Summer Class ends

We just completed our summer session of class last week, and it was a rousing success!
A young chap from Canon City did a great job at keeping up, and it looks as though he has hit the road running! As soon as he left the last class, Martin Welch, a web designer, among other things launched is apparel line: WWW.STRANGERWEAR.COM
Nothing like a little competition to get the 'soul' jumpin'!! The art below
is from his lesson, which he aced! New Classes are beginning, so sign up NOW! a 4 hour a week, 6 week course, for only $575.00, which includes all materials. Call (719) 214-4202 Monday- Friday 10am - 5 pm

FEATURED ARTIST 'EIGHT'

Monkeyink.com is John Howard and his portfolio of gigposter and related artwork.

"Most of the work displayed here springs from the music that the work is about. It is my intention to illustrate the music. The way it sounds, where it comes from, and what it is about. If you are a fan of the music, I hope the poster surprises you and at the same time feels like a nice fit.

My linework tends to have a bold carved feel and I generally work with three to five flat colors that, at least visually, translate to screen printing."

...John Howard in my early days, was my "front man"...meaning in all my publications, I always enjoyed using John's work as the front splash page. Why? Well, John's work invites you to want more...his line is thick, and his imagery is always open to the universe. Nothing has changed in the 20 years (yikes!) since those grand days. We met in Berkeley when I was starting Kär-tön'! New comics arts journal. He worked at the Berkeley Arts store which I haunted frequently, and I believe he was one of the first cartoonists I wrangled. He has gone onto a glorious career designing 'rock' posters for the cream of the crop o' rock stars...not surprising. How he keeps his litho's and silk screen print prices so low, I do not know!, but you gotta check out his lithograph's and silk-screen posters, and T-shirts... and BUY SOME!

Dark Arts of Asia

Step by step revelation of ancient secrets of printmaking from Asia as they enter in unholy matrimony with the dark arts of western Cartoonism...
"...Mats!? reveals "his" signature technique..."
(soundtrack from Sublime Frequencies' :Thai Pop Spectacular.)

Magical Mats!? at Work!: catch up and read this (again)

Summer Silk Screen Classes

Ink and Design has been offering private silk screen classes this summer, and we are about to wrap up our first session. 4 hours, once a week for 6 weeks...Our student Michelle has done a splendid job! A DNA Lab Tech by day, and a self proclaimed "Non-artist" I have to say she has a good eye and I hope has enjoyed the experience! We have gone thru all aspects of the process, in order for her to go home and be able to do it all for herself. We started with an introduction to computer to film techniques, using KIMODESK film output, moving onto rubylith handcut and black inked, hand made separations. The first assignment was to bring in a blackline piece of art and work the separations from that. We went onto hand stretched screen stretching and photo emulsion application. This progressed onto wedge-step test to find the right exposure time, screen reclaiming and final "burning" of the images for a 3 color job. We then went onto carousel, registration set up and flatwork (paper) registration introduction. Last night we went to town and started textile work using plastisol inks on some dark shirts....the results were great! Michelle picked some great colors and we had tremendous results! Next week and the last session will be learning waterbase inks on archival paper using a flatwork registration unit...so far so good!!! If any one is interested in signing up through the summer, please contact Ink and Design at (719) 214-4202, Monday - Friday, 10am-5pm.
All classes take place in-shop, and is offered for the low cost of $575.00 (materials included)

Birdcage door is open...

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.,
Dead at 84

Master novelist, activist, humorist, Sovereign Citizen and artist, and one of my favorite writers passed away yesterday. Many wonderfully simple drawings have adorned many a serigraph. One of which is shown here.

I hope he's trip'in with Montana Wildhack, smok'in a Pall Mall!

"One of the few good things about modern times: If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us."

-Kurt Vonnegut

APEX NOVELTIES and PRINTS

The first underground comic I owned (bought by my mother, cuz the head shop guy wouldn't sell it to a kid!) was Mr. Natural by R. Crumb, published by Apex Novelties...I wouldn't have guessed back then that I would become a co-publisher at that fine imprint!!

Fast forward...

Back in the late 80's I was fortunate enough to cross paths with Don Donahue. The first publisher of Robert Crumbs ZAP Comix. Donahue's "Apex Novelties" is the oldest underground comix publisher and distributor.

I have been living in a very small room in a boarding house on Dwight Way in Berkeley, when I was luckily offered Dori Seda's past loft space in the famous Scooby Toys warehouse. It was a great place. Like minds and lots of fun. One evening Don and I started talking about the French print makers. Their work was brilliant. We both decided that we could do just as well, even though our experience at the time wasn't vast, but we both were smart and equally hardworking.

We, of course thought we would start at the top...Don contacted Crumb and asked permission to do a serigraph of his HUP#3 cover art. The next step was to setup a studio space. We went down in the basement of the warehouse and overtook a room. Built a table, grabbed a registration bar, set up a drying rack of sorts and got to work. I cut all the separations, while Don cut paper. We both mixed inks and started work. The first thing on our list was the blue fade background...man was that a chore! We mixed three different blues and started the "pulls"...after about six or seven pulls on test paper, the ink finally mixed correctly and we jammed our good paper in and ran about five before the blue dropped too far. We cleaned everything up, and started this process over again...after about two long weeks of this we had our 100, plus about another 100 for any and all "fuck ups", our print run was 100. We knew that all wouldn't be right, so we always doubled our run so we would get our edition. After the fade runs, the rest seemed easy!

The last chore was the rosy cheeks of the buxxom German gal...we tried a few techniques, but all failed until we decided just to hand paint them in...which Don did a splendid job with! Wala! we were finished! We packed up Don's little VW and headed off to Winters California to have Robert sign them...that was a treat. I have met Robert in passing a few times, but this was the first time I really got to spend time with him. His house was full of brilliant old furniture and Aline was very kind hostess! Even though she bitched about yet another book of Robert's art from a publisher greeted her at the mailbox...Robert just grinned as he led us to his studio just off the side of the house. The place was filled with stacks of 78's and a small drawing table with some works in progress. Robert crouched on the floor and started to sign. It was a thrilling day. We went to grab a bite to eat after, then packed up and went back to Berkeley. The print had a small role in Terry Zwigoff's movie "CRUMB".

The next project was S. Clay Wilson...He was getting ready for a show in LA at Billy Shire's La Luz De Jesus...we had only two weeks to turn this puppy out and the god damn thing was 26 colors! I don't know how we did it, but we did. We took a short trip over the bridge and Wilson signed them. A couple days later we were on our way to LA for the opening. It was great to see the print among all the other art hanging. I still have nightmares about printing that fucking puppie! which is appropriate for the imagery and Wilson!

We took a short break before we started the next print...Compared to the last two the next one by KAZ was easy...we had our shit together and for some reason that serigraph went without a hitch, as I remember. We had fun with his colors and the image still cracks me up to this day.

The next I have to say wasn't so much fun...I love Mark Beyer dearly, as an artist and personally...we have had some great talks and meetings in the past, and have worked on many projects together. I think he is one of the best artists ever. But, there is an energy that surrounds the poor guy that brings bad things his way...we had nothing but trouble with his print...the inks wouldn't dry, the registration was a bitch, just all in all it was a pain in the ass. The final outcome was great though...it is still one of my favorites! (If you read this Mark! Damn it, email me! it has been a few years man!) Anyway, onward and upward!

The next in our series is the man...Art Spiegelman! Don and I both decided on a little piece Art did in Raw called the couple...a cubist version of Betty Boop and Dick Tracy...this was a fun piece to produce, the colors were brilliant and all in all a pretty easy piece. The timing was very nice too. The same week we finished his print, Art won the Pulitzer Prize for his long years producing and drawing Maus, 'a surivors tale'. Art was in San Francisco, we caught up with him at his hotel to have him sign the prints, then spent a pleasent evening hanging out in North Beach. It's nice to hang out with someone who smokes as much as I do!

The next and as it turned out the last was a great image from the great Charles Burns, it was a portrait of William S. Burroughs... with such clean lines and such, we had a blast, although it was tough especially with a huge amount of black coverage and the metallic ink we used on the gun.

It was great series of serigraphs, ones I will always treasure! Kaz, Beyer, spiegelman and S. Clay Wilson serigraphs are still available through my website, click here.

postscript: Oct 27, 2010 Don Donahue passed into the great underground in the sky! Dance a dance with Dori, my friend!

AN OPEN OFFER: I would like to extend to comix artist throughout the world an offer of producing their serigraphs. No money down! Email me at mail@flatwurks.com for current address or send low res art for consideration! All prints will be produced on archival paper and produced in small print runs within a small format (for easily affordability) all production costs will be my responsibility and the artist(s) will receive 15% of the total sale price per serigraph, plus artists proofs. I'm serious! Have at it kids!
-Bruce

We'll miss you Jay!

NEW YORK March 15, 2007

King Features Syndicate Editor in Chief Jay Kennedy died yesterday in a drowning accident while vacationing in Costa Rica, He was 50.

"I got to spend some nice times with Jay when I was living in New York. He was looking for some help putting together the latest version of The Underground guide and asked for assistance from me. The work itself never seemed to get going, but I loved hanging out with him and looking through his vast collection, and talking "shop". He had some wonderful stuff jammed packed in his NY apartment. He possessed a vast knowledge of the medium, equal to the love he had for it. All the 'underground' scene will miss you Jay!"
__________________

-Dave Astor wrote..."Jay Kennedy was a great friend to the cartooning community," National Cartoonists Society President Rick Stromoski said in an e-mail to E&P. "He loved the art form. His instincts and advice were always spot on. He was loved and respected by everyone and he will be sorely missed." According to a Hearst obituary released this afternoon, "Kennedy once explained that he chose a life in cartooning because 'in the fine arts, artists generally comment on the world only obliquely. ... By contrast, cartoons are an art form accessible to all people. ...'"
Here are some very nice remembrance's that are coming in.

A very nice OBIT from The New York Observer: click here