Unbelievable but true....the calendar (edition of 50) is already totally sold out. My first year of real success with Etsy sales (Paypal, yes) which involved fulfilling orders from Santa Fe, New Mexico where Sam and I were assisting in fulltime art classes for two weeks.
Just before we left from Santa Fe we were covered in elbow grease, cranking the calendars out in the makeshift studio space in Oakland. *sweat*!
Here's some glimpses of the production of the calendar in process, printing took place over five hectic days in Oakland.
MUSEUM OF LOST ANIMALS
a calendar dedicated to extinction
The past five hundred million years of the earth's history have been rife with the extinction of countless species and entire ecosystems. Evidence suggests that with every appearance of human habitation, animal extinctions rise dramatically. A dreadful syncopation links the sudden and devastating loss of 74 to 86 percent of species, especially very large mammals such as Woolly Mammoths, Giant Ground Sloths, and Giant Short-faced Bears, with ancient human migration throughout North and South America and Australia, nearly 20,000 years ago.
Some believe that we are witnessing the onset of a sixth major extinction event. This one differs historically in three ways: the rapidity with which species are being lost; the diversity of taxa being affected; and the cause—modern human activities.
Artwork and lino carvings by Patricia Wakida
Calendar design by Sam Arbizo
Letterpress and inkjet printed in Oakland, California
Noodle the dog was seriously depressed about hanging around the printing studio all day. He had romantic notions of all day hikes in the hills, and now...this. Sigh.
My friend Jimmy braved the chill and a headcold to cut some pieces of wood for mounting linoleum onto not only once, but twice. He was duly rewarded with brownies and tangerines.
