’s blame for things that did or didn’t get passed, people who did or didn’t get elected, and things that could have been.  Today I have had a couple of glimpses into the idea that many people know, deep down, that all of that is not productive. From Ze Frank (internet creativicist and proprietor of The Show):

From 52 to 48 with love

“i would love to have a place for obama supporters, mccain supporters and supporters of third parties (over 1%) to reach out in a gesture of reconciliation… simple messages from individuals. perhaps it is naive. the differences are real, i know. but we have to repair the damage done from this election cycle somehow… the fringes (all of them) have been allowed to dominate our conversations for too long. to create a cycle of hate, ill-will and revenge.”

From No on Prop 8:

“In working to defeat Prop 8, a profound coalition banded together to fight for equality. Faith leaders, labor, teachers,civil rights leaders and communities of color, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, public officials, local school boards and city councils, parents, corporate law firms and bar associations, businesses, and people from all walks of life joined together to stand up against discrimination. We must build on this coalition in order to achieve equal rights for all Californians. We achieve nothing if we isolate the people who did not stand with us in this fight. We only further divide our state if we attempt to blame people of faith, African American voters, rural communities and others for this loss. We know people of all faiths, races and backgrounds stand with us in our fight to end discrimination, and will continue to do so. Now more than ever it is critical that we work together and respect our differences that make us a diverse and unique society. Only with that understanding will we achieve justice and equality for all.”