Open Studios & Current Exhibitions

finder two by kentJoin us May 19 & 20 for an afternoon of hanging out and talking about art.

Silicon Valley Open Studios
We are site #27.
Hours: 11 – 5
33 Dexter in Redwood City

Current  & Upcoming Exhibitions:

Earth • Science • Art opens June 1 at R. Blitzer Gallery in Santa Cruz, California.

Nanette’s The Qi Project, which many of you participated in (thank you!), is published in the Spring 2012 edition of The New River,  a journal of digital writing and art out of Virginia Tech University.

Hello Catty! is showing at: Artists’ Book Cornucopia III, Abecedarian Gallery in Denver, Colorado thru June 2; and at the annual Altered Book fund raiser at Marin MOCA in Marin, California thru May 26.

If you are in or visiting Indiana, Nanette has a print in Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze at The Kinsey Institute Gallery located in Bloomington, Indiana thru June 29.

Image: Finder Two by Kent Manske.

DYAD at Art Ark Gallery

Kent & Nanette will be showing new works in:

dyad

DYAD is a group show of thirty local artists who have chosen two pieces of their art to exhibit together as a unit. The theme of the show is intended to create an exhibition of paired works that suggest a dialogue or create a dynamic interaction; be it complimentary or opposite, attraction or repulsion or somewhere in between the works are attempting to engage each other as well as the viewer.

Curated by Valerie Raps

Reception: Friday, February 3rd from 6-9pm with live Classical Guitar by Gene Torchia. Gallery is open by appointment only.

Contact: Valerie Raps at info@artarkgallery.net

Art Ark Gallery, 1035 South 6th St, San Jose

Whirligig Interview: Valerie Raps

raps_smWhirligig is all tooled up over a new interview with metal arts artist Valerie Raps and her recent public art project for San José’s  Alum Rock History Corridor Project.

Cultivating Community is a life-size, stylized spring tooth harrow created from fabricated steel and cast bronze. The tines of the harrow are made from casting the arms of ten San José community members.

The sculpture is located at Tropicana Shopping Center at King and Story Roads in East San José.

The dedication ceremony is Saturday, October 29, 10:15 – 11:30 am.

Read Valerie’s interview here: whirligig.hungerbutton.org

Autumn Events

Between Us cover imageWe have a few things going on this season to share with you.

Book Arts Jam at Foothill College
Saturday October 15, 10 – 4
Nanette will be writing Poems on the Spot with Robert Perry as part of Spontaneous Word Combustion
Both Kent and Nanette will be showing book works in several of the Jam exhibitions, including a group showing of Focus Generator inspired projects.

Uncommon Threads
23 Sandy Gallery, Portland, Oregon.
September 23 – October 29

Encoded Structures: Interpreting the Story
Handmade & Bound, Watkins College of Art, Nashville, Tennessee
September 30 – October 31

15th Anniversary Exhibition
San Francisco Center for the Book, 16th at Deharo, San Francisco, California
through November

Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze
SOMArts Cultural Center, 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco.
November 4 – 26

The Asian Connection: Art in a Global Age
Asian Arts Gallery at Towson University, Towson, Maryland.
through November 5

Focus Generator

fg_icon_colorPreNeo Press is focusing in on creative strategies with a new online project:
Focus Generator.

Focus Generator is a tool for artists who enjoy the challenge of randomly set project parameters; and for those who find that preset parameters help them to focus their creative energies into projects beyond their previous imaginings.

Focus Generator comes in three flavors: Focus Generator, is the primary engine and provides the highest level of challenge for the contemporary creative. Focus Light is a mid level machine for those who know their media yet enjoy the challenge of content triggers. Custom Focus provides the the highest level of individuation as it allows Participants to custom select from four areas of randomly generated stimuli.

Take the Focus Generator Challenge and check out the creative work of Focus Generator Participants: http://focusgenerator.net

Spring 2011 Artists in the Print Studios

maggie_bk_stand_sm Erin Manske and Maggie Manske were our Spring 2011 Residency Artists. These cousins came together during their shared spring break to visit us in California. The projects they created — although they are very different in both concept and form — both demonstrate a strong interest in interpersonal communication.

Erin created a broadside which included her own collected writings. Maggie created a blank journal as a device to communicate with a person she seeks to be closer to.

You can see Erin and Maggie’s projects at PreNeo Press Residency in the Prints Studios.

Summer Reading

Kent and Nanette are launching this summer with three exhibitions showing their artists’ books. Happy Summer reading!

kent_insideoutside1

Bibliophoria II
June 16 – July 23
Sebastopol Center for the Arts
6780 Depot St.
Sebastopol, California

BOOKWORKS, Pacific Center for the Book Arts’ Fourteenth Triennial
June 18  –  August 7
San Francisco Public Library
Main branch Skylight Gallery, 6th floor
100 Larkin Street at Grove
San Francisco, California

East for Art in a Global Age
September 8 – November 5
Asian Arts Gallery
Towson University
Towson, Maryland

Whirligig Interview with Jody Alexander

alexander_artistinstudioThe book is open on a new Whirligig Interview with Santa Cruz bookmaking artist, Jody Alexander.

Alexander’s work celebrates collecting, storytelling, and odd characters.

Alexander currently has two solo exhibitions open through May 31: Jody Alexander: Sedimentals at Mohr Gallery, Community School of Music and Art in Mountain View, California; and The Odd Volumes of Ruby B.: An Installation at Saffron and Genevieve in Santa Cruz, California.

Read Jody’s interview at: whirligig.hungerbutton.org.

Photo by r.r. jones.

Hello Catty!

Hello Catty! by Karen Chew and Nanette Wylde

Karen Chew and Nanette Wylde are meowing up a storm over the completion of their new book Hello Catty!

Hello Catty! is a light-hearted, yet poignant play on catty behaviors couched by a feline perspective and inspired by the meanness of others.

Designed as a movable board book, it consists of five two-page spreads. Each spread contains user interactive elements: wheels, pop-ups, pulls, spinners, windows, flaps, a game and ephemera.

A Hello Catty! celebration event is scheduled for late April. Contact either Karen or Nanette to be included in the guest list. Space is limited.

See more about Hello Catty! at Hunger Button Books.

Whirligig Interview with Marion Patterson

mpatterson_ptlobosWhirligig is pleased to announce a new interview with photographer and Bay Area native Marion Patterson.

Patterson was mentored by Ansel Adams, and has experienced a rich history surrounding the early California art and photography scenes. She was photo faculty at Foothill and DeAnza Colleges for 28 years.

Patterson has several new bodies of work coming out based on recent travels to Antarctica and the Galapagos. Her monograph Grains of Sand: Photographs by Marion Patterson was published by Stanford University Press.

Read Marion’s interview at whirligig.hungerbutton.org.

Whirligig Interview with Stacy Speyer

Stacy Speyer Polyhedra

PreNeo Press is tickled pink to publish a new Whirligig interview with textile artist Stacy Speyer.

Speyer recently completed a residency at the Exploratorium in San Francisco where she created an interactive exhibit of metal geometric forms known as polyhedra for the Exploratorium’s traveling exhibition Geometry Playground.

Visit Whirligig to read Stacy’s interview:
whirligig.hungerbutton.org

New Year Events

01doll-christopher3Gualala Arts presents Dolled Up, featuring the works of Signe Barrar, Elaine Benjamin, Matthew Christopher, Eileen McGarvey, Jane Reichhold, Shannon Shea, and Nanette Wylde.

In this exhibition artists push the limits of how we understand and think about the doll using installations, video and animation, portraits, books, narratives and unique doll objects.

The reception is Friday, January 7, 2011 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. The exhibition runs through January 30, 2011.

More info at: Gualala Art Center

While you’re in the stunning left coast towns of Northern California catch José Arenas’ book signing on Saturday, January 8 at the Phoenix Restaurant in Point Arena. 5:30 – 7ish pm.

José’s book,  A Little Piece of Happiness, was recently published by PreNeo Press’ Hunger Button Books .

Image: Matthew Christopher, Western 1:47

A Little Piece of Happiness: Paintings of José Arenas

josecover300Hunger Button Books is delighted to present A Little Piece of Happiness: Paintings of José Arenas. This monograph features 53 of the paintings Arenas created between 2005 and 2009.

José Arenas is an Oakland, California and Brooklyn, New York based artist who spent much of his childhood traveling between Northern California and Guadalajara, Mexico. His experiences navigating cultures, past and present, is a point of investigation in his work. Themes in his imagery include migration, memory, childhood, rites of passage, and disjointed identities.

Book launch and signings are in the works. Tentative schedule includes PreNeo Press Studios in Redwood City on December 20 and a Gualala/Point Arena locale on January 8.

Friend us on Facebook for updates and news.

Whirligig Interview with Julia Bradshaw

bradshawcasex

Whirligig has a new interview with photographer and video performance artist Julia Bradshaw. Bradshaw is exhibiting seven different series of work in her first one person show at Fresno City College this month. Her work often comments on language and the mixed messages of cross-cultural exchanges.

Visit Whirligig to read Julia’s interview:
whirligig.hungerbutton.org

PreNeo Projects included in Southern Exposure’s Art Publishing Now Library

Three PreNeo Press related projects are included in Southern Exposure’s Art Publishing Now Library and Archive: Meaning Maker, Hunger Button Books, and Whirligig.

The Art Publishing Now Library is a physical and online archive of Art Publishers in the Bay Area. It was created in conjunction with a two day summit in October on the state of Art Publishing in the Bay Area. The library is installed at Southern Exposure from October to December 2010 and will then go on to find a new home in the Bay Area.

Southern Exposure is located at 3030 20th Street in San Francisco. You can visit the card catalog online at: artpublishingnow.org/