Green Jobs Now: Barack's Work Shirt

The President announced today a "task force that will work to boost the economic fortunes of American's faltering middle class, and its first order of business will be to find ways to create more jobs in areas that pay well, reduce pollution and lessen America's reliance on foreign oil. " Green jobs now!

I guess it's time to turn the design you see on the left into a silkscreen.

Green jobs can be created by our next administration through an emphasis on retooling manufacturing to produce more public transportation and electric vehicles, updating the electric grid, adding renewable energy like wind and solar to the grid, and focusing on energy efficiency and conservation. I put Barack's name on the shirt because I see him having a green job.

I think I will make this print a 1-color halftone screen done in an edition of 50 with a print area of 11x14. It will be a companion piece to "Retool America", one of five winners in the "Green Economy" category of

Manifest Hope: DC. I also have two designs for the shirt. Help me pick which shirt to screen and to decide if I should have "Barack" on the shirt. Feel free to leave me a comment.

Manifest Hope talk at UU Frederick

The local Unitarian Church has a discussion group on Sunday Mornings at 10AM on socially relevant topics. Previous topics recently have included marriage equality and personal greenhouse gas emissions reductions. I am giving a brief talk this coming Sunday, February 1, on Manifest Hope. Hopefully I will be warmed up from Saturday's talk at Heineman Myers (see previous post). I'll be showing images from the show, plus I'll talk about the pop/propaganda/street art phenomenon because I love it so much.

Collectors Circle

Starting on Saturday, January 31^st from 3 to 6pm

Heineman Myers Contemporary Art presents the “Collectors Circle”

A series of monthly, free events open to EVERYONE who is building a collection, or who aspires to build a collection. Upcoming topics will address local collections of Photography, Street Art, Local DC Area Artists, Sculpture, and Latin American Art.

The Inaugural Collectors Circle features Shannon Moore, Artist and Collector of Obama Inspired Art Prints.

Shannon received the “Green Economy” award in the national Manifest Hope exhibition held in Washington, DC. January 16-19, 2009 for her silk screen print, “Retool America” (2009) Green ink and glitter on Arches cover paper, edition of 10.

Shannon will speak briefly about how she became interested in collecting, how her collection has evolved and what she hopes to add to the collection. She will take questions, and we will have time for mingling and refreshments. Most of her collection is presently on display in the main exhibition area and will be through this Saturday, January 31, 2009, Tuesday-Saturday 1-6pm. Please join us – drop by or stay the whole time. No rsvp.

Shannon’s silk screens are for sale. See the attachments. Prices start at $50. Her “Personal Tagz” necklaces for men and women feature images of tiny works of art, and images of President Obama. These are available for $20.

Mark your calendar for Saturday, February 7^th the Opening Reception for Alison Hiltner, “Manifest Destiny” 6-9pm.

What's left

I picked up my pieces yesterday and today from Manifest Hope and the Artist's Ball. The picture on the left is on the 1000 block of 7th St. NW in DC, where a number of my retool posters are still up along with some DC Statehood posters made by my friend Kristina. I took the picture from my car window today on my way out of town.

I still have one show up at Heineman Myers - 44: Obama Art. That show closes on January 31, and I'll be giving a talk about collecting. How I got started, why I collect what I collect, etc. I enjoy the subject and love to give talks so it should be fun.

I have some more silkscreens to make; the "Green Jobs Now" work shirt is the first one, but I have some other ideas rattling around in my brain.

Best Two Weeks Ever and All Tomorrow's Parties

Well the two week gallery and party circuit has ended for me. I had the best couple weeks of my life:

44: Obama Art at Heineman Myers was totally gratifying. I got to show many of the Obama art prints I had collected, the work of other artists I love like Michael Murphy and Robert Strasser, and my own silkscreen "2044: Hope". Plus it was a benefit for some great nonprofits.

I went on to helping with Murphy's installation at Manifest Hope and found out while there that I won in the Green Economy category for "Retool America" and would have my piece in the show with 15 other winners. Then I got my face in the medical cross installation. (I am third in the bottom row. Piece from the front looks like a red cross. I think that is Shepard Fairey standing in front of his piece in the picture. The cross and fist are Michael Murphy's work).

I got to share the Manifest Hope show with my friends and family. And I got to meet and talk shop with some of the artists like Ray Noland; Rebecca Berdel, BilliKid; Kelly Towles; Herb Williams; and Mags, and introduce them to each other. I got to meet Ron English and I picked up a fantastic print of his of Abraham Obama on while paper with glitter. Yes I am a fan of the glitter prints.

Some ultra-cool art students and their Transportation Coordinator from Georgia stayed over at my house and made breakfast with me the next day.

I was one of 30 artists whose work was in the Art of Change Inaugural Ball sponsored by Artomatic, Playa Del Fuego, and Washington Project for the Arts. And my pieces looked freaking awesome and people loved them. I ran out of gallery cards and had to put my business cards up. I also saw some of the test prints that I had given screen printer Kristina on the 1000 block of 7th St in Northwest DC next to the Warehouse Gallery. I was told that people were taking them off the wall where they were stapled next to some very cool DC Statehood posters, and this was incredibly gratifying.

I got to go to amazing parties like the opening night and closing night parties for Manifest Hope, and the Artist's Ball.

I went to the inauguration and was on the parade route at Constitution and 3rd, near the Capitol. I saw our new President as he drove by, and his daughter Malia. This was especially cool for me after making the "2044: Hope" piece with Malia in it.

I had a wonderful time with my friend Zoe throughout all of this and we came up with some cool ideas for the future. I also got gallery representation through Heineman Myers.

Who knows what the future will hold? I have ideas for some new silkscreen pieces that I am working out in my head. And I have new artist friends to look to for inspiration. And there are lots of concepts and visions out there to be pushed through art. Best two weeks ever.

Now I am exhausted and will take a few days to recover.

Video on FNP

Here's a link to the video up on FNP about the article in today's paper. I sure do talk a lot.

Front page story in Frederick News-Post

I did an interview and a photo (and some video) with the Frederick News-Post and it is on today's front page. I gave props to my mom and Michael Murphy, and to Zoe Heineman Myers, which makes me happy. I would also like to add a thanks to Grimes Graphics, who helped me do things at the last minute like burn transparencies and clean screens. They even lent me a screen when one of mine tore. Things like this make me so glad I have good friends!

Image is by Graham Cullen, Frederick News-Post.

44 in Washington Post Style Section

Check out the link to this past week's Washington Post Style Section that talks about 44: Obama art. It features Jonathan Stein's "Everybody wants a piece of Obama."

Jonathan also had a show at Art Basel recently with his many cakes in a big cake display. I wish I could have been there.

Stein's piece is also in Manifest Hope!

Information about me, show at Heineman Myers

Zoe from Heineman Myers Contemporary Art has updated her site with information about the show 44: Obama Art. She has also posted a few of my works. It's a pretty exciting time to be me. I will have my stuff in three shows in the DC area at one time this week. Considering I just pulled my first silkscreen ever a week ago, that's pretty insane. Perhaps that is why I feel so incredibly humbled.

Just got back from Manifest Hope

And boy are my arms tired. Gave my fellow screen printer friend Kristina some test prints for her to play with and she said, "these are too good." I said, "no, they're not. Some of them have fingerprints." But she put one up in the restaurant called the Warehouse on 7th st- one of the glitter prints of "Retool America". Stopped by Manifest Hope and ate their delicious food. Going back tomorrow to hang window decals.

But I gotta go now to watch Shepard Fairey on Colbert.

44: Obama Art Channel 4 video

This is the video from DC Channel 4 that came out right before 44: Obama Art. The show will be open until January 31. Stop by and see some very fresh Obama Art posters.

Shepard Fairey on Colbert tonight

I may actually be un-busy enough to watch Shepard Fairey on Colbert tonight. Very exciting! For those who do not know, Shep is the man behind the iconic "Hope" image of Barack Obama. His organization, Obey Giant, is one of the sponsors of Manifest Hope. Shep has donated countless hours to the Obama campaign and is the foremost pop art/street art/propaganda artist in the public consciousness.

I also found this hilarious site where you can Faireyfy your own face called Obamicon after I saw it posted by Yosi Sergeant. I passed this on to my Facebook friends and they have gone viral with it.

Tonight I am dropping off my prints at Art of Change in DC. I practically live in DC this week.

Tagz

Tagz.

Necklaces made with a scrabble tile and some stainless steel hardware. See, I don't think these are such a big deal so I don't talk about them much. But every time I wear one, especially the Obama themed ones, I get asked by someone where I got it. This summer I started selling them as a fundraiser for the Obama campaign in addition to the other tagz that I make.

I sell them in two places- a local shop called The Muse in Frederick that specializes in local/handmade/practical and at Heineman Myers. I really love both places and so I am excited to have my work there. Not pictured are the lids, which I copy and then detail by hand in different styles-some have graffiti and boomboxes and others have more of a contemporary New York Design... Anyway, they are fun to make. I make related ones using bamboo tiles, silver bead chain and old postage stamps (the Soviet Propaganda ones are my favorite, of course.)

I gave Ken Hashimoto one of my Tagz today- He loved them and told me I could sell thousands. But there aren't enough hours in the day to deal with something like Etsy right now so I am happy to sell them in a few stores and give them to friends.

Manifest Hope contest winners announced

The winners are up at the Manifest Hope website. Although I am partial to my own design, I love "New Factory" by Travis Lampe. It's tiny in real life- about 6" or so square.

Two different people pointed it out to me because they liked it so much.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

I/XV Retool America P.E. (Preferred Edition, this means it is on better paper, in this case Rives BFK grey) is now safely in the hands of Manifest Hope. Specifically, it is to be hung by a man named Richard who works at Smithsonian Exhibitions who has taken the week off to help at the gallery. The Smithsonian ought to be paying this man since this show is such a huge cultural phenom; the Smithsonian now owns, for $75K, the large Shepard Fairey Hope piece from Manifest Hope: Denver. I tried to be helpful today but all bases were covered, so I ended up chatting with my friend Tariq Rafiq who was sanding plywood for Mike Murphy's medical cross piece. The plywood sanding never ends. Everyone who helped with the piece has their face in it, which is just awesome. I would love to show you the piece with my face but I have sworn an oath of loyalty to Yosi Sergeant not to share images from the show and it is an oath I vow never to break. So go to the show.

Today I think they were going to raise the giant fist art piece, which would have been a thing to see from a symbolic perspective. Being in the space is an amazing experiece. People are working seamlessly as if controlled by chemical signals from a mother ant. There is no one person who appears to be directing everything, though if you had to guess it would likely be a combination of Yosi Sergeant, obsessively responding to messages on his phone, and Michael Murphy, who even when at the hardware store like he was tonight, had his 13 students and their Transportation Coordinator and his Mentor all operating in a symphony of plywood cutting, sanding and painting. To have the art being made there now, before the show, gives the whole place a primordial feeling of possibility. And you can feel the intense buzz in there though the atmosphere is also very calm...

I also talked to Tom Horne, who owns the gallery "andenken" that Manifest Hope: Denver was in. He told me that at one point planning that show his blood pressure got so high that he got nosebleeds. He is very excited not to be in charge of this one. Oh how I wish I could have been at that show. A lot of the posters I have collected are of artists from that show. Of course these same artists will be in DC from the 17th-19th at 3333 M St. NW in Georgetown.

I am also very excited that I got to meet Ken Hashimoto today in person from the Obama Art Report. Reading his blog has been a favorite pasttime of mine ever since I got into Obama Art. His site is really the best central repository of information on the topic. I gave him a glitter A/P (Artist's Print- a master that the printmaker models the rest of the edition after) of Retool America. It is part of a small glitter edition that is a second edition of the first non-glitter, so it's noted as Retool America II. Ken was kind enough to give me a Zoltron poster AND a signed red zoltron sticker. Just because I said I wanted one and he happened to have it. Can I tell you how happy this made me? Ken and I also watched some people hanging a big multipart CRO piece; CRO is Ray Noland. He is one of my very favorite Obama artists. His new piece is up at Manifest Hope and is also available at his store in an edition of a mere 44. I also have some of his work hanging right now at Heineman Myers. Zoe has decided to leave 44: Obama art up until January 31 and will be updating her website with the info this week.

Retool Glittermerica

This is how you know you need to get more sleep: you think it would be cool to do a bunch of test prints of your Manifest Hope piece to put in a collage for Art of Change, and then you think, "you know what would be REALLY cool? A few random ones with glitter." Never mind the fact that glitter takes away the dignity and forcefulness of the piece. No, you don't care. And you give birth to the abomination on the left.

Sometimes it's better to think of art as process rather than finished product so that you can forgive yourself for moments like this one.

That said, the glitter prints look cool and I am taking them with me with I meet with fellow printmaker Kristina on Thursday for Art of Change.

Retool America

The image size is 11x13 on 300g acid-free art paper. The print size is 12x17.5. It's partly a halftone screen with large dots. I ran an edition of 50 for this print with a preferred edition on better paper of 15. It was one of five winners in the "Green Economy" category of Manifest Hope. I am going for a combination of art-for-the-people type political propaganda and pop art.

I spent about 8 or 9 hours working on this design mostly because of the rendering of America, which I wanted to look like the top of a bolt but still look iconic. I also wanted to get the perspective just right. I just started working in Gimp software after using Photoshop for ages so there was a lot of learning the tools involved. By the time I was done, I hated the picture. But the next day I loved it again and I submitted it to Manifest Hope.

The inspiration for this piece is the crisis with the automobile manufacturing industry. I also write a blog about global warming and have written quite a bit about how American auto manufacturers have not been making cars that would address the needs of the present or future, especially considering how fuel inefficient and polluting they are. I figured it would be a cap-and-trade bill that forced the industry to transform, as such a bill would inevitably increase the cost of fossil fuels to be equivalent to alternatives like electricity from clean sources. I had not counted on the current economic crisis, but either way, the need to retool is readily apparent. I see this as an opportunity to produce more mass transit, convert vehicles to electric, improve the electricity grid, and install new renewable sources of energy into the grid. I think this is the next great wave of the American economy, and part of what will restore our standing in the world. These ideas are integrated into the Democratic Party platform and are a big part of our next President's plan. It makes me excited that Barack Obama also has this vision, and I feel like as an artist and an environmental scientist I want to do everything I can to manifest this future.

This print was also accepted by "Art of Change" and can also be viewed at the Artists' Inaugural Ball.

Glitter prints

I had to run some test prints today to check out a new paper stock and to finish the second layer of a print run after running out of ink the first time. So I thought to myself, why not do this batch with glitter? And WOW. Glitter looks great.

The first print is just one layer of ink on the new paper to test the absorbency of the paper.

The black layer in this print stands alone because it holds most of the structural detail of the faces. I think I am going to give this one to my friend's daughter who came out with her mom to the art show on Saturday.

The second print is basically a finished print from the original run where I had printed a bunch of extra red and needed to run black. This print is on Arches Cover, which is made for printing and is absolutely divine. You can't really see it in the picture but the black is one solid mass of glitter and the few prints I did are by far the best of any I have ever made. There are three good ones without any ink spots or other crud and I am going to have them buried with me in my pyramid some day.

2044: Hope

This is the piece that I created for the show, "44: Obama Art". The show was only supposed to last for one day but Zoe from Heineman Myers liked it so much she is keeping it up until after the Inauguration.

The story behind this piece is this: I ran into my friend Keri-Ann at the farmer's market this summer. Keri-Ann is a sweet person and she was unusually vociferous about the Palin pick for VP, saying she did not want her daughter to grow up thinking that Palin, a beauty queen who represented the antithesis of Hillary Clinton, would be someone to aspire to be. It got me thinking about tokenism in the Republican party, how a woman like Palin could never rise through the ranks but would have to be hand-picked at the top. It was evident to me from looking at the diversity of the Democratic Convention and the lack thereof at the Republican Convention just whose interests each really represented. I became a Democrat this year after spending most of my adult life as an independent, because I saw a vision of the future in the party. For me, the silkscreen that I put together for 44 represents hope for the future in the faces of two playful but extremely dignified young women. My goal for the silkscreen was to capture their far-reaching gazes. Because I want Keri-Ann's little girl to have her aspirations.

People ask me why I did not do an Obama Clinton ticket instead and I guess I put Clinton on top billing for my mom, who really wanted Clinton to be President.

The piece is a run of 200 2-color silkscreens on Arches cover, 14x18. They are available from me for $50 with 25% of proceeds going to Cakes for Cause.

44: Obama Art

On January 10, I held a reception at Heineman Myers Contemporary Art with my friend Zoe who owns the gallery. We called it 44: Obama Art. I hung Obama posters I had collected that represented the fresh, enthusiastic and visionary aesthetic of the Obama campaign. Zoe got electronic musician Yoko K to perform her work, including her "Obama Mix". I brought in artists Robert Strasser and Michael Murphy. Robert is a potter and Mike is a fine artist who works in multiple media; Mike brought a urethane piece, print, and wire piece for the show. The wire piece was similar to one of his featured in Time Magazine on January 5 (the cover of that magazine was a rendering of Shepard Fairey's Hope image of Obama). The wire piece pretty much made the show. We also had a great poster of newspaper covers from around the world by Robin Wolfson and Jack Stapleton. I sold my tagz necklaces and a silkscreen print called 2044: Hope. Proceeds from the show benefited Juvenile Diabetes Research and Cakes for Cause, a nonprofit that teaches job skills to at-risk youth in a working bakery.

It was a dream come true to put the show together, as I have been wanting to share the art that I love with other people so that they too could experience the vision and passion that the artists have had for Obama's message to "Be the Change". These pieces for me reflect what I have felt in my heart about the potential to change the direction our country has been heading and to remake ourselves. The art in this blog is about creating a vision of a future that I want to see manifested in reality.