Black and white and read all over
Doing some research on Nancy Buchanan, who has an upcoming exhibition at Charlie James Gallery (join me there!) I came across a story on East of Borneo about a project that she contributed to, curated by Paul McCarthy: a tabloid newspaper called Criss Cross Double Cross.
Reading the piece and checking out some excerpted images from the project got me itching to print a newspaper. Coincidently, I had recently signed up to get some samples from newspaperclub.com, a UK based company that offers an online service. They look gooooood:
The "make a newspaper" urge gets me jumping and excited a few times a year for about the last 30 years, no joke. Eons ago when I was a freshmen in high school in Juneau, Alaska I joined the school newspaper team and I've been hooked ever since. (Before this more formalized setting I would make photocopied and one-off zines and flyers and tack them up around my neighborhood. So things haven't really changed since I was 10 years old.) Being in that wacky, well-funded and mostly upperclassmen filled Journalism Department was a pivotal part of my early education (both socially and academically). The middle of my sophomore year I moved to Park City, Utah and right away I got an after school job at the local newspaper, the Park Record doing paste-up. As a senior I took over as Editor and Designer of Park City High School's paper. Later in college I studied Graphic Design and I've been professionally designing for years.
At art fairs, books shops, and galleries I'm always drawn to smudgey newsprint publications when there are printed things on display or as a give away. If you've been to any of my studio spaces you've seen the stacks I've collected over the years. They also are a favorite material for creating collages. I love the imperfections but also the subtle elegance and fragility of newsprint publications.
The Paul McCarthy project has got me all amped up to do a co-lab with friends and fellow artists. Some images below, courtesy of EofB's article. Check out the names on the contributors list. Geez! I met Nancy Buchanan recently and mentioned that I had seen the project and she said she still had a copy of the paper. Oooooooooh.