tis wedding season

Thusly, the presses are humming again. 

Two-color print job for Mara and Doug (the delightful design was done by Sarah Pulver), printed first week of June at the San Francisco Center for the Book, on the beloved SP219 Vandercook press. Long job mixing inks and hand trimming the invites for the three bleeds, both worth it. They are really lovely.

Elopement announcements for the adorable Dave and Yasmine, printed way back in March at the Mills College print shop, again on the SP219 Vandercook. I favor these presses for their adjustable beds, even when I'm not printing linoleum.

Yasmine and Dave's announcements involved handset metal type. 

The return address on gold envelopes. Classy.

apple of my eye

Our view from the poet and cat's house.

Mr. Meow, himself, lending a claw.

Round the corner from the apartment, the street was blocked off, lit and ultra chink-i-fied for a Chinatown scene shoot. The inch thick glittering confetti did, in fact, take my breath away.

Ghost bikes near the Brooklyn Bridge entrance. I'm seeing these all over these days.

Sam and Brian Castro and I feasted on pastrami sandwiches and chocolate egg cremes here.

gerry shizuko kebo wakida birthday book

Mom is 70 years old this year (April 18th), and in celebration, I had my brother steal her baby book. Sam and I then scanned images and printed them out at Kinko's, and affixed them to rounded boards painted with black sumi ink, with a sand-colored cardstock accordion spine (this is technically called a Flag Book). Her very first birthday portrait got placement on the cover:

Here's the book scrunched up, featuring a pretty dorky family portrait on the back. No Douglas! This was the pre-Buglas era.
Mom in a gingham bikini with a chunk of lard named PW, followed by her own grub impression when she herself was a few months old.

The birthday culminated in a surprise brunch (I can't believe we actually pulled it off, but she was in fact, very surprised) at sister Debbi's house, with 12 or so of her closest friends. The brunch was catered by Doug with all the stops pulled out.

snapshots from whirlwind book tour

A few blurry moments on Los Angeles leg of the book tour. First event, at BookSoup on Sunset Boulevard, featuring three Aussie authors. 

Steven Raftner, Brian Castro, David Francis. Steven walked from Beverly Hills to the store, much to everyone's shock. His fictional history is about the one Australian passenger on the Titanic. He's a trooper. Courtney Love also crashed the reading, parading back and forth with an armful of titles while sporting a lacy pink dress.

To reach the reading for Brian, Andrew Allport, and Colin Dickey at Betalevel, we had to walk two very dark alleys, then head downstairs into the basement of an actual factual Chinese restaurant. Betalevel was a literary speakeasy and my favorite venue so far, cuz we got to drink very good dirty martinis while talking about literature with USC grad students.

Our final event in Southern California was really quite gorgeous. South Pasadena Public Library is lucky enough to have the magnanimous Steve Fjeldsted on staff as a librarian and event programmer. He brought Brian in and arranged for an opening musical performance on a traditional Chinese zither, had the event sponsored by the Pasadena Chinese American Club, and also arranged for Brian to stay at the nearby Bissell Bed and Breakfast. It was a golden night, enhanced by many familiar Kaya friends (hi Sesshu! hi Naomi! hi Cheryl! hi Sam's mom and aunt!) and this amazing guy on meds in the back who air guitared HEAVILY to the traditional folk music and yelling inappropriate things like "HOT!" after each song.

The inimitable, adorable Jane Marla Robbins in Santa Monica. We brunched on the beach with her dog, Camilla and talked about chapbooks and publishing, boyfriends and music. This is NOT Camilla the dog. This is a statue of a dog.

Before I could leave, I had to stop and say hi hi to performance artist/writer/actress/bicyclist Kristina Sheryl Wong, who graciously allowed me to stay at her apartment, catsitting Oliver while she was out conquering the world during Asian Pacific Heritage Month. Kristina likes West LA Japanese snacks, and so do I. We talked about boyfriends, publishing, Silverlake, Minnesota, and how things change even in three weeks, which is about how long I was on the road, doing book work.

smudging the surface- the chapbook fest

In a nutshell, the Festival was a super good time. I attended a full day of ridiculously delicious historical lectures on chapbooks (I was especially smitten with Michael Ryan, Director of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Library at Columbia University, in a tidy bowtie and with his epic perspective on the traveling bookman of yore). 

A second literary panel featured the impressive scholarship of the young curator Kevin Young and the legendary poet and director of Naropa University's Summer Writing Program, Anne Waldman, who informed me that there is a HOWL movie in post-production! And just who, pray tell, will be cast to play Shig Murao?!

Day two of the festival was an opportunity to mosey down to the New York Center for Book Arts and partake in an most excellent bookbinding class, taught by the very talented and generous Susan Mills. 

Take a good look at this rad homemade, collapsable binding cradle she gave each workshop participant, fashioned from good old fashioned cardboard. I actually met Susan for the first time in the spring at the 2nd annual Codex Book Fair

A few more shots of the Book Arts Center, before I move on to the Asian American Writers Workshop!

Platens. This is the exact same model of letterpress that I first trained on with the Arts & Crafts Press.

Bless your cotton socks, Jane Mead Timken. What is that whimsical, tuxedo stripey font?

An army of Vandercooks

postcard from the chapbook festival

Back from the whirlwind Kaya tour and Chapbook Festival, and discovered this terrific review, featuring much of my presentation at the Asian American Writers Workshop!

Three Day, NYC Blowout in Honor of Thy Chapbook

caption: not an Asian American publication, nor a poetry platform, but a design primer that will blow your eyeballs out. Will Bradley's American Chapbook ran only a half dozen or so issues, but are a mandatory part of any fine printer/print designer's education. MUST READ. Photographed at the San Francisco Public Library Special Collections.

Continuing this marathon blogging update, I am also pleased to report that I will be sullying the streets of Manhattan late April through early May for a couple of literary reasons, keeping clear of papercuts....

Firstly, I have been invited to participate in this incredible conglomeration of poets and print fanatics for the Festival! of the Chapbook! I can hardly contain my glee and pee when I just say those words outloud. Have bonefolder, will travel.

A Celebration of the Chapbook festival calls attention to the rich history of the chapbook and highlights its essential place in poetry publishing today as a vehicle for alternative poetry projects and for emerging authors and editors to gain entry into the literary marketplace. The festival will forge a new platform for the study of the chapbook inside and outside the academy and celebrate the importance of chapbooks to America's cultural heritage and future.

AHEM!

Saturday April 25, 2009 

I am giving a workshop/lecture at the Asian American Writers Workshop on Asian American chapbook poets and publishers over the decades, and hope to incorporate as much hands-on goodness as possible. I'll be bringing four stone's weight in ye olde chapbooks from various archives, which I hope the group will be able to thumb carefully and critique. Given that I am one part historical, one part book arts, and two parts publishing--I have too many ideas as to how this can all unfold, but fortunately I'm limited to one hour only.

The rest of this astonishing event, which will include vast panels of people talking about the history of chapbooks, modern chapbookery, and publishing chapbooks both for the poet and the publishing house, is listed here.

Then, as if my luck hasn't totally shriveled up, dessicated to a husk just yet I get to stay for another week to escort Australian novelist Brian Castro on his first U.S. book tour ever, as part of my job as publicity and outreach for Kaya Press. Brian's award winning novel, SHANGHAI DANCING, will be released this spring, and as a way to introduce him to American readers, he is embarking on a giddy four-city tour, with yours truly as his own personal lapel straightener and sitter at card table selling copies of the book!

Where Will I Reside

Great news, folks (aside from the fact that I'm finally off my duff and updating the blog for the first time in like, a dog's age):

Over the past year, I took a gander and applied willy nilly to a number of artist residency programs in and around the United States, with the bloated fantasy of me perched on a wooded hillside, ensconced in a cabin stocked with a woodburning stove, striking matches for candles to illuminate the desk as I scratch out the Shig biography on parchment, snacking out of a gingham lined picnic basket....

Well all in all, I've sent out something like ten applications and have so far received three rejections, one wait list notification, and lo and behold, TWO acceptances! That means that I get to live out these feeble plans of mine to find my inner quill pen and knock this manuscript out somewhere not here at home.

July-September 2009, I'll first be an artist in residence high in the desertscapes of New Mexico at the Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, where I've also stalked out a local letterpress printer and essentially barged my way into a temporary letterpress apprenticeship in addition to the writerly time

October 2009 Not an official artist residency, but I'm stinking up the guest room of my dear friend Beth in the wildlife choked plains and mountains of Yellowstone National Park 

And finally, word just came in the post last week that I have been offered a chance to lollygag with the best intelligent, artsy minds at the Vermont Studio Center, located in Johnson, Vermont.

Three states I've never been privy to; three chances to fulfill the "get the book done, already" urges that are dinning at increasing decibels in my head. I'm waiting to hear one way or another on two or three more applications...so who knows where I'll call home next. The sad part is that after four nourishing years in this gorgeous apartment on 28th street that I've hung my hat and sheltered my snake, I'm packing and giving the place up. This place near Highland has treated me exceedingly well and I won't blush when I say that I owe this sun-dappled home of mine a great deal of effusive gratitude.

Print Run redux

Some snaps from the exhibition up at 21 Grand!

I know that it would be at least 1000 times more interesting for me to have posted photos from the actual factual opening reception, but duh, I forgot to actually use the camera my brother lent to me for this purpose.

And oh jeez, my friend and work colleague at Kaya Press, Claire Light wrote a review of the show as well (see posting below on my own fledgling career as a person with too much to say about other people's work on the wall).

Slanted

Several of you have asked how on earth I stay afloat in these trying economic times, and if you've been privy to this performance in real time, you know that my response is usually a long stammering string of part-time, piece meal jobs that are actually really wonderful. Wonderful as in creatively stimulating, art supportive, and pretty freaking diverse.

My latest gig was hatched after having a drink with my ex's sister's new roommate in San Francisco a few months ago. Lucky, lucky me, I get to attend gallery openings in and around the San Francisco Bay Area and review them, thereby oppressing the masses with MY opinions and preferences and overall colored biases.

I did my first round of exhibition reviews for the chic ArtSlant this April. For real, these shows are fresh: go check them out.

[print] run: an exhibition for wasabi press

I will be showing over two dozen linoprints from over the past several years, including many zodiac animals, nine images from "Edges of Bounty" and a whole mess of posters from my collaborations with Moe!kestra, Slydini, 20 Minute Loop and other bands. 

Holy cats. Money raised from sales of the artwork will go directly and I mean Dee-Rectly to my fund to send me to the Vermont Studio Center residency in April 2010. So come, make a scene on the streets of Oakland, and check out the krazy art for free this upcoming Art Murmur on April 3, 2009.

I heart 21 Grand

Right after I got home from a quick weekend in Vancouver, I jumped onto my platen downstairs and on a rainy rainy night, pushed out 350 odd red fancy envelopes for Oakland gallery and music venue, 21 Grand's annual donor drive.

Among the admirers of 21 Grand on the image is a horned and cloven footed imp and a Grover/gibbon primate guy. Everyone loves 21 Grand. Even the children.

mute socialite poster!

My latest poster commission from Moe! Staiano- a linoleum/wood and metal type poster for Mute Socialite. Since their cd is entitled "More Popular than Presidents and Generals", I took a gander and drew up my two most important president/general combos and came up with U.S. President  Franklin Delanor Roosevelt fused with General Douglas MacArthur. Kind of like a playing card. Sorta like siamese twins of World War II.

Terrible lock up! This is not how it was when I finally printed. See the wiggling "W"?

kettlestich mania

I have been a bad, negligent blogger. The glad news is that work has been put-putting steadily out of wasabi press. The sad news is that I ate all of the strawberries.

Handsewn journals with collaged covers and endpapers, made over the weekend.

Happy Moo Year!

I, Literary Historian

From the Hokubei Mainichi. Thank you, again and again, JK Yamamoto.

"End of an Error" Moe!sters

I realize I haven't added any gist to this mill in nearly a month, but rest assured dear stealth readers, I have not been a sloth! 

A new year, a new Moe! Staiano poster commission (I think this is the fourth Moe! linocut letterpress poster I've done so far). This upcoming show at Oakland's Uptown promises to usher George W. Bush outta town in style, with a debut composition performed by Moe!kestra entitled "The End of an Error".

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

Uptown

1928 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland

9 p.m.

$5 donation in the hat!

Best part was that he paid me entirely in $2 bills, stuffed into a envelope with a rubberband, drug style, PLUS I got a delicious vinyl Mute Socialite 45, half licorice, half orangcicle out of the job. Thank you, Moe!

Feliz Navidad

Custom illustrated and printed chocolate boxes! This was a super limited edition of 12, but totally worth it. In each box were handmade lavender white chocolates, truffles, dark chocolate with crushed hazelnuts, and delicate chocolate cookies with a mousse filling. Heartbreakingly delicious.

Happy Birthday, Shigeyoshi and Shizuko

from the February 5, 1934 Seattle Post-Intelligence, "School Claims Twin Record with 11 Pairs" Shig and Shiz are at the very bottom, ten years old (bless their cotton socks!)

day of infamy

My 84 and a half year old friend (and former JA internee), Kiku, called last night to talk to me about my use of the word "internment camp" instead of "concentration camp" in my lecture at the library. I can see the argument either way, but have yet to be totally convinced to the use of concentration camp. Anyone up to swaying me either direction?

The library display I curated of Japanese American resources at the Olin Library, Mills College, is up now. I need to go by one more time to fuss with the signage, but by in large, I am happy with what I pulled together with the help of librarian Nancy McKay.