CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS // Hand-Typed, Letter-Pressed Journal Harlequin Creature Seeks All Kinds Of Print Media

 

There are tons of literary and cultural journals out there asking for submissions, but you won't find many that'll treat your work with the same level of hands-on care as Harlequin Creature. The journal's cover is crafted by letter press, and every page of every copy is hand-typed on a vintage typewriter. No photocopying or inkjets here. The Harlequin Creature crew produces each copy of their journals through "typing bees," where Smith Coronas, Underwoods and Royals bang away and carefully placed keystrokes forge every letter.

After selling out of their first issue, which came out back in the fall, Harlequin Creature is looking for submissions for the followup. They welcome "any printable media is welcome, i.e. prose, poetry, sheet music, collage work, etc.," and are asking for prose between 500 and 1,500 words and no more than 3 poems. The deadline is February 10, or January 13 if you'd like them to return your piece with suggested changes by January 27.

For a little more info on the spirit of Harlequin Creature, here's a quote from their website:

this is a journal sure to be unconventional in today's overwhelmingly digital age, and i think, at the same time, very much in touch with a nostalgia for an earlier era, when the factories of pittsburgh and detroit were still bumpin' and steel was in. with a circle of friends that spans from los angeles to new york, every single journal is hand typed on high quality paper, and the covers will all be set by a heavy, centuries old letter press in ann arbor, michigan. each copy is then hand bound, and a limited number include artwork by a featured artist.

Check out some more images of their first issue and army of typewriters after the jump.

-- John Ruscher

GO HERE NOW // Visual Melt

Sometimes you just need to stop what you're doing and stare blankly at some hypnotic visual art. We're sure this week has you running around like asylum escapees, so take a second, pause and mosey on over to Visual Melt.

As Visual Melt's co-curated by premier creative directors James Lake and Leif Podhajsky (who, for you music aficianados out there, you may recognize from album covers for artists like Tame Impala, Peaking Lights and Lykke Li) we thought it wrong to heist their gallery. So like we said: Just go there. If it doesn't grant you momentary technological solace, you'll at least score some excellent new desktop wallpaper.

MIXED MEDIA OPPORTUNITY // NYCEDC Seeks Creative Proposals For Downtown Light Installation

A light installation under the Brooklyn Bridge in DUMBO - photo by Jules Antonio

Think you have an idea that could illuminate Lower Manhattan? The New York City Economic Development Corporation wants to hear it!

The organization, which promotes economic growth throughout the city, is calling for proposals "for the development and implementation of an innovative and engaging lighting and placemaking initiative aimed at increasing Lower Manhattan’s exposure, expanding its appeal in the evening hours, and spurring more diverse business activity by using the area's buildings and public spaces to create a strong neighborhood identifier visible to viewers from both near and far."

NYCEDC is looking for a proposal that embraces and enhances Lower Manhattan's identity as a vibrant, 24/7 community:

This project should occur on a regular basis (i.e., weekly, monthly) and be able to be implemented by the end of 2012, and ideally have a guaranteed life span of at least three years. The lighting project may include, and is not limited to, projection-mapping including 3D effects, interactive elements and opportunities for interaction, up/downlighting and pedestrian or kinetic motion-activated lighting.

The project is scheduled to kick off by the end of 2012 and will continue for at least three years. The selected team will receive up to $1 million from NYCEDC, along with other potential funding sources, to realize their proposal.

The deadline for submitting a proposal is February 13, 2012, and you can find out more information from the official press release as well as the project's procurement page.

-- John Ruscher

TEACHER FEATURE // Grace Bello Interviews Illustrator Yuko Shimizu for The Atlantic

We've highlighted 3rd Ward fiction teacher Grace Bello and her sidesplitting creative writing a few times, including pieces published by McSweeney's and Splitsider and adapted for the stage by Lively Productions. Now we're excited to point you towards her fascinating interview with Japanese artist and illustrator Yuko Shimizu for The Atlantic.

Bello talks with Shimizu, whose work has appeared in the New Yorker, Playboy, Rolling Stone and many other publications,  about everything from the Internet and animation to her favorite illustrators and her habit of listening to WNYC while she works.

Here's Shimizu's take on trends, along with some helpful advice for aspiring artists and illustrators:

What's an art or illustration trend that you wish would go away? 

Whatever is a trend, I wish it would go away. There's always something that's very popular right now, at this moment. And a lot of people go, "Oh my God, there's a goldmine out there!" and they try to do it. And a lot of people's work starts to look the same. And those people might get work at that point, but then the trend goes away, and then the next thing comes along, and you're not in fashion anymore. I feel it's a bit sad to chase the trend -- any trend. Especially for young people who want to be illustrators, I hope they just do their own things and do not chase the trend.

Read the whole interview here.

For more of Bello's recent work we highly recommend her excellent series of interviews with comedy writers Patricia Marx, Merrill Markoe and Margaret Sanger for The Hairpin. For more of Shimizu's work, check out her website or her recent book for Gestalten.

-- John Ruscher

ESSENTIAL EVENT // TEDxBrooklyn Comes To Brooklyn Bowl And Livestream This Friday

This Friday, December 2, the second edition of TEDxBrooklyn comes to Brooklyn Bowl, and, while the in-person event itself is sold out, you can still soak up all of the knowledge, creativity and inspiration from afar.

There will be free live screenings of the entire conference at the Knitting Factory in Williamsburg, 61 Local in Cobble Hill and the Brooklyn Brainery in Carroll Gardens. If you can't make it to any of those places, you'll be able to catch all of the action from anywhere else via a live video stream.

Right now you can peruse the TEDxBrooklyn Program Guide [PDF], which features background information on all of the speakers and presenters, such as host and renowned funnyman Eugene Mirman, Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson, architect and designer Susannah Drake and Creators Project coordinators Julia Kaganskiy and Ciel Hunter.

Take a look at the full schedule after the jump and head to one of the venues mentioned above or to the live stream at TEDxBrooklyn.com on Friday, when things will kick off at 9am.

-- John Ruscher

MEMBER SHOW PROFILE // Claire Sheprow's Photography Captures The Intimacy Behind The Entertainer

 

At the 3rd Ward Member Show this Friday, November 18, you'll be able to check out a wide range of amazing creations that represent our diverse community, including photographs by Claire Sheprow.

Sheprow is experienced in a wide range of photography and has been honored with multiple awards for her work. She's cultivated such diversity with a unique openness to the images that she sees in the world. "To me, there are portraits to be made of shadows, and stories to be told about landscapes, abstractions to be found in faces and so on," she says. "The feeling I experience while creating the images is what I'm trying to capture and to convey—the dialogue between me and the subject, whatever it is."

For Friday's Member Show, Sheprow is presenting portraits of local variety and burlesque performer Anna Copacabana. "Her variety show is a very public appearance involving wigs and lots of flash, but I knew immediately that I was interested in shooting a more intimate side of her real-life persona, which for me started with shooting her without her signature wigs," she says. "We met to talk about the concept I had in mind, and were both enthused. However, as things would have it, the shoot didn't come to happen until about a year and a half later. Which was actually quite wonderful, because in that span of time we became quite good friends, which only deepened the silent dialogue between us during the shoot and opened up the amazing vulnerability and intimacy of her story that I wanted to capture."

Hit the jump to read more about Sheprow and see more of her work.

As a successful photographer whose clients have included Gibson and Fender guitars, Time Out NY, Glamour, MTV and many others, Sheprow finds that 3rd Ward is a good place to recharge and stay connected with herself. "Although I pour all of my creative energy and voice into my professional work, when meeting the needs of clients, editors, and art directors the lines between my 'art' and 'work' sometimes become painfully blurred," she says. "3rd Ward has become a space for me to carve out time for my own personal work, and to reconnect with a voice that is deeply my own. Taking classes to re-spark my creativity, hanging work in the shows, and just being in a community of such talent and creative energy, witnessing the work being created around me has really helped me to refocus on my personal work separate from my professional work."

What's Sheprow up to as we speak? "Currently I'm in the Arizonian desert exploring various means of self-discovery and the complex stories of the people who come here to experience them," she says. "Hearing their past stories and daydreaming about the future paths their lives may or may not take beyond these 'life-changing experiences.'  However I hope to be back just in time to attend the Member Show!"

-- John Ruscher

PROFILE + WORKSHOP // Friday Night: Learn To Make Mistakes With Laurie Rosenwald

"The only way to cure my hiccups is to offer me 20 bucks to hiccup again," says Laurie Rosenwald in a Communication Arts article about her How to Make Mistakes on Purpose workshop, which comes to 3rd Ward tomorrow night. (Reservation required as space is limited, so get on it.)

One of the main premises of Rosenwald's creative approach is that once you start trying, things can actually get a lot harder. "Instead of focusing on a problem to solve it, do something careless, pointless, opposite, random," she says. "Something that has nothing to do with what you're doing or wanting." 

Mistakes are good. That's another key Rosenwald-ism. "It can be a dot, a blog, an object, a word," she says. "The important thing is that the 'mistake' is not carefully chosen. It must be found, and not created with the intention to use it in any particular way."

Rosenwald's got some serious credentials under her belt, so hit the jump for more on why you won't want to miss this.

We can't tell you much about what goes on during a Mistakes on Purpose session, as Rosenwald asks participants to swear "omertà," the mafia code of silence. But, based on the places where she's taught the workshop (SVA, Google, Stockholm Design Lab and many more), it's clearly something of a big deal. Check our previous write-up to hear about the IKEA sheets too.

On her website Rosenwald describes herself as "the world's most commercial artist," and while there's some humorous hyperbole in that statement, she certainly has been commercially successful. Her illustrations have appeared in the New Yorker, New York Times and New York and many other publications, and she's received lots of awards. Her animation work has nominated for an Emmy, and she designed the awesome typeface Loupot. She's even appeared in an episode of The Sopranos.

Rosenwald's not in it just for the money and fame, though. It's more about doing things that haven't been done before, and making things that haven't already been made. Some of those "things" include the award-winning children's book And to Name But Just a Few: Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, the illustrated guidebook/sketchbook New York Notebook and All the Wrong People Have Self-Esteem, an "inappropriate book for young ladies." 

She also recently collaborated with David Sedaris on David's Diary, an app featuring diary entries read by Sedaris and animated by Rosenwald herself. 

-- John Ruscher

ESSENTIAL EVENT // TEDxBrooklyn Speakers Announced, Tickets On Sale Thursday

This one's still a few weeks away, but tickets go on sale this Thursday and as avid fans of all things TED, we want to make sure you don't miss out.

On Friday, December 2nd, Brooklyn Bowl will host the second TEDxBrooklyn conference. The "x" means that it's an independently organized event granted a license by TED (short for Technology, Entertainment & Design), the world-renowned series of conferences centered around the slogan "ideas worth spreading."

The first TEDxBrooklyn took place last November at the Pratt Institute and featured speakers such as novelist and WNYC host Kurt Andersen, Fabien Cousteau (grandson of Jacques), NYC artist Swoon, and even Richard Saul Wurman, the architect and designer who founded TED back in 1984.

Organizers just announced this year's initial lineup, and we're excited to see that it's got something for everyone, from rooftop farming and aerial acrobats to some of NYC's coolest tech companies and cultural game-changers.

Check out the lineup after the jump, along with a couple video highlights from last year's conference. And remember: tickets go on sale this Thursday, November 10 at 1pm.

TEDxBrooklyn's initial 2011 lineup:

Susannah Drake :: Principal at dlandstudio pllc :: The future of landscape architecture

Blake Whitman :: VP, Creative Development at Vimeo :: Online video community builder extraordinaire

Viraj Puri :: Founder of Gotham Greens :: A rooftop farm in the heart of Brooklyn

Sean Meenan :: Founder of Habana Outpost :: Sustainable hacienda

Lisa Jamhoury and Dana Abrassart :: Independent Aerial Acrobats :: Creatively adorning Brooklyn's airspace, with original musical accompaniment by Philip Joseph Restine III

Jack Walsh :: Executive Producer at Celebrate Brooklyn! :: Legendary performance festival at the Prospect Park Bandshell, produced by BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn

Chad Dickerson :: CEO of Etsy :: The net’s most prosperous online flea market

Jonny Wilson :: Founder of Eclectic Method :: Audiovisual remix producer/DJ

Jullien Gordon :: Purpose Finder :: Innerview.me + 30 Day Do It

Jen Lyon :: Founder of Mean Red Productions :: Brooklyn’s risk-taking event production

Farai Chideya :: Author/Public Radio Host :: Award winning writer & media personality

Laurie Cumbo :: Founder and Executive Director of MoCADA :: Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art

Ruth Ozeki :: Author/Filmmaker :: Ordained Zen minister to kick off the event

Paul Steely White :: Executive Director at Transportation Alternatives :: Reclaiming NYC streets

Eugene Mirman :: Comedian :: Smartest funny man in Brooklyn

-- John Ruscher

ESSENTIAL EVENT // Our Picks For This Month's Performa 11 Performance Biennial

This week marks the start of Performa 11, the fourth edition of New York's internationally renowned visual performance art biennial. Running now through November 21, Performa will feature work by more than 100 contemporary artists at more than 50 arts institutions across the city.

We've rounded up our 10 Performa picks for the coming weeks (and provided all the info you'll need for each one.) Hit the jump to check out our recommendations, which run the gamut from beer brewing and skateboarding to Fluxus and James Franco.

Print Showing - Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama recreates his 1971 performance, in which he photocopies his work and assembles staple-bound photobooks based on viewers' input into the selection and sequence. Friday, November 4, 2-4pm & 6-9pm, Saturday November 5, 12-3pm & 5-8pm. $75.

Free Ride - Raphaël Zarka, a Paris-based artist, will present a project incorporating his research on the "geometry of skateboarding" and how it relates to modern sculpture. He'll also attempt to create the first ever cycloid skateboard ramp, inspired by Galileo. Saturday, November 5, 3-5pm at Performa Institute at the Performa Hub. Free. $10.

Fluxus Weekend - Fifty-two hours of Downtown creativity and goodness stemming from the influential Fluxus movement that emerged in the 1960s, ranging from actions and ideas to music, films and objects. Participants will include renowned Fluxus artists such as Alison Knowles, Jonas Mekas, Milan Knížák and Ben Vautier. Friday, November 11 through Sunday, November 13 at various venues.

Creative Networking Workshop - A workshop that will explore networks and networking as a creative medium. Focusing on the design of large scale networks, participants will collaborate and build their own intricate compositions. Saturday, November 12, 1-4pm at Performa Hub. $10.

Brew Day - Colorado artist Eric Steen brings together NYC home brew enthusiasts to brew beer, swap tips and sample each others' creations, highlighting and fostering the knowledge and creativity that goes into the hops-filled hobby. Saturday, November 12, 12-4pm at Performa Hub. Free.

Fluxus Cabaret - Renowned filmmaker Jonas Mekas presents a new film featuring Fluxus performances, anecdotes and more, including Nam June Paik in Times Square, Joseph Beuys singing and John Lennon, Yoko Ono and George Maciunas taking a trip up the Hudson River. Saturday, November 12, 6-7:30pm at Anthology Film Archives. $9.

Three Performances in Search of Tennessee - James Franco is everywhere! Franco and Laurel Nakadate will present a three-part project inspired by Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagarie, including a séance in which they'll attempt to communicate with Williams, auditions for the part of Laura by female actresses interacting with a life-size video projection of Franco, and auditions for the part of Tom by male actors. Sunday, November 13, 12-2pm at Abrons Art Center. $30.

Crazy English - Shanghai-based artist Zhou Xiaohu has invited Li Yang, a Chinese celebrity educator, to give English as performance. Yang runs Crazy English, a company that teaches English to huge groups of Chinese students in stadiums and other large spaces. Through the performance Xiaohu presents both a unique theatrical teaching method as well as the distorted effects of cultural imperialism. Saturday, November 19, 1-2pm & 4:30-5:30pm at Judson Memorial Church. Free with registration.

Otomo Yoshihide and Christian Marclay Turntable Duo - The two influential sound artists and turntablism pioneers come together for a rare and exciting live concert. Saturday, November 19, 8:30-9:30pm at Japan Society. $25.

That Morning Thing - This is only the fourth performance of composer Robert Ashley's legendary 1967 experimental opera That Morning Thing. Ashley himself has promised that this will be the definitive version. Saturday, November 19, 8-9pm, Sunday, November 20, 3-4:30pm & 8-9:30pm, Monday, November 21, 8-9:30pm at The Kitchen. $30.

-- John Ruscher

BEAT NITE // TONIGHT: 3rd Ward Teacher Robin Grearson Presents 'Is Between' During Bushwick Art Crawl

Artworks by Sarah McDougald Kohn (left) and Liz Ainslie (right).

Tonight the Bushwick art scene will stay up late for the fifth installment of Beat Nite, a bi-annual "half art stroll, half bar crawl," with local galleries and art spaces open from 6-10pm. There's lots of cool stuff going on, but we're particularly excited about Is Between, an exhibition curated by 3rd Ward teacher Robin Grearson at The Active Space.

The follow-up to Grearson's curatorial debut during Bushwick Open Studios back in June, Is Between will feature work by Brooklyn artists Liz Ainslie and Sarah McDougald Kohn. We caught up with Grearson before she headed off to start installing the exhibition and asked her what's in store for tonight. Hit the jump to find out.

The choice of pairing Ainslie and McDougald Kohn was a natural one, not merely because they went to grad school together, but because they share similar creative approaches. "Liz and Sarah work intuitively and make decisions in the moment, but what's exciting to me is having the opportunity to show the results of their decisions, side by side," Grearson says. "The relationships the artists discovered between their work was found, not created, and I think it will be interesting for a viewer to discover these relationships too."

Both artists deal with objects in unconventional and unexpected ways. "Sarah’s sculptures are really fun; to me, many of them challenge our either/or thinking about objects as being either artistic or functional," Grearson says. "And Liz’s paintings invest shapes and lines with a sense of volume, despite the fact that the shapes are actually abstract and incompletely rendered, "she adds. "This forces me to consider the source of my impressions."

That unique, intuitive and artistic approach is also reflected in the title of the exhibition. "Is Between describes the liminal nature of the objects depicted and created by the artists," Grearson says. "It is a sentence fragment that exists in the present tense but is unresolved. This language felt right to all of us as a way to communicate something specific about the paintings and sculptures."

Look at a couple more images of work by Ainslie and McDougald Kohn below and check out the exhibition tonight from 6-10pm at The Active Space (566 Johnson Ave). Also, Grearson will be at 3rd Ward next month to teach the class Learn to Love Your Artist Statement (or at least make friends).

Liz Ainslie

Sarah McDougald Kohn

-- John Ruscher