Strawberryluna

FS 26: Thank you Chicago!

On the road to Chicago!

Thank you so much awesome people of Chicago, Pitchfork Festival & Flatstock Poster Show!

We had a fun & pretty crazy & event filled time this past long weekend in your city. Thanks to everyone we met & talked to at Flatstock, and moreover, thanks for buying some of our work. We’re always mega appreciative and blown away by the awesome people we get to meet on these roadtrips.

Highlight bands we got to take turns to see and loved: LCD Soundsystem (!), Sleigh Bells, Pavement, and Kurt Vile. Super great sets by all, and we heard the lovely St. Vincent & Beach House & Local Natives all kick ass from afar.

The below is just a few parts of our trip, in photos. From Pittsburgh, to the Renegade Handmade store for the Rock Paper Show book release party, to the Post Family gallery for The Cantankerous Hellfighter show featuring collaborative work by our friends Delicious Design League & Aesthetic Apparatus, to Humboldt Park, The Congress Plaza Hotel, Flatstock, & everywhere in between.

See you next year!

A super neat guy from the Delicious Design / Aesthetic Apparatus show at Post Family

Yep, it was that hot.

Craig & Jason Delicious hanging out in our booth at night, at Pitchfork & Flatstock 26. Oh look, Huggies on ice! (photo courtesy of Doublenaut)

One Crazy Cop, Mark from Hero Design Studio.

A shoot of the aisle at Flatstock 26, Chicago Pitchfork Fest.

I have a major thing for manhole covers. Taken in Humboldt Park.

That Which Would Not Scrape Off: EPIC bird doo strike classes up a beautiful day.

Flatstock Chicago & Pitchfork Music Fest: July 16-18, come say hi!

Artwork by Flatstock artists Landland.

For us, summer time means a lot of things, and one of them is what we like to call “carny season”. Yep. That’s right, I just called us carnies. We do a lot of craft shows and poster shows, aka Flatstocks all through the spring & summer and travel around the country to participate in them. And? We love it.

One of our favorite shows is coming up this weekend, hooray! It’s the Chicago Flatstock 26, which happens during the super dupes Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park, smack in the middle of Chicago. We’ll be there showing a giant new crop of posters and Test Prints as well as art prints and more. So please say hello when you drop by Flatstock! We love meeting new folks at shows, big time.

Pitchfork Fest’s line up is seriously kickass this year, and even cooler, Flatstock 26 Chicago is 3 days long now too running from Friday July 16th through Sunday July 18th. While the Flatstock Poster Show is free and wide open to the tens of thousands of Pitchfork Festival attendees, you do need a ticket to attend Pitchfork Fest.

AND! If you are going to be at Pitchfork, don’t forget to enter this FREE CONTEST to win a huge stack of posters from your favorite poster artists! For more info & to enter to win, simply click here! *Winner must be present to claim their prize.*

The Flatstock Poster Show series is presented by the American Poster Institute (API), of which all Flatstock artists are members. Flatstock is an ongoing series of exhibitions featuring the work of many of the most popular concert poster artists working today. Most posters and the rock poster artists who show at Flatstocks are working in the silkscreen mediums, often using hand printed techniques and are working for current bands and musical artists.

To learn more about Flatstock Poster Shows, click here!

Here are the rest of the main details for Flatstock 26 Chicago & Pitchfork Music Fest, 2010:

Dates: Friday, July 16 – Sunday, July 18, 2010
Times: Friday: 3pm- 10pm / Saturday + Sunday: 12pm – 10pm
Location: Union Park, 1501 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60607
(Corner of Lake St. and Ashland Ave.) Get map

Flatstock 26 Chicago Participating Poster Artists (subject to change):
  • Aesthetic Apparatus
  • Casey Burns
  • Clinton Reno
  • Crash Design (Mike King)
  • Cricket Press
  • Crosshair
  • David V. D’Andrea Illustration/Andrew Crawshaw-Broken Press (split)
  • Delicious Design League
  • Diana Sudyka
  • DKNG
  • Doublenaut
  • Furturtle Showprints
  • GIGART
  • Gigposters.com
  • Ground-Up
  • Hero Design Studio
  • Johnny Sampson/Ryan Duggan (split)
  • Josh Rickun/Kyle Baker (split)
  • Kevin Tong Illustration
  • Kill Hatsumomo Designs/Dead Meat Design (split)
  • Kollective Fusion
  • Landland
  • Lil’ Tuffy
  • Madpixel
  • Michael Michael Motorcycle
  • Mike Budai
  • Mile 44
  • Miss Amy Jo
  • My Associate Cornelius
  • Pink Slip Press
  • Popfuel
  • Sandusky Bay Poster Works
  • Screwball Press
  • Sonnenzimmer
  • strawberryluna
  • The Bird Machine
  • The Bubble Process
  • The Bungaloo
  • The Decoder Ring Design Concern
  • The Silent Giants
  • The Small Stakes
  • Tiny Media Empire
  • Vahalla Studios
  • Will Ruocco Art & Design

“Rock Paper Show: Flatstock Vol. 1”, new poster book feature!

Click for more info or to pre-order "Rock Paper Show, Flatstock Volume One"

Holy smokes, we’re super stoked on this. At SXSW & Flatstock Poster Show in Austin, TX just over a week ago, a brand new and bitchin’ book made it’s debut: Rock Paper Show: Flatstock Volume One. Published by Soundscreen Design, this book on the rock contemporary rock poster scene has more specific bent & focuses on the Flatstock shows and posters artists’ Flatstock posters, which are created specifically for these poster events.

Rock Paper Show is something of a visual history of the first 20 Flatstock festivals, (there have been 24 as the time of this writing, with 4 per year currently in Austin, TX, Chicago, IL, Seattle, WA and Hamburg, Germany) featuring interviews and essays by artists, collectors and bands, and a compilation of the posters created for the first 20 Flatstock poster shows. What is a Flatstock? Good question! The Flatstock Poster Show series is an ongoing series of exhibitions featuring the work of many of the most popular concert poster artists working today presented by the American Poster Institute (API). Flatstock shows provide the general public with an ongoing & unique series of opportunities to see fine poster art in person and to meet the artists who’ve created it — they provide the API with a way to present the poster artists collectively while showcasing the breadth of individual styles they represent.

Included in Rock Paper Show are our Flatstock 9, Flatstock 12, & Flatstock 14 posters (as seen below)

3 of my hand screenprinted Flatstock posters featured in "Rock Paper Show"

In addition to the standard edition of Rock Paper Show, the limited, Deluxe Edition (produced & limited to just 500 sets) comes enclosed in a collector’s case in which you will find a hand-screened, letterpressed, or stenciled 11″x17″ set of 20 artist prints made especially for Rock Paper Show. The prints feature the original posters commissioned for the book contained within a custom portfolio folder. We’re incredibly honored that we’re among the artists asked to do one of these 20 posters, which are also featured as the chapter headers for each of the 20 chapters of  Rock Paper Show. Here is a look at our poster below I will have a very limited number of these screenprinted posters for sale on my website later this spring.

Flatstock poster for the book about the first 20 Flatstocks, "Rock Paper Show".

Since its inception in 2002, Flatstock has evolved into the definitive showcase of the most talented poster artists working today. Rock Paper Show: Flatstock Volume One is an editorial and visual history of the first 20 Flatstocks, with contributions from the artists and studios that regularly attend the events and the bands who are often the subjects of the posters, as well as critics and collectors involved in this community. Rock Paper Show collects for the first time the original posters created for each Flatstock by the attending studios. Veteran poster-makers take the reader on behind-the-scenes looks at the studios, the artists, the regional scenes, and the personalities of this vibrant and varied community.

Curated by Geoff Peveto (president, American Poster Institute). Designed by Rumors (Brooklyn, NY). For a full list of editorial contributors and Studio Index, please click here.

Over 60 editorial contributors, including: Aesthetic Apparatus, Craig Finn (the Hold Steady), John Foster (author, Masters of Poster Design), Clay Hayes (gigposters.com), Jeff Kleinsmith (Patent Pending), Jay Ryan (the Bird Machine), and Paula Scher (Pentagram). Standard Edition – 312 pages. 566 color images. Hardcover.

You can pre-order either (or both) editions of Rock Paper Show today by clicking on this link! Orders will ship in early May.

Get a sneak peek at Rock Paper Show: Flatstock Volume One in the photo below where Soundscreen debuted at Flatstock 24 at SXSW Music Festival, or by clicking here. It’s a beauty.

Soundscreen's booth at Flatstock 24 (Austin, TX SXSW) debuting "Rock Paper Show" as well as the 20 original & exclusive limited edition posters produced just for the book. (Hey look! My poster is on the lower right!)

Damn Fine Tea & Damn Fine Design

Series 1 teas in Nepalese, Ceylon & Chinese green styles. (click for more info)

It’s hard to tickle my design and happy feathers more than something like this does. Yummy, carefully crafted teas and super dupes design all smooshed up into one awesome product. Our  design-y peers (nay, HEROES) at Aesthetic Apparatus have teamed up with the folks at Damn Fine Tea to produce a series of limited edition teas, all with an eye as careful on the design as the teas themselves. If you are a design nerd or a tea devotee, or gasp! BOTH well dang, here’s our Nirvana. This is a design dream job.

Series 2 teas in traditional English tea styles. (click for more info or to purchase)

Tea-obsessed Damn Fine Tea offer exceptional teas, sold loose and processed traditionally, rather than industrially with custom blends and styles. All with a keen eye on the quality not only of each tinning, cup and brew, but in the design factor as well. Potentially an endangered cultural species these days. Plus, each style has specific brewing tips tailored for that particular tea for the perfect cup.

We love these tins’ killer flair and style, and of course we do. They are all designed by the powerhouse of fun, rad, and on-point Aesthetic Apparatus out of Minneapolis, MN.

With each series Damn Fine Tea & AA take a fresh approach to the tea’s style and name. This is so apparent with teas such Series 1 and Series 2 pictured above (inspired by British Victorian boxers & the wonders of the Far East) and the below Series 3 & Series 4, respectively inspired by Rock’n’Roll (YES! See? It’s a triple match made in heaven!) and 2010 The Year Of The Tiger.

Series 3 teas in Rock inspired styles. (click for more info or to purchase)

Sometimes tongue-in-cheek comes off poorly, more like tongue-in-cheekiness or it just falls flat. Not so at all with these designs paired so well with these teas. For instance, the Series 2 teas come with limited edition mini-posters, replicating the awesome old boxing posters of yore. A fact that’s coolness is only amplified by the fact that Aesthetic Apparatus are rooted firmly in the rock & gig poster scene as well as the Series 2 mini-poster designs evoke the phenomenal test print style that so many know and love AA for in the first place. It’s like a hall of damn designers, errr, I mean mirrors. With designers in them. Maybe.

Moving on, just peep the below Carävan tea with it’s adorable little blood dripping pentagram, surrounded by a ring of tea like a Dark Wizard waiting for his Master. Hehe.

Series 3 teas come with a freakin’ Tour Patch too. Seriously, if the AA guys weren’t so nice and cool, you want to hate them for being so damn fun.

Hellfire!!!! (click for more info or to purchase)

And finally, the newest addition to the Damn Fine Tea line is the ultra-limited edition tea for Series 4, Yunnan tea, inspired by 2010, the Chinese Year Of The Tiger. Raaarrrrrrrrgh! Amazingly, this tea is limited to just 50 (FIFTY! Come on, that’s crazy!) tins, with designed & hand screenprinted labels by Aesthetic Apparatus. At the time of writing this blog post, only 6 tins remained…duh DUH.

So, these Damn Fine Teas are my current obsessive design and tasty treat geek out. Pass it on if you’re down.

We can’t wait to see what comes next.

Series 4 tea is Yunnan & limited to just 50 tins. (click for more info or to purchase)

Pitchfork Music Festival & Flatstock Poster show

Picture 3

Heeeeyyyy! It’s tour season, not just for bands but for poster artists too. And that means a new Flatstock Poster show! This next Flatstock is at Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, IL inside Union Park.

Flatstock is a series of rock poster shows & conventions that happen currently 4 times a year in Austin, TX  (during SXSW), Chicago, IL (during Pitchfork Music Festival), Seattle, WA (during Bumbershoot Music Festival) and Hamburg, Germany (during the Reeperbahn Festival). The Flatstock shows provide the public with opportunities to see fine poster art in person and to meet the artists who’ve created it, while showcasing the breadth of individual styles they represent. Since beginning in 2003, Flatstock has presented 20 events in the U.S. and Europe and has become the epicenter of the current phenomenon in handmade poster art.

Myself and over 40 other national poster artists will be there at Flatstock selling prints, posters and more and talking with thousands of music and art fans. Come see us, say hi, and chat. We’re mostly super nice, and definitely geeky about art.

And, check out the map of Union Park, Pitchfork’s stages and Flatstock’s location in Union Park.

Meet your 2009 Flatstock Chicago exhibitors! The below is the official FS 21 lineup.

Gigposters.com
The Bird Machine
Decoder Ring
Matt Terich-Design Medicine
Hero Design Studio
Furturtle Printworks
Johnny Sampson
Kollective Fusion
Kevin Tong Illustration
Clinton Reno
Mile 44
Landland
Madpixel
Strawberry Luna
Daniel Danger
The Bubble Process
The Silent Giants
Justin Santora-Pink Slip Press
Lil’ Tuffy
The Small Stakes
Weathermaker Press
Mike Budai
Pedal Printing
Crosshair
Cricket Press
Aesthetic Apparatus
Crash Design
Josh Rickun
Alana Bailey
Gigart
DKNG
The Bungaloo
Delicious Design League
Spike Press
Mat Daly
Richie Bearden
Miss Amy Jo
Will Ruocco
Tom Stack-Stackmatic
Dan Grzeca-Ground Up
Diana Sudyka
Keith G. Herzik
Octophant
Doublenaut

FS-Map

Gig Posters Volume 1: Rock Show Art of the 21st Century, new book!

It has finally arrived!

Gig Posters Vol. I book, chock full of 101 poster artists

Gig Posters Vol. I book, chock full of 101 poster artists

Freshly published and totally incredible. I’m so proud to be a part of this rad book, as is taken from the imaginations of, and containing the work and words of 101 working, contemporary and kickass rock poster artists from around the globe. All compiled into a nifty book format. Just for you! Each poster artist talks about their work, influences and process as well as providing a full page format, perforated page tear-out poster. It’s a lot of awesome, and not just because I’m in it. In fact, I would venture to say despite the fact that I’m in this book.

Published just this May, you can now find this fantastic book at booksellers everywhere. Or, you can order a copy from the following websites:

Directly from me, at my website here, NOTE: personalized and autographed by me, just for you, with a bonus set of stickers, over 15 designs in all.

Directly from the author at Gigposters.com here. NOTE: BONUS ART PRINTS (While Supplies Last!!):
Order now from GigPosters.com and receive an exclusive limited edition screenprinted art print by Jay Ryan! Jay has created 3 different 10″x13″ art prints for the book release. The first 900 orders get free art prints! (300 of each) *Order the 3-pack to assure you get one of each art print!*

Directly from the publisher, at Quirk Books here.

Directly from the publisher, at Chronicle Books here.

Publisher’s description: 11×14 inches, paperback, 208 pages.

Since 2001 Gigposters.com has been the Internet’s first and best resource for rock-show poster art; their massive online database showcases more than 90 000 posters from 7 000 different designers including all of today’s top poster studios. Gig Posters Volume I highlights the 700+ best examples in their collection including 101 perforated and ready-to-hang posters for bands such as Radiohead Wilco the Decemberists the Shins Arcade Fire Sleater-Kinney and TONS more. Packaged in an oversized 11-by-14-inch paperback, Gig Posters Volume I is a spectacular compilation of rock show art (and one hell of a cheap way to decorate a dorm room or apartment). Author Clay Hayes is the founder and proprietor of Gigposters.com. He lives in Alberta, Canada.

Designers included in Volume I:

3d Glasses, Adam Turman, Aesthetic Apparatus, Alan Forbes, Allen Jaeger, Amy Jo, Andrio Abero, Andy Vastagh, Beyond The Pale, Billy Perkins, Bobby Dixon, Bongout, Brad Klausen, Brian Ewing, Budai, Burlesque of North America, Casey Burns, Cricket Press, Crosshair, Dale Flattum, Dan Grzeca, Dan McCarthy, Dan Stiles, Daniel Danger, Delicious, Denny Schmickle, Diana Sudyka, Dirk Fowler, Drew Millward, Drowning Creek Studio, DWITT, Eleanor Grosch, Emek, Engine House 13, FarmBarn Art Co., Firehouse, Furturtle Printworks, Gary Houston, Gregg Gordon, Guy Burwell, Hero Design Studio, Invisible Creature, Ironforgepress, James Rheem Davis, Jamie Ward, Jared Connor, Jason Goad, Jay Ryan, Jay Vollmar, Jeph, Jermaine Rogers, Joanna Wecht, Johnny Crap, Jon Smith, Josh Rickun, Judge, Justin Hampton, Justin Kamerer, Largemammal Print, Leia Bell, Lil Tuffy, Little Jacket, Lonny Hurley, Lonny Unitus, Luke Drozd, Lure Design, Malleus, Mark Pedini, Mat Daly, Methane Studios, Micah Smith, Michael Michael Motorcycle, Mig Kokinda, Mike King, Nate Duval, Patent Pending, Powerhouse Factories, Powerslide Design Co., Print Mafia, Rob Jones, Ron Liberti, Ryan Nole, Sasha Barr, Scrojo, Seripop, Squad 19, Stainboy, Steve Walters, strawberryluna, Tanxxx, Tara McPherson, The Decoder Ring Design Concern, The Heads Of State, The Little Friends Of Printmaking, The Small Stakes, Thomas Scott, Tim Gough, Todd Slater, Vahalla Studios, Zach Hobbs, Zeloot

Thoughful oversized, yet lap-fitting dimensions of the new Gig Posters Vol. I book.

Thoughful oversized, yet conveniently lap-fitting dimensions of the new Gig Posters Vol. I book by Clay Hayes.

Gig Posters Volume I, big ol’ awesome BOOK!

Gig Posters Volume I

Gig Posters Volume I: Rock Show Art of the 20th Century

ShaaahhDoink! Gig Posters Volume I: Rock Show Art of the 21st Century is a new book chock full of hot rock postery goodness from current, working poster artists all over the world. And cripes! They let me in too. In the words of Omar: “Indeed.”

Available for pre-order now, published through the super Chronicle Books and Quirk Books. And, just an FYI? If you pre-order through the Gigposters.com website you will receive a bitchin’ extra freebie: an exclusive screenprinted poster from the indomitable Jay Ryan. No foolin’!

Official Description of the book, project and limited edition freebie prints below:

Gigposters.com showcases gig posters, handbills and flyers from around the world. Great for artists, musicians, bands, designers, venues and music collectors. A collection of rock posters and music posters.

Ships April 2009
11 x 14 inches
208 pages
Paperback

Includes 101 perforated and ready-to-hang posters along with hundreds of other poster images and designer biographies. Packaged in an oversized 11-by-14-inch paperback, Gig Posters Volume I is a spectacular compilation of rock show art (and a great way to decorate a dorm room or apartment). 

Designers: 
3d Glasses, Adam Turman, Aesthetic Apparatus, Alan Forbes, Allen Jaeger, Amy Jo, Andrio Abero, Andy Vastagh, Beyond The Pale, Billy Perkins, Bobby Dixon, Bongout, Brad Klausen, Brian Ewing, Budai, Burlesque of North America, Casey Burns, Cricket Press, Crosshair, Dale Flattum, Dan Grzeca, Dan McCarthy, Dan Stiles, Daniel Danger, Delicious, Denny Schmickle, Diana Sudyka, Dirk Fowler, Drew Millward, Drowning Creek Studio, DWITT, Eleanor Grosch, Emek, Engine House 13, FarmBarn Art Co., Firehouse, Furturtle Printworks, Gary Houston, Gregg Gordon, Guy Burwell, Hero Design Studio, Invisible Creature, Ironforgepress, James Rheem Davis, Jamie Ward, Jared Connor, Jason Goad, Jay Ryan, Jay Vollmar, Jeph, Jermaine Rogers, Joanna Wecht, Johnny Crap, Jon Smith, Josh Rickun, Judge, Justin Hampton, Justin Kamerer, Largemammal Print, Leia Bell, Lil Tuffy, Little Jacket, Lonny Hurley, Lonny Unitus, Luke Drozd, Lure Design, Malleus, Mark Pedini, Mat Daly, Methane Studios, Micah Smith, Michael Michael Motorcycle, Mig Kokinda, Mike King, Nate Duval, Patent Pending, Powerhouse Factories, Powerslide Design Co., Print Mafia, Rob Jones, Ron Liberti, Ryan Nole, Sasha Barr, Scrojo, Seripop, Squad 19, Stainboy, Steve Walters, strawberryluna, Tanxxx, Tara McPherson, The Decoder Ring Design Concern, The Heads Of State, The Little Friends Of Printmaking, The Small Stakes, Thomas Scott, Tim Gough, Todd Slater, Vahalla Studios, Zach Hobbs, Zeloot 

BONUS ART PRINTS: 
Pre-order now from Gigposters.com and receive an exclusive limited edition screenprinted art print by Jay Ryan! Jay will be creating 3 different 10″x13″ art prints for the book release. The first 1200 pre-orders get free art prints! (400 of each) *Order the 3-pack to assure you get one of each art print!* (Jay Ryan subscribers will automatically receive copies of the art prints in their subscriptions)