File Under: Didn't Buy, but Painted and Made a Print Edition Instead
also: Outlet is turning 6 on April 28th and Be Honest is May 5th!
I just listed a new print in my shop. It’s a five-color riso of an early 90s Nebraska Starter Jacket that I tried on but didn’t buy, but I took a photo of it in the dressing room instead. The fit was a bit too awkward, and I am not this sporty. I left Nebraska 19 years ago, and my feelings about my time there (just five years!) are incredibly fond. Grad school at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln was VERY FUN. Transformative, in fact, and one day, I will write more about my time on the second floor of Woods Hall and living in multiple apartments on various streets that were just named after letters (C, H, and Y for my Lincoln, Nebraska fans). I am one of the fortunate ones who enjoyed their time in grad school, and standing in that dressing room on Belmont Street; I wanted to be someone who would wear a Huskers jacket. But I am not, so I snapped a photo of it with my iPhone and decided to make a painting and a print edition instead because that’s what I do. If you like Nebraska or know someone else who does, maybe you want a copy of this too.
This Friday, Outlet turns SIX! We have a low-key Open House from 2 to 8 at the space if you are in Portland and want to swing by! We will have some ridiculous bumper stickers that contain inside jokes about stencil duplicators for the festivities, yellow snacks, and of course, PRINTS! We are also hosting a raffle filled with all sorts of good things, with the proceeds going to the Trans Women of Color Collective.
I fell DEEP into my camera roll on the train ride home last night and found some early photos of the space. Above is Outlet, about a month after I had moved in, and then next to it is a shot that Leland took and texted me last night. I love them BOTH, but I also love our GLOW UP! Much love to the community that has used this space and much love to Leland, who became my 50/50 business partner last year and keeps this place filled with so much love and printing!
I also want to shout from the rooftops about The 14th Annual BE HONEST Portland State Graphic Design Student Showcase at Wieden + Kennedy on May 5th! This is our biggest event of the year, and we have 130 students who each are given 18 inches by 3 feet of a table, to do whatever they want! So come out and see what this crew has been up to! It’s free. It’s fun. It’s exciting to see so much ENERGY under one roof. COME OUT!
Hank is going to bed later, so I am going to bed earlier because our nighttime ritual always seems to knock me OUT. We listen to music (usually, just one song on repeat). Recently, we transitioned from Paul Simon’s Rene and Georgette Magritte off of his excellent Hearts and Bones to freaking Brian Eno’s Music for Airports. It’s my fault because you know a 4-year-old isn’t requesting Brian Eno, but it’s an immediate sleep drug. Consequently, I made myself get up early to finish this newsletter, so I am in bed, and he is quietly snoring next to me, and poor Clifton is sleeping in the lower bunk of Hank’s bed. One of these days, a regular sleep schedule will emerge, but I am not planning on it anytime soon. It was nice spending time this morning organizing these thoughts, and I am pretty stoked to be hitting SEND.
:) Thanks for reading.
Music for Airports is my go-to insomnia lullaby. So calming!
I’m right there in the throughs of the disjointed sleep with kiddos years, too. It’s definitely a tender love-hate chapter.