CHECK THIS OUT // Loose Leaf: Hybrid Publication and Personal Art Gallery

"Looking at a beautiful work of photography or art at 500 pixels width doesn't really satisfy someone like me," says Tom Crabtree, the founder and creative director of San Francisco design studio Manual. "I like to live with images, not just scroll past them."

That desire led to Loose Leaf, a project that's mighty difficult to describe in a single word. In the words of Crabtree: "It’s a hybrid of periodical, poster, collectible archive and personal art gallery."

Each edition of Loose Leaf features a series of large-format, unbound prints. Unlike your typical art periodical or exhibition catalog, it's meant to adorn your wall rather than join that stack of magazines in the corner of your room. It even comes with handy aluminum push pins and pre-punched holes for easy mounting, a clever and simple system inspired by Crabtree's own aspirations to collect and display work in his home and studio. "Posters, photography, screen prints, drawings... all of which cost a small fortune to frame," he says. "I thought it would be neat to design a publication that allows the user to instantly hang it on their wall in a way that is very intentional."

More on Loose Leaf, including a gallery photos, after the jump.

Like its composition, Loose Leaf's editions are shaped by broad ideas rather than strict themes. The first edition features an array of prints tied to the San Francisco Bay area, including contributions from artist and designer Jeff Canham, photographer Michelle McCarron, painter Jake Longstreth and author, editor and artist Dave Eggers.

Crabtree founded Manual after working at studios like Spin and MadeThough in London and Apple in the U.S., where he designed packaging for the iPhone. "Throughout the years I've worked with some great people; photographers, illustrators, industrial designers, architects—largely on client related projects," he says.

"Loose Leaf is a great opportunity to keep working and collaborating with other creative practitioners whose work I admire, but in a freer way. While there's an element of curation and art direction in the way Loose Leaf takes shape, it's really just a case of us asking people to inspire us with what they do. At the end of the day that's what Loose Leaf is about. Inspiration."

Crabtree says that Manual plans to publish the second edition of Loose Leaf early next year. Order the first edition now from the Loose Leaf website.

Jeff Canham

Dave Eggers

Jake Longstreth

-- John Ruscher

Get to know Carrie & Zach before the PREYGROUND World Premiere

On April 1st, Carrie Shaltz and Zach Hyman will be revealing their brand-new body of work, PREYGROUND at 3rd Ward. Get to know them, because we’re positive you’ll be seeing a lot of these two (together and separately) in the future. 

CARRIE SHALTZ is the female half of the brother/sister photography team known as THE SHALTZES/photographers.  A native of the Midwest, she holds a Masters Degree in Architecture from the University of Michigan and is the Founder/Executive Director of the stageFARM. Exhibitions include THE JUGGALO (2010), THE NAKED TRUTH (2010) and THE NAKED TRUTH-WEST (2010).  

ZACH HYMAN moved a lot as a kid, giving him an appetite for adventure. Though originally trained as an actor, today he is most recognized for his infamous nude photography of men and women in public spaces, most of which were shown in his career-defining, exhibition DECENT EXPOSURES (2009). Zach has worked on many creative and fashion oriented projects and has been displayed in group shows with artists including David LaChapelle, Ryan McGinley, Herb Ritts, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Nan Goldin. 

Meet the artists on Friday, April 1st at the World Premiere of PREYGROUND at 3rd Ward. RSVPs are required.

How to Download the Chunky Lens

You've seen the pictures in GQ Taiwan and Harper's Bazaar China. On Thursday, the world will finally get its app-happy hands on the Chunky Hipstamatic lens.

See below on how to download your Chunky lens for free and make sure to RSVP for the world premiere party this weekend here.

The Chunky Lens will be free to download for the duration of New York Fashion Week, February 10-17th.

The Chunky Lens drops the first day of Fashion Week, February 10th!

Riding the "Sequence of Waves" pics

If you missed Sequence of Waves, a perfect storm of a group show with our Members, instructors, long-time friends, and even a group show winner, here's your chance to catch up with these reviews from Village Voice, NY Mag, and Rhizome.

Everyone we know who went had an amazing time. Says The Village Voice, "It would be hard to call the combined show of effort and creativity on display (and the overall sensory experience of exploring the sprawling exhibit) anything less than epic."

Learn how to create your own transformative multimedia experiences with our classes, The Drone, Physical Computing with Arduino, and Play: Investigating Form & Language. Seats are limited and classes are starting soon!

by Electronic Sculpture Instructor, Phillip Stearns, and Martyna Szcz. The sound responds to inactivity in the room. (photo courtesy of Rhizome)

Carrie & Zach // The Final Farmy Frontier

Carrie and Zach have returned from their adventure and are already gearing up for their Gallery Show at 3rd Ward. See below for their final dispatches from the (sheep) field and sign up for our mailing list to make sure you don't miss their Gallery Show! 

Follow Carrie and Zach's story from the very beginning here.

See the submission that won them the Open Call here.

Carrie & Zach // The Final Farmy Frontier from 3rd Ward on Vimeo.

Group Show ANNOUNCED!

A BIG thank you to all of the amazing artists who submitted to our Winter Group Show Open Call.

Want to see who made the cut and get a sneak peak at the show? Check it out HERE.