Baltimore’s Publications & Multiples Fair

Intro

You’ve heard the phrase “parallel universe,” and you may think it refers to there being another you somewhere living through an alternate life.   But if you are of a certain generation, parallel universe can simply mean what a younger generation is up to.  For instance last weekend at an event for members of the Print, Drawing & Photograph Society of the Baltimore Museum of Art, one attendee in her Sixties said to me: What’s going on on North Avenue (Station North Arts District)?  Not only did she not know what art-related events and venues are there, but she and her friends would not feel comfortable visiting there.  This is unfortunate because here you have one group of people (an older generation) who have a concerted interest in collecting artworks on paper who have little contact with another group (a younger generation) who are actively pursuing their creative muse.
 

Of course I’m just a guilty. Four years in a row a fair of makers of publications and/or multiples was held in Baltimore, and I never seriously considered attending. It wasn’t until I was emailed a poster advertising the fifth annual fair was I sufficiently motivated to attend.  And when I did, I wasn’t surprised to see that I was probably the oldest person there. The place was humming with nearly no other grey hair to be found other than mine. I brought along my camera with the intent of gathering material for an Art I See blog post, but at first I was reluctant to introduce myself to any vendors.  Fortunately two of them (closer to my age) I knew.  Talking to them broke the ice.  With 80 vendors and with work that seemed rather repetitive, I didn’t know where to start to introduce myself. So I chose the arbitrary cutoff: Are you from Baltimore? I ended up asking 11 vendors if they were willing to answer some emailed question for a blog and if I could take their photograph. It turns out that  three of the vendors were also part of the artist-run Open Space gallery, which hosted the event.
 
So far I got responses from Margo Malter, who both displayed her multiples and represented Open Space, and six other vendors.  I begin with Margo, whom I specifically asked about Open Space and organizing the fair.
 

 

Interviews

Margo Malter

Could you tell me a little about Open Space?  Is it a cooperative space?  How is it organized? Who else is regularly involved? How long has it been in existence? (And if you care to say: How is it funded?)
Open Space is an artist-run space which is currently displaced due to a fire which happened in May of last year. We were formerly located in Remington in a building which also housed us (in apartments), two auto body shops, a glass shop, a paint shop and a recording studio. It was started in 2009 by a group of thirteen mostly MICA alums, three of which are still involved in the space. Current members are Milton Melvin Croissant III, Chris Day, Max Guy, Sarah Konigsburg, Margo Benson Malter, Nick Peelor, Neil Sanzgiri, Jasmine Sarp, Conor Stechschulte [See Conor’s comments below] , Brendan Sullivan and Pete Razon. We are funded mostly through parties and occasional donations from individuals. We are still seeking a new space for the gallery.
 

 
What is your position at Open Space? What are your duties?

Everyone pitches in together to make things happen. At some point I started referring to myself as Open Space’s “co-director” because why not? None of us get paid for the work we do, and we don’t have a board or anyone to answer to. So we’re able to define ourselves and our roles. I do a lot of emailing and leg work kind of stuff, writing things like our business plan, keeping meetings on track. I would love to be doing this kind of work as my job but that opportunity doesn’t really exist in Baltimore. It’s nice to just do it any way. I started working with Open Space in 2010 when I was still at MICA. I graduated in 2011 and have since been working full time as a preschool teacher. I’m extremely busy, but I couldn’t imagine living any other way.
 
How does the Publications & Multiples Fair fit into the philosophy of Open Space?

PMF V is the first programming we have done since the fire, and it has always been a very celebratory event. When Open Space was originally started, it was going to be an artist book store but the founders were offered the Sisson St. location which grew the idea into a multi-use art space that included the gallery, a library, a performance space, screen-printing facilities, a music practice space and rooftop vegetable garden. The fair is extremely affordable for vendors to participate in, and we try to help find housing for out of town people so they don’t have to pay for a hotel. We also do a dance party and breakfast for vendors every year as a thank you and to help build a sense of community among vendors. Additionally the variety of vendors at the fair sets it apart from similar events because we have so many different kinds of work that really reflects the variety of interests in Open Space’s membership.
 
What’s next at Open Space?

We’re organizing a fair similar to PMF this summer with Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts during Artscape for artist-run and nonprofit galleries. It will be more like an “art fair” where spaces will have 16′ x 16′ booths to present a small show. I’m one of the main curators for that fair, and it has been really fun to work on because I’ve learned about a bunch of artist-run spaces from around the country who are doing such great work.
 
Also we are very actively seeking a new space for the gallery–a rather long and arduous process. If anyone has a space they want some hard-working folks to do good work in, let me know!
 

 Noel Freibert

Can I have some basic info: age, college education/major/degree, occupation if any in addition to art-making, residence..
Noel Freibert, age 28, I attended the Maryland Institute College of Art. I was a General Fine Arts major with a concentration in printmaking. I currently live at the art space Floristree in Baltimore.
 
What type of stuff were you offering at the fair?  Were you exhibiting only your own work?  Or acting as a publisher of other’s work? Or some combo?
My main project is my magazine WEIRD Magazine. I serve as the editor/publisher and a portion of the content of each issue is my own. One idea behind the magazine was to create a publication with its purpose being to destroy itself. I refer to the magazine as an anti-magazine. I invite people to send in negative reviews, and I pursue smear campaigns against the magazine. It seems like the most appropriate course of action these days: Everyone is talking about the end of Print. Why not create Print with a purpose to bring about the end of itself? Print suicide.
 
Besides my magazine I debuted a new solo book at the PMF: the hole [shown in photograph]. That book feels anchored in the oppressive weather of this year’s winter. It’s a series of minimal one-page comics interlaced with pages of black. For every page of content there are two pages of black.
Along with books at the PMF I had t-shirts from my clothing line “Cut-Cross” and some screen prints for sale.
 
Where on the web can someone see your wares?
I have an online store at http://www.cutcross.storenvy.com/ and a blog at wweeiirrdd.tumblr.com
 
Have you been showing at other publications/multiple fairs (if so how many and where) and for how many years?
I first began showing at print and comic shows in 2006, starting with the Small Press Expo in Bethesda and the Baltimore Print Fair at the Baltimore Museum of Art. The Open Space Print and Multiples Fair (PMF) has been an exciting show to exhibit at over the past five years. The first year was a smaller intimate affair, but it has quickly become one of my favorite shows to be involved in across the country.
 
When, how and why did you get started in this activity?  Who were your influences?
I became interested in printmaking and self-publishing from an early age but didn’t make my first editions until I was in college. The space, Floristree, where I live and work at has had a large impact on my work. My roommates and I have recently built a screenprinting studio and there is a “magazine” vibe going on throughout our house. One roommate Chloe Maratta has a magazine called Rock&Rose, my other roommate Jordan Bernier puts together a publication through his gallery called miaaiden, and my third roommate Molly O’Connell has a magazine project called Poety.
 
Can you describe a project you’re particularly proud of and take me through the production process?
The most exciting project that I’ve been apart of so far this year was my friend Leon Sadler’s publication Mould Map 3. It’s basically a print nerd’s dream project. The entire book is printed in metallic and neon inks. Leon Sadler and Hugh Frost (who edit and publish Mould Map together) both live in the UK, and the lineup of artists that they gathered for the book is impressively diverse and international. It was also refreshing to simply make the artwork and then send the files out to be printed, instead of being responsible for it every step of the way, which is my normal course of action when putting together a new issue of my magazine.
 
Right now I am working on a new book for Colour Code, an exciting new publisher based in Toronto.
 

 

Gary Kachadourian

Can I have some basic info: age, college education/major/degree, occupation if any in addition to art-making, residence?
BFA, general fine arts, MICA, 1979; MFA, UMBC, 2012; formerly art administrator 1987-2009 for BOPA [Baltimore Office of Promotion and The Arts] and MACAC  [the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Art and Culture, which merged with the Baltimore Office of Promotion to make the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts]; currently adjunct professor at UMBC and Towson University; studio is in home in Baltimore County.
 
What type of stuff were you offering at the fair?  How does those offerings jive with the philosophy behind your more formal museum/art gallery artworks?
The work I sell at fairs and book stores is an equal segment of my “museum/gallery art” representing, roughly 50% of the total finished work.  All of the work I produce starts with drawings of objects.  Most of these drawings except for one new series are to scale.  This means they can be enlarged back to their original size or altered to any scale size for books or other small scale sculptures.  In the end there are three general end results (i.e. finished art pieces) that these are used for: 1) Life-sized and sometimes scale installations that are placed in galleries, museums, and other interior and exterior spaces;  2) Life-sized posters of of objects (These are folded and sold at fairs and in bookstores and also installed in gallery spaces and sometimes on exterior walls.  They are fairly inexpensive, roughly under $1 a square foot.  For example a 6’x6′ poster of grass is $24.); and 3) Books of scale objects and scenarios that can be built into paper sculptures.  These are also sold at fairs and in book stores like Atomic Books in Baltimore, Printed Matter and Fuse-Works in New York, and Quimby’s in Chicago.  These are priced as cheaply as possible, generally between $3 and $10 depending on amount of pages and printing costs (i.e. color or black and white).
 
Where on the web can someone see your wares?
www.garykachadourian.com has most of everything on it.  I do sell direct from the website but only the old way by mailing a check.  The stores above have limited selections and do take credit cards or Paypal.
 
Have you been showing at other publications/multiple fairs (if so how many and where) and for how many years?
I’ve participated the last two years at the Printed Matter NY Art Book Fair, the 2013 Printed Matter LA Art Book Fair, and the Brooklyn Zine Fest 2012-14.  I’ve been wanting to do the SPX [Small Press Expo] but missed out the last two years (lost in the lottery).  I also wanted to do the CAKE show in Chicago, but they deemed that my books weren’t alternative comics.
 
When, how and why did you get started in this activity?  Who were your influences?
I’ve always been a huge fan of non-art magazines (especially car and motorcycle), catalogs (model car and train, tent and camping equipment, toys like Hotwheels, etc.) and posters.  I’m also a fan of the artist books from the 60s and early 80s.
 
  Can you describe a project you’re particularly proud of and take me through the production process?
My production process for books and posters uses xerox process.  The posters are architectural black line (large format). The books are either black-and-white or color laser print.
 

 
Austin Voll joined Ellen Paul at Ellen’s and Anna Crooks’ Bite Not Press table.
 

Anna Crooks & Ellen Paul

Can I have some basic info: age, college education/major/degree, occupation if any in addition to art-making, residence?
Anna Crooks, 23, MICA Illustration and Printmaking BFA, barista, Baltimore, MD
Ellen Paul, 22, MICA Interdisciplinary Sculpture BFA, cabinet making apprentice, Baltimore, MD
 
What type of stuff were you offering at the fair? 
We were exhibiting a variety of things from nine artists including ourselves, as well as a collaborative poetry zine. Bite Not Press serves as the publisher and distributor of these works.
 
Where on the web can someone see your wares?
These works can be seen on www.bitenotpress.com
 
Have you been showing at other publications/multiple fairs (if so how many and where) and for how many years?
We have also shown at Chicago Zine Fest in 2011.
 
When, how and why did you get started in this activity?  Who were your influences?
Our press was founded in 2011 mainly as a vehicle to publish and distribute proliferate, our tri-annual poetry zine. Our motivation was to create a place for burgeoning writers to see their work in print, this motivation naturally developed to encompass the work of all kinds of artist, from writers to printmakers, to sculptors and illustrators. We were influenced by the great amount of talent surrounding us, and a desire to showcase this talent.
 
Can you describe a project you’re particularly proud of and take me through the production process?
proliferate, our tri-annual poetry zine is perhaps the most shining crown jewel in our collection. It begins with an open call for poetry of all kinds and an aim to be as inclusive as possible. Anyone can send their poems to our e-mail submittoproliferate@gmail.com and all contributors will be published! After collecting contributions at the close of the deadline, we select one poem from each contributor for publication. Then we organize the poems so that each poem can lend its strengths to the others surrounding it. Finally, after laying out the zine digitally, we and a team of volunteers print, collate, and staple by hand. We are happy to say that participation has grown each issue and now includes poets. We are currently accepting submissions for our fifth issue.
 
Participating Artists:

Anna Crooks: acrooks@mica.edu

Austin Voll: avoll89@gmail.com

Carolyn Conn: cconn@mica.edu

Ellen Paul: ell3npaul@gmail.com

Grace Davis: gdavis@mica.edu

Kirsty Hambrick: khambrick@mica.edu

Nicole Dyer: ndyer@mica.edu

Ryan Hammond: ryan@ryanhammond.us

Stephanie Shafer: sc.shafer08@gmail.com
 

 

Conor Stechschulte

Can I have some basic info: age, college education/major/degree, occupation if any in addition to art-making, residence?
I graduated from MICA in 2008 with a BFA in Painting with a concentration in Printmaking. I work cutting cheese at Whole Foods Mt. Washington and am a founding member and co-organizer of Open Space. I live in Mt. Vernon.
 
What type of stuff were you offering at the fair?  Were you exhibiting only your own work?  Or acting as a publisher of other’s work? Or some combo?
I was exhibiting my own work. I make comics and handmade books as well as small watercolors and music. I self-publish all of my work through my imprint Crepuscular Archives, although this year I have a book that I made two years ago being republished by Fantagraphics books out of Seattle. (It’s the book The Amateurs which I’m seen holding in the picture above.)
 
Where on the web can someone see your wares?
crepusculararchives.tumblr.com
 
Have you been showing at other publications/multiple fairs (if so how many and where) and for how many years?
I’ve been showing my work at comics fairs for nearly ten years now. I started going to the Small Press Expo in Bethesda in 2005 and now attend 4 or 5 shows a year including the Toronto Comic Art Festival, the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo, and Comic Arts Brooklyn.
 
When, how and why did you get started in this activity?  Who were your influences?
I got started making the sort of work I do now (making comics and handmade books) in the latter part of my freshman year at MICA. I found a group of like-minded friends that supported and encouraged one another to make comics and to self-publish books. A lot that work was done outside of and in addition to our classwork while in school. We all remain close to this day and still exhibit together at shows.
 
We were all strongly influenced by the Fort Thunder space in Providence Rhode Island in the late 90s and early 2000s. We all got very excited seeing what came out of that scene. Lots of inspiring print work along with comics, music, and installation art.
 
Can you describe a project you’re particularly proud of and take me through the production process?
I just made a handmade comic called The Dormitory that I’m pretty excited about. It’s a full-color silkscreen comic that was drawn by hand, fed into a computer and then printed and assembled by hand.
 
I drew the whole thing in two separate layers, a  color layer done with watercolor and a black line letter done with pen and ink. I scanned these into the computer and used photoshop to separate the colors from the watercolor original into print-ready cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK). Then I combined the black line drawings with the black layer of the color separations. Each color layer was then burned onto a separate silkscreen and handprinted 200 times. The whole book was over 3,000 “pulls.”
 
From writing to drawing to printing and assembling I managed to bang the whole book out in seven weeks, although it was pretty grueling. It was really rewarding in the end when I debuted it at the Comic Arts Brooklyn festival last November.

 
Bernard Stiegler

Can I have some basic info: age, college education/major/degree, occupation if any in addition to art-making, residence?

I’m 33 years old. I’ve lived in Baltimore for the past eight years, but I’m originally from New Orleans. I went to Roosevelt Theater Conservatory in Chicago for acting for two years, but left because I was inspired to make film/video, music, and comics. I recently quit my job to pursue art full time.
 
What type of stuff were you offering at the fair?  Were you exhibiting only your own work?  Or acting as a publisher of other’s work? Or some combo?
At PMFV I was offering a comic book called The Reptile Mind, a Xeric award winner in 2012; a preview copy of my comic book Blood Hypnosis, a linocut, and a screen-printed poster. It was all my own work.
 
Where on the web can someone see your wares?
My artwork can be found at bstiegler.tumblr.com  and www.bstiegler.com
 
When, how and why did you get started in this activity?  Who were your influences?
I have been inspired and compelled to make comics since childhood and started taking it more seriously in high school.
 
My influences are mainly grounded in the great works of Fantasy/Sci-Fi such as Mervyn Peake, Frank Herbert, H. G. Wells, E.A. Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, and P.K. Dick. Besides being influenced by great classic filmmakers like Federico Fellini and Hitchcock, I love the dark creature movie directors of the 80s: Joe Dante, Ridley Scott, Katsuhiro Otomo, David Cronenberg, and David Lynch. The movies I like include Dune, The Fly and Bladerunner–and also animated films like Spirited Away, Akira, and Fantasia. As far as comics go, I like all kinds especially comics such as the illustrators of Heavy Metal Magazine (Jean Giraud alias Moebius, Philippe Druillet, Ian Miller), Basil Wolverton, Winsor McCay, Osamu Tezuka, Kazuo Umezu, and Jack Kirby.
 
But I’ve been inspired by so many more new artists I discover on on a daily basis on the internet on tumblr, and making books nowadays, selling at fairs like this one. I’ve also been very influenced by my friends here in Baltimore: Conor Stechschulte and Noel Friebert, who have both featured my art in their magazines. I worked with them as a security guards at the Baltimore Museum of Art along with Chris Adams who also had a booth here with 2-D Cloud. The Baltimore comics/print scene has a lot of amazing artists in it.
 
Can you describe a project you’re particularly proud of and take me through the production process?
Right now I’m working on two comic books. One is a new fantasy story I don’t have a title for yet. That will be a weekly web comic coming soon. The other one a graphic novel Blood Hypnosis. There are 36 pages up on my website right now, but I’m adding new pages every day. I haven’t been putting them up in order, but the story is slowly coming together. I had the story loosely in my mind a few years ago, but I come up with new ideas as I draw. I use a lot of reference photos, a figure modeling program called Daz 3D and a sculpting program called Sculptris. I’ve been using mainly pen and ink on paper and drawing in photoshop with a wacom tablet. 

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