Providence RI, 02903
401-831-9327
February 7-27, 2010
opening reception
Sunday, February 7, 4-7pm
AS220 Main Gallery
Collages & Assemblages by Tim McCarthy and McAuley House Art Show
Open Window
New Work by Leah Winship
AS220 Project Space
The Artwork of Keith Waldrop & a selection of books from Providence's BURNING DECK PRESS
The AS220 Project Space presents award winning poet & collagist Keith Waldrop. Mr. Waldrop is the 2009 National Book Award winner for Poetry for his latest book Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy. Mr. Waldrop is also an accomplished visual artist , his "visual works are enveloped in quiet tensions and ghosted impressions. They construct densities of atmosphere and architecture, drift and dream. Rich in textual and visual play, romantic and contradictory in their shapings, his collages use traces of memory to gesture toward the absent and the invisible.. ."
Mr. Waldrop will read from his work on Friday, February 19 at 5:30 p.m. at AS 220, 115 Empire Street, Providence. The event is free and open to the public, is sponsored by AS220 and by the Graduate Program in Literary Arts at Brown.
The AS220 Main Gallery features the collages and assemblages of Tim McCarthy and works by visitors to McAuley House. A singer & songwriter, Mr. McCarthy's collages are inspired by his musical heroes and passion of the radical artists of the '60s. McAuley House is an independent non-profitthat provides the basic need of food, clothing, shelter, health services and emotional support to the most vulnerable. The art group has been meeting every Tuesday for three years, and each artist has a vibrant artistic expression. In the Open Window, Leah Winship exhibits her wispy and humorerous portraits of family and friends.
There is no excuse, don't have crappy business cards. Sign up today for our newest Printshop workshops.
Valentines Day Portrait Studio!
Feb.14 marks the return of the Valentines Day Portrait Studio! Always wanted a reason to drag your significant other out for a quality portrait, but dread the standard Sears backdrops and same-old-same-old mannequin poses? Of course you do! So make your way to AS220 this Valentines Day for the perfect mix of classy photos and cutesy props. Shots are $20 each, and you can come back to the darkroom and develop them with loving guidance from our hopelessly devoted volunteer members. Or, if you want that hand made quality and care delivered straight to your door (minus the cupid costume and the singing telegram), it's a mere $30 a shot. That's 1-4pm folks, in the performance space at 115 Empire Street.
But maybe all that hearts and flowers stuff isn't for you. If you prefer straight up science and the stark solidarity of the darkroom, maybe you'd prefer to sign up for a class instead. Master the 35mm camera or head straight to print in one of our ever popular Intro classes. Time is running out on these ones kids, so sign up now at www.as220.org/shop. Intro to the 35mm camera starts NEXT WEEK!! Go on, sign up already! I promise, those pesky heart shaped arrows cannot penetrate the walls of the Paul Krot Community Darkroom, so if you're looking for a place to hide, take comfort in the warm red glow of photo safe-lights. Truly something for everyone, so grab your camera and show that Cupid character who's got the goods this Valentine's Day! See you in the Darkroom...
an exhibition of AS220 artists & friends at the Knight Campus Art Gallery, CCRI, Warwick, R.I
OPENING TONIGHT
Thursday, February 4, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
February 4th - March 4th, 2010
AS220 artists and friends exhibition "Do It! Show It! Sing It! Work It!" at the Community College of Rhode Island's Knight Campus Art Gallery from Feb. 4 to March 4. AS220 is a nonprofit community arts space in downtown Providence whose mission is to provide an unjuried and uncensored forum for the arts The exhibition is a celebration of all the creative energy of all those who help to make AS220 a vital community art space.
Artists featured in the exhibition include Mia Acosta, Ariele Affigne, Alexis Avedisian, Dawn Beagan, Moira Brady, Stephen Brownell, Nicole Chesney, Paul Clancy + Alyn Carlson, Jonathan Clark, Susan Clausen, Umberto Crenca, Susan Dansereau, Carmel Dundon, Lyn Goeringer, Edgardo Gonzales, Krystal Grow + J.F. Carli, Hope Hardesty, Togar Howard, Scot Lapham, Viera Levitt, Povilas Mecy, Joanna Miller, CW Roelle, Miguel Rosario, Ashley Vick, Anthony Villavincencio, Meredith Stern, Leigh Waldron-Taylor, Laura E. Travis, Neal T. Walsh and Uriah Zoegar.
For more information about AS220 and this exhibition, contact Neal T. Walsh at (401) 831-9327 or neal@as220.org. Visit the organization online at
Come make your loved ones magical things this month. Subsidiary corporations cannot inbue their printed matter with the same love and care as you. Now we're making it hyper-affordable, too! Come visit us tonight (2/1/10) at 6pm for our Open House!
We've still got spaces left in a Letterpress class that begins tomorrow, Tuesday the 2nd at 5pm. This is an excellent opportunity to learn Letterpress printing, and you'll be using a a modified C.I.A. technique to press a secret message! Take advantage today of this rare chance to slip into a letterpress class without waiting. Sign up today.
we've also got a handful of exciting changes we're rolling out this month.
If you're a by-the-block member at the shop, we're dropping the price of a block of time for the month of February. it's going to be 15$ a block, or two for $25. That's 8 hours of printing time for 25$. Full steam ahead!
Refer a friend - If your friend lists you as a referal on their new membership, we'll see that when we process their new account, and credit you with a free block of time. Sign up your friends! Then come print with them!
Also starting this month, every third Thursday (thats 2/18/10), from 5-9, it's open screenprint sesh! That means anyone with some screen-printing knowledge is welcome to come in, coat, expose, and print a screen. All for 5$ - no membership required.
You are expected to bring your own image, paper (or fabric). We've got leftover inks, but if you have a specific color in mind, pick it up before you come! You do not have to be a shop member, but this program is first come, first serve, with up to 6 people printing at a time.
We'll have monitors on hand to help people stay on track and overcome hurdles - but this is not a class. If you've never screenprinted before, sign up for our regular 2 week intro class but if you have an idea of what your doing, and this all sounds good to you, please visit the specific page we've made for this program, so you know you'll be totally prepared.
Quick Recap!
Open House tonight! February 1st @ 6 PM. See the Offset in Action!
Secret Cinnamon 2 Session Letterpress Class Starting Tomorrow, Tuesday the 2nd @ 5 pm.
February "We Love You By-the-Block Members" Discount. The special prices are 15$ for 1 Block, 25$ for 2. Thats 25$ for 8 Hours of Print Shop Time!
Refer a Friend. If your friend writes you down on their new membership as a referral, you get a free block of printshop time, or a free month as a monitor! Tell people about the shop. Sign 'em up, and then print as team!
Thursday Night Open Screenprint Sessions! Starting this Thursday, the 4th of February, at 5pm. Bring $5 per small screen and your design(s) on Acetate ready-to-shoot, and we'll get to work coating, shooting, and exposing a screen for print.
We've got so many things doing for the month of February. Come print!
The third annual event had close to 40 alumni in attendance, including one college graduate! It was wonderful to see many CV alums and hear about all the amazing things they're doing in college. During the conference, alumni learned about various job and internship opportunities and the graduate school application process. In addition, the CV Alumni community launched the first ever CV Alumni Fundraising Project with a goal to raise $500 in 2010 to give back to CV, and already raised $63 toward the goal at the Alumni Conference! Also, during the conference, CV alumni discussed and brainstormed ideas for an alumni advisory board.
If you are a CV alumni interested in joining the CV Alumni Board, please email adrienne@collegevisions.org.
Tyrene and Amanda brainstorm ideas for a CV alumni board.
Lots of discussions and brainstorming in the small groups.
More group discussions.
That's right folks, lasercutting is back with a vengance in the AS220 Labs. We're slicing and dicing our way through the dark days of winter, and this is your chance to get in on the fun! Didn't get a spot in this Saturday's sold-out class? Not to fear friends of the lasercutter, there's another class this Monday with 3 spots open!! Can't make it then? Then sign up for Broken Hearts Lasercutting on Saturday Feb.13th or almost-but-not-quite Leap Year Lasercutter on Feb. 27th and get your piece of laser glory. Come on, you know you wanna! Visit the online store to sign up!
Come join us for our Monthly Open House. Monday, February 1st at 6PM.
Learn about the AS220 Community Print Shop. Take a tour of the facilities, learn a bit about how we operate and what we provide. See the new 2 Color Offset Lithography Press running full steam and making multiples en masse. Sign up for a class. Ask questions, bring work to share and discuss. Meet other printmakers, and more!
Award winning animator Steven Subotnick will be screening a selection of his work tonight at the AS220 Perfomance Space. Doors open at 5:30pm & films start at 6pm. Free!
Steven's animated films are associative explorations of themes found in history, folklore, and his own unconscious; he treats each film as a poetic essay on a particular subject. His animations are alchemical - thought, motion, sound, art, narrative, and abstraction all combine to create a new substance. As a visual artist, he believes in the expressive power of materials - that technique and content are inseparable - that ideas only become real when they are tangible. His method is similar to documentary filmmaking in that he spends time intuitively creating images and animated scenes before he imposes a filmic structure. The film's final narrative grows organically out of the accumulated material through the process of editing and designing sound.
The AS220 Community Print Shop invites everyone to come meet Angee Lennard and see her new series of prints this Thursday, January 28th, from 5-7pm. This exhibition will take place at 95 Mathewson Street, Downtown Providence, R.I. @ the Print Shop.
Angee Lennard is visiting from Chicago, where she founded and operates Spudnik Press. Her residency in Providence has been spent exploring notions of progress, technology, perspective and generational divide. With a series of lovingly mezzotinted copper plates printed in subdued hues, her subjects - once the shape of things to come- take on an awkward, intimate, and painfully familiar tone.
Join us this Thursday as we celebrate Angee and her dedicated effort, a sizable collection of new work created at the AS220 Community Printshop. She will also be periodically giving demonstrations of the mezzotinting process she used to create most of her prints. If you met Angee this month, come say farewell! If you haven't met her, this is your chance!
Thursday the 28th of January, 5 - 7pm. Location: 95 Mathewson Street. Downtown Providence. Food and Beverage and Prints and Demos!
Because we know you've all been waiting, and because of the overwhelming demand in the fall, we are pleased to announce the return of intro courses in the AS220 darkroom! As the last days of winter fade away, make the darkness last a little longer in our fully equip darkroom learning the ins and outs of 35mm film developing and traditional photo printing. Our Intro to the 35mm Camera and Intro to the Black and White Darkroom classes offer a solid foundation in the art of black and white photography and could also serve as a refresher course for those of you who may have let your 35mm gather dust while you persue the glitz and glamour of digital photography. So, get back to your roots, or plant some new ones as the winter thaw starts to wear off. We'll be posting new classes for the Spring soon, but spots are open in the intro classes now! Intro to 35mm Camera runs from 7pm-10pm on Feb. 10 & 17 and costs only $50!! Intro to the Black and White Darkroom runs from 7-10pm on Feb. 24, Mar.3 & 10 and is only $75. Reserve your spot here or contact krystal@as220.org for more info. See you in the Darkroom!!
Meet the newest member of the printshop family here at the AS220 Community Print Shop, AB Dick 9850. With the emergence and rapid rise of the blog, traditional print media is struggling. Commercial print shops are on the ropes, and newspapers / magazines everywhere are shutting down shop. The creative community should view this as an opportunity - we find ourselves in that magic moment where a traditionally commercial process enters the hands of the individual and is re-purposed for the creation of exciting, exploratory, and previously unimaginable work.
Currently we are in the process of getting the press set up and running. Just like all the other equipment in shop, we will soon offering classes. Once safely trained to operate the press, a membership will allow you easy access to the shop to produce your own work. In addition to the new press we also have a Baumfolder 714 folding machine, perforator and saddle stitch / stapling machine. Now is the time to start laying out that sweet 'zine you've been dreaming of.
We are pleased to announce our latest Edition Project with artist Pippi Zornoza. Her printmaking work has been exhibited in the United States as well as Japan, Argentina, Columbia and Sweden, and was published in the art-poster anthology, The Art of Modern Rock. Zornoza is an artist, musician and co-founder of the Dirt Palace in Providence Rhode Island. She is a renaissance woman in this renaissance city. Her work encompasses musical performance, printmaking, embroidery, lace making, carving, knitting, sewing and drawing, often all at once.
This print typifies Zornoza's characteristic use of intricate line-work, elaborate ornament, and combined imagery based in ornate textile patterns, varied mythology, and the natural world. Unlike her past work, however, this print incorporates her distinctive style within a bold geometric motif. A heavy circular mandala divides the piece into six triangular frames, housing the alternating designs within like small vignettes. Five shades of ochre and red lend warmth and subtlety to this incredibly complex design. The print is available through our online shop.
Good news, minimalists and potential studio dwellers! Two of AS220's live/work studios in fabulous downtown Providence are becoming available! The spaces are located in our main Empire Street building, mere moments away from restaurants, nightlife, a grocery store, farmer's markets, and myriad venues of entertainment guaranteed to facilitate all of your wildest dreams coming true. Our residents also get fun perks, like free admission to shows in our performance space and access to our on-site staff and dwellers yoga class. The details of this veritable wonderland are as follows:
Our Empire Street residential studios are semi-communal. Each resident has a private live/work studio and shares a very spacious kitchen and living area, as well as two large bathrooms. Stats for our available spaces are:
March 1: 245 square feet; $350.
April 1: 314 square feet; $413.
As an AS220 tenant you are responsible for monthly rent, but heat, electric, hot water, and internet access are on us. No parking is provided and, sorry animal lovers, but no pets are allowed. Our spaces are non-smoking. As part of their rent, all tenants give 5 hours of community service each month to AS220 in some form. (Don't worry! It's fun stuff, like working the door at a show, exercising your awesome web design skills, whatevs! ) The final expectation of our tenants is that you are actively pursuing some form of artistic expression; it is part of our mission to keep artists in the 24-7 downtown mix of our beloved city, Providence, RI.
To apply, please visit the Live/Work page of http://as220.org, download the application, and submit it to Susan, the AS220 building manager, by 5pm on January 22. Susan works out of the main office at the Dreyfus at 95 Mathewson Street Suite #204 Providence, RI 02903; you can reach her by stopping in there, emailing her at susan@as220.org or by calling 401-831-9327 ext. 216. Applications may be mailed, dropped off in person or emailed.
We've got some excellent class offerings that are sure to fill up quickly.
On deck first is our January Drypoint Class. Learn to make direct marks into a copper plate using sharp tools. Then, using an etching press, you will amplify and multiply your marks, transferring them into paper in the process.
Then, early February, We're running our first ever Secret Valentines Letterpress Class. Using a technique used by the CIA and modified for Letterpress, we're going to be printing hidden messages. Be the envy of your homeroom (or workplace), as everyone will want you as their valentine! Or just treat a special someone to a super-sweet hand-printed treat.
To sign up for either class, visit our Online Store
Check out these tracks from the newest album from Broad Street Studio, featuring 19 different hip hop, reggaeton, R&B, and pop hits. It has 27 of Providence's hottest young artists and producers. These song were created in our beat making and mc writing workshops at Broad Street Studio and in Rhode Island's juvenile detention facility. The tracks were recorded in the Delgado Recording Studio and they are straight banging! Check out a sample track from the album and while your at it venture over to our online store and pick up a copy.
Una Loca (E.Nasty and Plan B).mp3
January 3-29, 2010
opening reception
Sunday, January 3, 4-7pm
AS220 Main Gallery
Paintings & Drawings by Bill Killen
Wood Block Prints by Laura Shirreff
Open Window
New Drawings by Paul Holden
Youth Gallery
High Tech Design: New work BSS Youth & AS220 Labs
AS220 Project Space
TRASH: Groups Show with Lee Fearnside, Holly Hey, Scott Lapham, Caroline Kern, and Jo Dery
JELLYFISH: animations & paintings by Steven Subotnick
The AS220 starts the new year off with amazing animations, classical painting with a wry edge, innovative wood block prints, & lots of wonderful Trash.
The Youth Gallery continues with high tech meets art explorations of the Broad Street Studio featuring amazing work by Simcha Davis, Kafumba Bility, Benito Rios, and many more talented youth.
The Main Gallery feature Bill Killen's silve point drawings and oil paintings, rendered in the "Flemish Painting Style" takes classical imagery that is subverted by improbable and often sarcastic use of the "female form". Laura Shirreff literally uses her body to create prints that explore materiality & presence in a luminous and intimate manner.
In the Open Window, Paul Hogan exhibits drawings that render real and imagined places in pen and ink. Paul work invokes the fine line of the real and the dreamed in precise linear form.
In the Project Space is Trash, a group exhibit curated by Lee Fearnside featuring her photography of waste treatment plants work , two delightful animations Jo Dery, a video critique of disposable patriotic culture by Holly Hey, sculptural works from Scott Lapham's Perfectly Preserved Shorline series & Caroline Paquita's recylced, re-used works.
In the Side Room Steve Subotnicks exhibits drawings and prints from th emaking of his animation The Jelly Fishers. Amazing look glimpse into the process of animation.
Nothing says shameless overindulgence like John Waters in a Santa hat, eh? Shake off the post-holiday fatigue with a night of photo geekery, tasty snackery and tasteless film viewery this Monday at the AS220 Darkroom Open House Movie Nite Holiday Party Extravaganza! At 7:00 pm, we will sit back and prepare to be thoroughly and simultaneously creeped out and overjoyed by the work of Mr. Waters in "Pecker," the oddly heartwarming tale of an eager young photographer who gains fame and notoriety through his snapshots of everyday Baltimore, which would naturally include strippers, shoplifting and a ventriloquist Virgin Mary, oh my!
This has been quite a year for the darkroom, and we want to share the spirit of the season with you, dear photo friends, in the best way we know how...through tacky yet heartwarming films about fledgling photographers...and free treats! Join us at 7 p.m. in the Youth Resource Center, right outside the darkroom for what's destined to be a night of photo-tom-foolery AS220 style!
"What doth a google image search for 'mac and cheese' yield," the querent might ask to herself. "And what has this to do with me?" I'll tell you what, readers. This very night, on the eve of the new year, AS220's brand-spanking new eatery will transform itself into an all-you-can-dream customizable mac and cheese mecca. That's right: it's the whole menu, people. Mac and cheese. Personalize your meal via a seemingly infinite dim-sum of add ins: bacon, bacony bacon, vegan bacon, crispy bacon, greens, caramelized onions, roasted cauliflower, other organic materials, extra cheese, who knows what, OR veganize the entire business! It's a decadent dream come true! Git on down for your favorite wintery treat, saunter across the room for a refreshing brew, and stay all night for the performative vegan/straightedge showdown and subsequently troublesome cocktail hour. It's a recipe for hilarity.
Happy New Year!
December AS220 Artist in Residence James Mercer is unveiling a new installation in the AS220 Empire St. 3rd Floor A.I.R. Studio. Glimpse everything. Come by this Wednesday, December 30th, from 7 - 9 PM.
James is a world-builder, weaving lonely narratives with estranged teens and lovingly-rendered, mass-manufactured anonymous objects. My mother might say, "he has a knack for color." James generates material endlessly, making videos, music, drawings and installations. AS220 and the Community Print Shop are proud to present the remnants of his residency. New Years Eve Eve.
Here's one story that shows how our AS220 Community Printshop is a great community resource:
This past fall, Mark MacDougall took an Intro to Screen Printing class at AS220. Mark's indie music label, 75orLess, is involved in the Providence experimental and independent music scene, and the label has grown to the point where Mark needs more space, equipment and training to design and print elaborate CD jackets.
"The classes had a small amount of students, so each person was afforded plenty of individual time for hands on experience, as well as practical advice for both printing on paper and clothing," Mark says. "Overall, a 100-percent positive experience."
AS220 is currently in the middle of its 25th Anniversary Annual Fund Drive!
Donations can be earmarked specifically to support the AS220 Community Printshop, a vibrant, affordable space dedicated to the practice of printmaking, offering open studio hours, a menu of memberships and an assortment of monthly classes.
Please help us! Any size donation will help us meet our annual budget.
Donate today at www.as220.org.
Thank you!
To help CV
students prepare for their college interviews, CV organized its first ever
Interview Prep Day on Saturday, December 5th. 23 volunteers came out to serve as mock
interviewers and engaged 20 CV students in two practice interviews to help
prepare them for the intricacies and nuances of the interview process. The day
was a huge success, and CV students are now armed with the knowledge and skills
to interview successfully.
Students and volunteers get to know one another.
CV students make sure they maintain eye contact with their interviewers. Way to go, Erik (right)!
Always remember to shake your interviewer's hand. Great job, Mindy (left)!
Broad Street Studio is hosting it year end showcase on December 17th at 6:00. We will be featuring some of Rhode Island's most creative up and comers in hip hop, photography, visual arts, fashion, design, and dance. One featured artist is Simcha Davis. Simcha has been working hard in AS220's Fab Lab designing clothing, jewelry, and other merchandise. Come check out her work and that of over forty other young artist!
Resident alchemist Delia Kovac recently had the pleasure of stumbling upon, quite out in the world and unexpectedly, a small collection of her own forgotten works. After six years of riding the rails, sailing the seas, and seeking out untold adventures, Kovac couldn't stand to keep the drawings locked away in her personal collection, and sent them off to join the illustrious ranks of the AS220 Flat Files. There, her pieces befriended other two dimensional works on paper. They schemed to get out of the files; to carouse through the gallery and flaunt their magic. It was through their Siren-like insistence that Delia came to curate the excerpt from the Flat Files currently on display in the Side Gallery of the AS220 Project Space, alongside other artist's books and Visionaires (all of which are for sale for your various needs, be them holiday-related or self-indulgent!).
Delia's wizardry of print, paper, paints, and politics can be seen on her blog, where she tells the story of her Flat Files curation.
Courtney Mitchell's Photo of a South Providence statue graces the month of February in the AS220 Photographic Memory 2010 Calendar. Courtney has been with Photographic Memory for several years now. During this time she has consistently worked on her personal portfolio, assisted on several commercial shoots and worked very hard to make this calendar a success. Soon Courtney will be leaving RI for art school in Pittsburgh Pa, with help from the portfolio she made in Photographic Memory. Purchasing this Calendar for $15 gives the viewer an important way to support Photographic Memory and enjoy the work of all these talented photographers for the upcoming year..... or longer! Please visit our online shop at www.as220.org/shop to order your calendar(s) today!
Lucia O'Reilly will be talking this Thursday about her current exhibition "Corners" at the AS220 Project Space. The exhibition brings together three bodies of work that manipulates paint, collage, and delicate controlled burnings that explore the delicate intersection between the beauty of the formal design and the thorniness of the content. The talk starts at 6pm and is free. The AS220 Project Space is located at 93 Mathewson St.
Broad Street Beats is in the thick of it, working on new material, including a surprise collaboration with the Broad Street/UCAP step troupe.
Another highlight will be the debut performance of an original tune written by BSS instructor, Susan Sakash, and featuring drum breaks by Norland, Brittney and Dan. Take a sneak listen to a recent rehearsal. Shout out to guest horn - lydia Stein on the baritone. This songs so new it doesn't even have a title...enjoy!
All the mystery to be unveiled at next week's BSS Showcase - Thursday December 17th from 6-8pm in the as220 performance space. Show up and show your support!
Meet Anthony Villavicencio, holding the Photographic Memory 2010 Calendar opened to his photograph for the month of September. Photographic Memory, AS220's youth photography and training program, proudly presents a culmination of their collective work in this beautiful 2010 calendar. In the Photographic Memory program young people gain technical training in photography and develop a personal portfolio documenting their own lives as only they can. Our classes held in the RI Training School and at AS220 in downtown Providence engage students who have little or no arts education in their school experience. Photo Mem also offers professional practice by offering committed students the opportunity to assist professional photographers on commercial jobs and the chance to show their fine art photography in gallery settings. For students seeking a college education, these portfolios have been used to gain admittance to RISD, Pratt, Chicago Art Institute and Hampshire College. Purchasing this Calendar for $15 gives the viewer an important way to support Photographic Memory and enjoy the work of these talented photographers for the upcoming year.... or longer! Check out our online store at www.as220.org/shop.
Check out some of the work that Kafumba Bility and other young people in Providence, Rhode Island are doing in the AS220 Labs, the public technology studio and hacker space at AS220, a community arts organization in Providence.
Kafumba is a member of AS220's Broad Street Studio youth program, which offers arts and technology workshops to at-risk and under-served youth at AS220's building in downtown Providence and inside Rhode Island's juvenile prison.
This holiday season, Kafumba and about 30 other youth are taking a product design class at AS220 Labs, taught by AS220 Labs staff and a designer from Providence-based medical device product development firm Ximedica. The young people have been making and selling handcrafted merchandise in AS220's Fab Lab - a suite of personal fabrication equipment and software created at MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms that includes a laser cutter, milling machine and vinyl cutter.
AS220's Fab Lab was launched last year with support from the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, the City of Providence and numerous individual donors.
"I get a simple drawing of theirs and try to get them on the laser cutter within five minutes," says Jeremy Radtke, the arts, media & technology coordinator in AS220's youth program. "I really quickly show them the process of scanning their images, bringing it into GIMP and tweaking the contrast. The idea is, once they understand the process we can begin making all kinds of great things."
The photo below is Kafumba's first, five-minute work - a simple drawing from his sketchbook. He and others have designed and laser cut jewelry, birch plywood holiday cards and other products that are being sold at Craftland, a retail store in Providence for local artists and artisans.
Kafumba, a freshman at Community College of Rhode Island, is picking up his ESL credits there and plans to transfer to a four-year art school next year. He is working in AS220's Fab Lab to improve his college portfolio.
This work is being done on a shoestring budget - the young people at AS220 Labs have accomplished all this in the Fab Lab with a $500 supply budget that is quickly dwindling. AS220 is currently in the middle of its 25th Anniversary Annual Fund Drive. Any size donation will help us meet our annual budget. Donations can be earmarked specifically to support the work of our youth in the lab. Please help us! Donate today at www.as220.org.
Thank you!
Escape the pending winter gloom and doom this weekend with a very special Darkroom event at AS220! Stewart Martin, master printer, photographer extrordinaire and friend of AS220 will be giving an Artist Talk to accompany his current exibit, "Personal Favorites:1975-2000," on display through Dec.27 at the AS220 Main Gallery at 115 Empire St.
Martin, shown above in his meticulous and magical studio, has printed for photo greats Bruce Davidson and Sid Kaplan, and has an equally stunning collection of his own. His stark, journalistic style is everything great photography should be; honest, compelling and completely real. Martin's photo-retrospective covers scenes from San Fransisco Halloween Parades to small town Vermont with the same understated eye that provokes a thoughtful reflection on their subjects and pure amazement in his technical skill for beautiful archival printing.
But before we delve into decades of photo-grandeure, students from AS220's Photographic Memory program will set the stage with a presentation about the creation of the new 2010 calendar.
In PhotoMem, young people gain technical training in photography and develop a
personal portfolio documenting their own lives as only they can. Our
classes held in the RI Training School and at AS220 in downtown Providence
engage students who have little or no arts education in their school
experience. Photo Mem also offers professional practice by offering
committed students the opportunity to assist professional photographers on
commercial jobs and the chance to show their fine art photography in
gallery settings. This calendar represents a year's worth of work from these very talented young artists who will be speaking Saturday afternoon about their involvement with PhotoMem and AS220's Broad Street Studio. These calendars, which are on sale for $15 each, will help support PhotoMem and AS220 Photo programming. Calendars will be available for sale during the presentation, and are also sold locally at Cellar Stories, Craftland, Cafe LaFrance and online.
This event is FREE and open to all with a healthy interest in the creation of great works of photography, from master printers to fledgling film rollers. Come bask in the glow of photo glory at AS220! 1-4pm this Saturday. Hope to see you there!
