Friday 29 May 2009

keeping it together

*********Still accepting submissions!************

Dear All,

Keeping it Together is a resource on conflict resolution and coping with personal conflicts within d.i.y. / activist communities. It is looking for contributions (words / pictures / both), including:

- recommended resources e.g. books, leaflets, organisations
- personal experiences Suggestions:
i) Frustrations encountered
ii )Managing difficult situations / people- any successful prevention tips/ coping strategies?
iii) Have you ever felt that your own behaviour may have caused conflict within a group? How did you deal with it? How did others deal with it? Did you feel the results of conflict were even positive?

NOTE: as this is a sensitive topic, all personal experiences will be edited very carefully to ensure anonymity for potentially implied contributors / and individuals and/or communities. IIf edited, contributors will be sent the edited version to ensure they are happy with it before it is published. You may wish to make your contribution anonymous before submitting it

Please send your contributions to:
kit.contributions@googlemail.com

Contributions via post to go to:
27 Cromwell Avenue, Manchester
M16 0BQ , UK

NEW DEADLINE: 31st JULY 2009.

If you cannot make this deadline but would like to contribute, please get in touch by e-mail.
Please pass this on to anyone who may be interested!

Looking forward to hearing from you,
Heena

Wednesday 27 May 2009

"i'm a lesbian. would you like to punch me?"

From my inbox...

Hey friends,

Gina Young here, a.k.a. Gina Genius from Team Gina. I'm writing to you today because I'm "like so totally over" violence against queer people and the constant denial of our rights as human beings. Not only did California uphold Proposition 8 today, banning gay marriage, but Seattle has seen yet another in a string of hate crimes and I am ready to do something about it!

You can read more about the specific recent incident on my blog at http:​/​/​myspace.​com/​ginayoung

In response to the ubiquitous threat of violence against lesbians, I am starting a public art / performance art project entitled, "I'm a lesbian. Would you like to punch me?"

If you would like to participate in this project, here's all you have to do:

1) Make a sign, on a big piece of posterboard or using any materials you would like, that says "I'm a lesbian. Would you like to punch me?"

2) Take a picture of yourself holding that sign. [For this project to have maximum impact, I would like to request that only lesbian-​identified people hold the signs. Friends and allies are welcome to take the picture or appear elsewhere in the picture, but please let's only have the signs held by actual lesbians.]

3) Send pictures to gina@​ginayoung.​com [Please note that submitting your pictures to that address indicates consent to have them published on the internet and potentially in other media.]

For the second part of this project I am thinking of doing a series of public performances in which I will stand on a busy street corner with a sign reading "I'm a lesbian. Would you like to punch me?" to see if anyone punches me. This portion of the project will be site-specific to Seattle, to call the city out on its passive-​aggressiveness.​ Despite its somewhat-​deserved reputation as a friendly, liberal city, Seattle has seen a rash of hate crimes against queer people recently as well as threats against gay bars and other queer spaces. I personally am sick of watching my friends hide their sexuality in public places because they fear the violence that lurks just beneath the surface.

Thanks for spreading the word!
Gina Young
gina@​ginayoung.​com

Tuesday 26 May 2009

further info about 'colouring outside the lines: the exhibition'

Running from Fri 26th June to Fri 24th July, 2009, Gallery II at the University of Bradford is to host a provocative group exhibition featuring British female artists working beyond the bounds of the cultural, or artistic mainstream.

The exhibition is the first curatorial venture of two young women, Rachel Kaye (Gallery II, University of Bradford) and Melanie Maddison (Colouring Outside The Lines zine), and seeks to open the discussion of who has access to art – in terms of both curators and artists.

The exhibition will feature work by established and developing artists – from a variety of ages and backgrounds, who work across a range of less conventional mediums.



26 June 2009 - 24 July 2009
Gallery II,
Located on the University of Bradford campus, Bradford, W. Yorks, UK
(http://www.brad.ac.uk/gallery)
Exhibition opening times [weekdays only, 10am-5pm, Thursdays until 6pm.] Or by appointment.
Free.

Colouring Outside the Lines: The Exhibition will feature artwork and installations by Morwenna Catt, Helen Musselwhite, Abigail Brown, Carolyn Mendelsohn, Heidi Burton, Louise Art & Ghosts, and Naseem Darbey. The exhibition aims to celebrate, highlight, encourage, and support female creativity in its diverse forms.

Morwenna Catt
Bradford based Morwenna produces work across a range of media including textiles, painting, drawing and installation. Playing with narratives and creating stories around the objects she makes she explores themes of childhood, family and innocence lost.
Morwenna will be exhibiting work from her ‘Phrenology’ series, including six hand crafted textile heads.
http://www.morwennacatt.co.uk/

Helen Musselwhite
Helen uses bold colour, strong graphic lines and handcut and scored paper to create highly individual work. Her art pays respect to all forms of mid-century design, folk and ethnic art as well as current and future trends. Influenced by the natural world each piece is manipulated to become an intriguing place, a glimpse into another world of fiction and fairy tale.
Helen will be exhibiting her work both as framed papercuts, and an installation of papercuts situated within glass domes.
http://www.helenmusselwhite.com/

Louise Art & Ghosts
Louise is a digital artist based in Manchester who works across mediums of collage and illustration. Her work immerses the viewer in an etheral sphere of spectres, dreams and childhood stories. Often gothic, sometimes disturbing, her work is strange and beautiful.
Louise will be exhibiting prints from her ‘Anomolies / Metamorphosis’ series.
http://artandghosts.typepad.com/

Abigail Brown
Textile designer and creature maker extraordinare Abigail uses colour, pattern and texture to create a visual language which is quirky and playful, reminiscent of a childhood that she holds very dear.
Abigail will be exhibiting a selection of hand created textile birds, and wall hangings.
http://www.abigail-brown.co.uk/

Heidi Burton
Tea-drinking freelance illustrator inhabiting the lovely, historical city of Cambridge, UK. Heidi works with both digital and traditional methods, producing illustrations and modified moleskin journals which are both charming and uncanny.
Heidi will be exhibiting a selection of her modified moleskin journals.
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5211919

Carolyn Mendelsohn
Photographer, film-maker, performer, and installation artist, Carolyn creates work that has been described as "enchanting" "haunting" "magical" and "moving", drawing influence from the moment before the curtain opens in the cinema.
Carolyn will be exhibiting work from her ‘Behind Closed Doors’ series, an interactive installation of images framed within curious cupboards that invite us to open doors into secret, strange and magical places.
http://www.carolynmendelsohn.com/

Naseem Darbey
Naseem is an artist interested in mark making using unconventional tools and means; primarily using her sewing machine as a drawing tool. Naseem utilises the sewing machine for freehand, fluid, and spontaneous drawings focusing primarily on portraiture and figurative drawing, incorporating the dynamics of the stitched line, tears and perforations.
Naseem will be exhibiting work from her ‘Tension’ collection, using colour, texture, and light to depict both traditional and reinterpreted fairy tales.
http://www.naseemdarbey.com/


Running from Fri 26th June to Fri 24th July, 2009, [weekdays only]

Opening night is Thursday 25th of June 5-7pm.


We can also arrange appointments to see the gallery outside standard opening hours, contact Rachel if you are interested in this.
R.Kaye@Bradford.ac.uk


Colouring Outside The Lines started life in 2003 as a self-produced zine. The publication interviewed female artists and included reproductions of their art, giving the women featured a voice over their own productivity beyond traditional art criticism and the meta-narratives of the art world alone. The zine focused on artists working in less-conventional forms; including comic books, poster art and textiles, and gave a platform to those artists whose feminist and queer agendas were less appreciated.

Based on the philosophy of the Colouring Outside the Lines zine the curators worked together to select work which departed from the 'traditional canvas' and conventional
mediums of creation and production - quite literally, work was selected which coloured outside the lines.

Melanie comments, 'The exhibition seeks to make an active comment about the cultural myth that art is reserved for the elite and privileged. By breaking down the barriers between creators and audiences, and including work in unconventional and populist forms which everyone has access to, we are asserting our belief that everyone can be creative in their own life'.

Rachel adds, 'the work exhibited is deliberately selected from a cross generation of artists and includes established and establishing practitioners. Although the exhibitors work is diverse in terms of form and media it is united thematically through reoccurring explorations of ideas of mythologies, fairytale discovery and surprise'.


(N.B: Issue 5 of Colouring Outside The Lines zine will also be launched at the exhibition)

feed your soul

feed your soul: the free art project

Feed Your Soul is a free art project. Each month artists are invited to participate and to contribute a print which is totally free and available for download.
"Even though the economy is tanking, it’s more important than ever to stay positive. We shouldn’t dwell on the negative news, it’s just not doing our souls any good. Feed Your Soul: the free art project to hopefully bring a smile to your face and brighten your day."

Sunday 24 May 2009

subtext seven

Hee hee, my friend Ngombo is the 'cover star' of the new issue of Subtext magazine :)
see here
I've also got a small article in this new issue, but I wrote it aaaaages ago, so will be intrigued to re-read it when I see a copy, as it may be cringe-worthy now...

Wednesday 20 May 2009

confessions of a poser

Confessions of a Poser @ The Hole In T'Wall, Hebden Bridge on 27th May Doors 8pm; show 8.30pm
Tickets: £5


Lynn Breedlove rocks on as a no-op transsexual standup comic after 15 years as lead yeller of legendary punk dyke band Tribe8, vanguard of the queer revolution. Over the last fifteen years, Breedlove has been fronting the band, writing the highly acclaimed, Lambda Literary Award nominated urban punk novel, Godspeed, performing with the all woman spoken word troupe Sister Spit, and hosting San Francisco’s queer cabarets. He has developed an onstage persona which is sharp as a new chainsaw blade and an intimate, improvisational fluidity that reaches everyone, turning the specific universal, and making high-minded political concepts fun at last.
Lynnee Breedlove’s all new one-freak show, Confessions of a Poser is a comic look at men’s bodies, the mystery of the purple dick, lesbian legacies and how to use them, family, the impossibility of manhood, fatherhood, butch heroes, and the evil drive to feminize. Buckets, knives, and body parts are still integral to the show.

A human body quest for compassion, an irreverent look at the interior world of Lynn Breedlove, giving out permission slips to laugh at ourselves and each other, hate each other, and accidentally stumble on love.


Annie Sprinkle, Katastrophe, and Michelle Tea loved it.
Jello Biafra, singer for the Dead Kennedys, says: "The best Tribe 8 show I ever saw was when Lynnee went off on these comic tangents between songs and cracked me up as much as any great comedian I've ever seen. Breedlove sings, writes, now brace yourself for a razor-sharp storyteller. Get in on the ground floor - see this show. A true renaissance rabble-rouser, the sky's the limit."

www.lynnbreedlove.com
www.myspace.com/lynnbreedlove

Come along and enjoy a unique queer-tastic evening, right here in Hebden Bridge!

spit

Sister Spit are coming to Europe this Autumn, and in particular, the UK this September. I'm gonna be driving the tour bus - haha!
I just found this neat work-in-progress trailer for a film about Sister Spit that has raised my excitement levels 100%! These are the sorts of people I need and crave in my life.

Tuesday 19 May 2009

drawing on our mad gifts

This link has a video interview with one of my favourite people, Madigan Shive, where (once again) she manages to bowl me over with her ability to articulate so much that I personally hold dear.

Monday 18 May 2009

alternative press festival 2009

Alternative Press Festival 2009 http://comicsandzines.wordpress.com

Wednesday 29th July – Sunday 2nd August 2009
A festival of events over five days celebrating the small press, self publishing and being creative in the print media.


Anthology Book launch
Wednesday 29th July
7pm – 9pm
Free
We will be launching an Anthology book to showcase some of what’s going on in the small press scene at the moment; it will include work by Mark Pawson as well as a foreword by Roger Sabin and a variety of work from different areas of the scene. The evening will include the declaration of our aims and agendas in the form of a manifesto, as well as talks and discussion on the subject of the contemporary small press scene.

Housmans radical booksellers
5 Caledonian road
London
N1 9DX
http://www.housmans.com/


Are you zine friendly?
Thursday 30th July
7pm – late
Free

At the foundry we will be having an evening to launch our idea of zine friendly events! In the two weeks around this event we will be hosting a zine wall at the Foundry and asking artists and small press creators to come down and contribute to this ongoing exhibition. There will be music and good times, the twist is that Zinesters, comix and small press creators are invited by the foundry’s owner to come along and sell their material. There will be a communal table for individual zines and the selling of zines out of bags, or diy carriers is encouraged! After all, it is a zine friendly event, the question is: are you zine friendly?

The Foundry
86 Great Eastern Street
London
EC2A 3JL
http://www.foundry.tv/
Contact – garethbrookes69@hotmail.com


Spoken Word night out!
Friday 31st July
7pm – Late
Free

In order to promote poetry in the small press, we will be holding an evening of poetry, zine readings, story telling and other performances from artists creating work in the print media themselves.

Venue TBC


Collaborama!
Saturday 1st August
11am – Late
Free

We hope you’ll join us at the Collaborama (as we’ve affectionately come to know it!) an all day event which will comprise many elements of the small press coming together. Tables will be set out in the main space downstairs at the miller for zinesters, comix and small press creators to exhibit their work. There will also be space where any combination of visitors and exhibitors can get together to create pages which will be used to create a zine of the day. The garden will have a barbeque and the upstairs space will be used for workshops, film screenings and talks. In the evening Resonance FM’s Radio Orchestra will be performing a piece written by Ed Baxter which will be interpreted and illustrated live by two teams of small press artists on overhead projectors!

The Miller
96 Snowsfields road
London Bridge
SE1 3SS
http://www.themiller.co.uk
Contact – jimigherkin@yahoo.co.uk


Alternative Press Fair
Sunday 2nd August
11am- 7pm
Free

We will be returning once more to St Aloysius Social centre, where in February we held the first Alternative Press Fair. We hope you’ll join us once more for chilled out Sunday to celebrate comix, zines, poetry, book arts and radical literature. We will have space for around 80 exhibitors and many more visitors so see you there!

St Aloysius Social Club
20 Phoenix road
London
NW1 1TA
Nearest tube Euston
Contact – peterlally@gmail.com

calm air all ice

From my inbox...

Calm Air All Ice- Camilla Stacey and Claire Elizabeth Platt

Starts: Monday May 18th, 11am

Calm Air All Ice features new work from artists Camilla Stacey and Claire Elizabeth Platt. Sharing a love for vintage materials and handcrafting the show will include embroidered fortune tellers made from vintage hankies, screen prints, knitted WWII planes and lots and lots of badges.

Come join us between 11am and 6pm Mon-Sat or from 6pm onwards on the 23rd for our closing night party.

More info including images, map and transport details: http://calmairallice.blogspot.com

* * *

Hello- it would be lovely if you could make it along to our little show- but if you can't get to Bristol then all our work will be up on the website and available to buy from anywhere in the world from Monday onwards,

hope to see you
Camilla and Claire

Thursday 14 May 2009

i obviously couldn't get to japan...

... so am so bloody pleased that the pieces of work exhibited in Audrey Kawasaki's recent Japanese show have been posted online.
*Ridiculously* beautiful.

the gallery is blossoming

One of the things I love about making zines is getting to include and involve amazingly talented people.
Colouring Outside The Lines issue 5 is due out in June, and here's a sneak-peak at one of the images in this issue's gallery, by Emily Cunningham.
I *love* it :)
xox

Thursday 7 May 2009

it's spreading like wildfire!

Aww, shucks!

The F Word posted in their blog today about the Colouring Outside The Lines art exhibition in June... http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2009/05/round-up#comments
Their blog came off the back of the wonderful Spinster Blog unexpectedly spreading the word. Thanks heaps Spinsters!

Wednesday 6 May 2009

alternative press anthology - dealine extended

From My Inbox...

Dear all,

hope you're well and everything's cool. We've decided to extend the deadline to give people a chance to get something in. So, the new deadline is 30th May 2009. I really hope if you've been thinking about contributing something that you will, we want to get as much as possible to paint a picture of what's going on in the scene at the moment. We are planning to have the book finished by the end of July when we will launch it, which brings me on to our next really exciting news; we are planning an Alternative Press Festival which will be five days of events in London!
At the moment this is in the planning stages, but the venues are booked up and we're just getting ready to put our publicity machine into action! the dates for your diary are wednesday 29th july - sunday 2nd august 2009. Anyone who would like to offer any support; it'd be most appreciated, especially those in london who could attend meetings etc, just get in touch.

There'll be more on the website soon, so keep an eye out...

love all round

jimi
comicsandzines.wordpress.com
jimigherkin@yahoo.co.uk


Original details on the anthology:

Dear all,
The Alternative Press Fair was great! We’ve had reports from all over that those who came had a good time, met some interesting people and sold, bought or swapped work. Some saw exciting things, and generally enjoyed the day. It gave a chance for creators to get their work out to a wide audience, and we think it inspired some people to do something creative.
Following on from that, we are now putting together a full colour book. The main aim is to get small press creators and the alternative press scene noticed by a wider audience.

We think it’s a brilliant scene; the work, the people, the creative freedom - and we strongly believe that people are empowered by realising their creativity and expressing themselves through the small press. We will set out to reflect as much of the alternative press scene as possible, covering zines, comics, poetry, short stories and political writing as well as anything else that you believe represents the scene.

So, the themes are very broad. Introduce yourself! What we mean is, look at yourself and what you do in the small press, why you do it and how you got into it, or how you got started and think about how you can put that across. We want this book to be a collection of the great work going on in the small press scene, as well as having a handbook element exploring how people can be involved or get started themselves. We’d like to include artwork, illustration, poetry, articles, opinion, biographies and ‘how to’ sections.

To make it a really special book we are asking people to do something new - it’s your book, promoting the scene and what you do, so do your best work and we’ll do our best to get decent distribution and spread the word as far as possible on its release. Please get in touch letting us know how you’d like to contribute.

Good luck

jimi gherkin and peter lally

comicsandzines.wordpress.com

Pagination: 80 pages

Size: 240mm x 170mm (with bleed - don’t need to leave any border round the edge)

Printing: Full colour CMYK

Sunday 3 May 2009

this project just blew my mind

SESSIONS queer publication and event/convention/teach-in this summer, brain child of Katerina Llanes.

SESSIONS

SESSIONS: CON VERSE SENSATIONS is a two-part book/ event that follows in the tradition of autonomous artist-run projects. It is a response to the imbedded canons, institutional bureaucracy, inflated tuition, and increasing privatization of American art education and its affect on artistic production.

another reason why i wish i lived in the US...

New Report (first version of collaboration by k8 Hardy with Wynne Greenwood) is installed at the Brooklyn Art Museum Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art in a fantastic group show called: Reflections on the Electric Mirror: New Feminist Video

May 1, 2009–January 10, 2010
Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, 4th Floor, New York

When video emerged as a new medium in the early 1970s, feminist artists embraced it as a way to explore issues related to their own bodies, experiences, and identities. The rather straightforward capture of the artist performing (usually alone) in front of a stationary camera served as an avenue to investigate desire, autonomy, and selfhood. Reflections on the Electric Mirror: New Feminist Video presents recent video by a new generation of feminist artists. Like their ’70s precursors, these young artists place greater emphasis on their performances for the camera than on complex narratives or special effects.

The videos presented in this exhibition show varied approaches from humor to intense revelation. Thematic threads include the embrace of media appropriation and parody; repetition of self-imposed tasks; and rebelliousness—the lashing out society and the self. Exhibiting artists are Cathy Begien; Jen DeNike; Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn; Kate Gilmore; K8 Hardy and Wynne Greenwood; Klara Liden; and Shannon Plumb.

The exhibition title Reflections on the Electric Mirror is taken from an eponymous essay written in the 1970s by artist/filmmaker Lynn Hershman that examines the link between television and video art. The mirror serves as an apt metaphor for work in which artists use their own images for various types of subjectivity and self-analysis, ranging from role playing to autobiography.

Early feminist videos from the 1970s will also be screened in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center Forum during the month of May. Please check back for dates and times.

This exhibition is curated by Lauren Ross, Interim Curator of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum.

Reflections on the Electric Mirror: New Feminist Video is made possible by the Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation.

Saturday 2 May 2009

by hook or by crook i'm going


Homo A Gogo 2009, San Francisco

Thursday, August 13
Opening Night Party
Eagle
Lineup TBA

Friday, August 14
1:00-1:45 Spoken Word Set TBA
1:50-2:50 Amy Casio, Alexander Crumnsnatcher, Argyle Miss
3:05-3:25 MKG FRNDZ
3:40-4:25 Silas Howard
4:40-5:10 Pickup Pattern
5:25-5:45 Warm Streams
6:00-6:30 Mon Cousin Belge
6:45-7:15 Athens Boys Choir
7:30-8:00 Team Gina
8:15-8:45 Purple Rhinestone Eagle
9:00-9:30 TJO
9:45-10:30 Girl In A Coma

Saturday, August 15
12:00-12:20 Jeremy Gloff
12:35-1:55 Shunda K.
2:10-2:30 Tori Fixx
2:45- 3:30 Spoken Word 2
3:30- 3:50 Shunda K (?)
4:00-4:20 Jenna Riot
4:30-5:00 Bennie E
5:10-5:40 SGT. Sass
5:50-6:20 Katastrophe
6:35-6:55 Hunx & His Punx
7:10-7:40 Partyline
7:55-8:25 TBA
8:40-9:10 The Judy Experience
9:25-9:55 TBA
10:00-10:45 TBA

Sunday, August 16
12:00-12:55 Spoken word/performance TBA
1:10-1:40 Yr Heart Breaks
1:55-2:25 Nomy Lamm
2:40-2:50 Dave End
3:00-3:30 Dorian Wood
3:45- 4:15 Lovers
4:30-5:15 The Casual Lust
5:30- 6:15 Mirah
6:30-7:30 Fashion Show

8:30-1:00 AM Closing Night Party
Thee Parkside
Lineup TBA