End of Winter Quarter KBBBLOG UPDATES!
What's been happening for January, February, and the first ten days of March.
Above: An excerpt from We Are Almost Out of Our Car Nap Era. This will be the extra print freebie in my next KBB Mailclub shipment, and if you want to subscribe for 2023, you still can because I have yet to make the January/February 2023 issue. My slowness is your gain.
First up, hello. Hi. Thank you for signing up to receive these messages. I appreciate you reading and caring about what I am up to. Second, everyone in my house has been trading germs since the end of January, and now it’s the 10th of March, and I think we are all finally better. Third up, today is my dad’s 76th birthday and grandma’s birthday (she would have been 98). I have so many things to share that I think this electronic dispatch will be rapid-fire links and me shouting bits and bobs while I run around in circles if that makes any sense. It probably shouldn’t make any sense.
Above: It took getting covid to get me to update my online shop finally.
I got covid for the first time in early February. Thankfully, it was mild. I was tired, and I updated my online shop from the comfort of my bed because I didn’t have to go to school and I didn’t have the energy to make anything. A week and some change later, Hank generously gave me a WICKED stomach bug. Trust me, there was no shop updating from the bathroom floor, so I was pleased to have achieved this one task during my month of being on again and off again sick. However, the shop now has a bunch of new riso prints, and scrap packs, and I have posted every single freaking individual KBB Mailclub issue. Poke around!
Above: Almost all of the KBB Mailclub zines from 2022, minus the Nov/Dec issue that I am currently working on, I SWEAR.
I have one more issue for 2022 to send out to my 2022 Mailclub subscribers, and then the focus turns to 2023. There will be a new design, new mini-prints, and new flat novelties that I will cram into a colorful, brightly printed envelope. Seats to this mail party are coming to a close at the end of this month, so if you want envelopes jammed with paper and fun, I might suggest signing up.
Above: The first place I stopped in South Carolina: Waffle House!
I was invited to the University of South Carolina in Columbia at the end of January to work with their graphic design and illustration students, and I also gave a public talk at the Columbia Art Museum. It was my first in-person school visit since covid began, and it felt SO FREAKING GOOD to be traveling and seeing students and meeting faculty and just being in a room with folks making zines was an instant endorphin boost. I am heading to East Tennessee University in Johnson City for the Iterations Conference in mid-April for a talk and a riso workshop. I absolutely adore packing up my HUGE orange workshop suitcase and invading schools and conferences with the love of riso and zines.
Above: Cards I illustrated and printed for People’s Graphic Design Archive earlier this year.
Along with traveling, I am starting to take on more freelance again (NATURE IS HEALING). I did a project for the super rad People’s Graphic Design Archive in January, started a fun editorial illustration relationship with Highlight’s Magazine (I have a couple of things coming out with them in the next few months), and I made a t-shirt for Cheese and Crack Snack Shop in exchange for ice cream and cheese and crackers because I love a good trade. I am always down to chat if you have an illustration project in mind. HERE TO DRAW AND SOMETIMES PRINT (if the project calls for it, of course).
Above: Outlet right before one of our many riso workshops!
Speaking of printing…Outlet has been BUSY as HECK with riso workshops and printing printing printing! My eternally rad business partner Leland and I have been cruising through these first few months of 2023, screaming about the joys of riso printing to anyone who will listen. We have listed all of our workshops for 2023 on our website in case you want us to scream joyfully at you. Outlet also has an Instagram I frantically post to every Tuesday and Thursday night while I ride the train home. So if you see me on the blue line, hunched over and squinting at my phone with my reading glasses sliding down my face, that’s what I am doing. Seeing the incredible work that folks print in this space is always so fun. I am so damn lucky.
Above: My office window at PSU.
At PSUGD, we are almost done with the winter term, and one of the highlights has been organizing the Kemeny Lecture Series. This term, we hosted the Prem Krishnamurthy on February 28th and Saki Mafundikwa on March 7th at the eternally cool and scrappy student-run 5th Ave Cinema on campus. Having them here on campus and speaking with our students and the PSUGD community felt amazing. Watch for more things from this lecture series, including a partnership with Michael Ellsworth from Civilization, who has generously volunteered to help produce and curate future talks. BIG FUN THINGS ARE HAPPENING, and if you are in Portland, these talks are always free and open to all.
Above: Save the Date for PSUGD Be Honest May 5th at Wieden + Kennedy!
Spring term starts at the beginning of April, and this is the term that I teach senior portfolio where we produce the senior show FRESH which will happen the second week of June (location and date TBD). I also teach A+D Projects, which will produce the 14th Annual Be Honest Student Portfolio show on May 5th at W+K. This is our first time back at W+K since 2019, and we are very excited to have 100 plus PSUGD students taking over all of the floors of this mega space. These events are open to the public, and I am sure I will be joyfully shouting about this again.
Above: Last week’s daily purchase drawings
Somehow my Daily Purchase Drawing project has turned 17. On February 5th, 2006, I drew my gasoline purchase from the Conoco on Hwy 12 in Starkville, Mississippi. Gas was 2.36 a gallon, and the final purchase price was $25.00. I also bought a diet coke.
Above: Gas and Coke from February 5th, 2006
I love this dumb project of mine. I don’t love that I have a terrible file naming system and that I never tagged any of these, so it makes searching for specific objects almost impossible. Still, I deeply love how this daily project has led to so many other things in my life and that it all comes back to documenting the things in my life through drawing a few minutes a day. I deeply appreciate this archive. I deeply appreciate the time I spend drawing and the folks I have met along the way because of this project. Honestly, I can’t believe it’s been 17 years since I started this drawing journey. I am so glad that I did.
Thanks for reading, and until next time!
KBB