zine machine

As most of my readers know, I throughly enjoyed working on my Art House Sketchbook Project this year, especially because it paid homage to my 2011 sketchbook which got lost in the post. I included a mini zine of my 2011 book, on the back inside cover of this recently finished volume, so that readers could see the inspiration for each new spread. The second it was finished I knew I wanted to create a limited edition set of them as well as put together a zine that chronicled the new pages of my 2012 submission! I have been designing, printing, cutting, folding and stapling the past few days away. My kitchen table is pretty much a zine factory right now!!! Each zine has two dozen full color pages! One chronicles every pages from my 2012 sketchbook while the other chronicles all of the pages from the 2011 sketchbook that inspired the spread for 2012. They are awfully fun to read simultaneously, viewing the matching images as if they were diptychs!  I have listed both zines on my etsy shop here and here and am also selling them as a set  at a discount price here; I would be thrilled to package some up for you! I am also hopeful that readers who attend the Sketchbook Project World Tour will write down my web info after perusing my creative pages and perhaps be interested in purchasing their own little copies of my fur covered sketchbooks.

hyperallergic zine

In June, I wrote a post about my submission to the hyperallergic mail art exhibition in New York  (shown below). For the exhibition, Katie Wadkins (the curator) put together a low-brow zine that featured some of the participating artists. I found out they had selected pieces of my work for the small limited run edition of 80, so I ordered myself a copy online before they sold out.Keeping in stride with the theme of MAIL ART, the zine was delivered folded in half, sealed together with some scotch tape, and then plastered with some stamps and my address. Very on point. I didn’t know what to expect, but when I discovered a black and white xerox copied zine with mostly random imagery and very little text, it made sense. Much like zines, mail art also started as an underground culture – a way to quickly circulate information because the message was within the medium. I felt flattered that I had 2 pages and was one of only 20 featured artists. One page featured a spread from my who? hoo! zine while the other was a small graphite drawing of a bird done on vellum. Although it’s not some super fancy exhibition catalogue, I am so proud my work was selected from dozens of entries to be a part of that little publication. Plus it was a nice change of pace to have mail art recognized as a REAL artform, worthy of an exhibition, instead of it being seen as just a craft!

really wild

A few months ago I was elated when Poz Watson of Digital Artist Magazine (in UK) contacted me to do an interview about the new wave of animal illustration. Poz found my work via the web: another testament to the positives of working hard to create an online portfolio, blog, shop and identity. Titled “Really Wild” the feature spanned 3 two-page spreads and featured three other unique and talented wildlife artists: Jennifer Miller, Amber Hill, Nicholas Di Genova. I was asked some great questions that really analyzed my artwork, me as an artist as well as my connection to animals and the natural world. Poz wrote an eloquent article about the current shift in wildlife illustration and touched on something poignant: it is not the naturalist or Audubon style it used to be, it is something new.I was heavily quoted throughout the article and images of my work printed alongside the text included a shaped etching “A Tender Moment” as well as two of my screenprinted moleskines “The Molecular Bear” and “The Filigree Deer.” They also did a really cool “creative evolution” timeline which chronicled 5 poignant experiences pivotal to each artists’ path towards becoming a wildlife illustrator. I am so proud to have been selected as an artist for this feature; to be sought out for an article rather than submitting for one, is quite the honor. To get your copy of this particular issue (#22) of digital artist magazine, you can order it online here. It is a gorgeous publication and the article is well worth the read!