Thursday, May 29, 2008

Featured Designer #4 Lauren Scanlon of Lavender Zebra Press

June is already here and for those of you in Milwaukee you most likely have your fingers crossed along with me that you can bust out some of you cute summer clothes before Fall arrives!! Lauren Scanlon of Lavender Zebra Press has been making the most beautiful one-of-a kind hand-dyed slips for the past few years and Paper Boat has carried them since we first caught a glimpse!

Since Lauren filled out her featured designer questionnaire for us she has emailed us saying "I am phasing out of slips and into just prints and illustration" so people, get her inventory while it lasts!!!!

Paper Boat will continue to carry prints from Lavender Zebra Press, but for now, ladies, get em while the getting is there! Without further adieu....

Name: Lauren Scanlon
Business Name: Lavender Zebra Press
(all photos courtsey of the artist)

Lavender Zebra Press

1. Tell us briefly what you make/do:
I make one-of-a-kind hand-dyed and screen-printed slip dresses out of vintage slips. I also work with camisoles and half-slip skirts. Recently, I've started doing some altering which usually means just adding a little bit of extra color or pattern to a part of the piece, like the waist for instance, to emphasize a particularly nice element in the design.

2. How long have you been doing it?
I've been playing around with these for about 4 years, but this past year has definitely been the most serious.

3. Where did you learn your skills?
I am self-taught when it comes to the slips, so it has mainly been trial and error. As far as the visual design and prints go, I am a printmaker/drawer and painter by trade - that's what I went to school for.

Lavender Zebra Press

4. What's your current inspiration?
My inspiration for the slips comes out of whatever I am working on in my print/drawing studio. I'm strongly influenced by narrative including fairytales and folklore. Right now I am really interested in the combination of pattern, text and figurative image. The latest slip prints have been layers of pattern with heraldic animal imagery. I recently learned that someone very close to me has Asperger's (a mild form of Autism) and I have been reading about how Asperger's people have strong animal instincts and connections to animals, so I have been interested in creating these animal/human figurative beasts. I think those inspirations will be bleeding into my slip work over the next few months.

5. What have you been listening to while you work?
I like listening to public radio; local call-in shows, This American Life. I also listen to Uke of Spaces Corners, Shep and Me, Pink Fever, Woody Pines, Lucinda Williams, Bessie Smith, Geechie Wiley...there's a pretty big range. I like to listen to WEVL from Memphis, TN.

6. What else do you do to keep busy?
I teach workshops in wood engraving and drawing, I read, play piano and clarinet. I walk my dog a lot. And I am working on building a new garden.

Lavender Zebra Press

7. Any summer plans you are looking forward to?
I'm looking forward to gardening, riding my bike and opening the windows of the house to let the sun and breeze in when the weather warms up! I am also taking and teaching a few workshops (you can see some of them at www.ashevillebookworks.com). Of course, I am hoping to do some craft fairs with Lavender Zebra Press.

Lavender Zebra Press

If you can't make it into Paper Boat to check out the work go to these numerous links....

Personal Website/Blog:
www.laurenscanlon.com

Lavender Zebra Press Links:
www.lavenderzebrapress.blogspot.com
www.lavenderzebrapress.com
www.myspace.com/lavenderzebrapress
www.lavenderzebrapress.etsy.com

Catherine Ryan & Eduardo Villanueva Press Release

For immediate release
May 28, 2008


Paper Boat presents:

New work by Catherine Ryan (San Francisco, CA) & Eduardo
Villanueva (Milwaukee, WI)
June 6- 30th, 2008
Curated by Faythe Levine

Gallery Reception Friday June 20th 7-10pm
Additional images HERE


Catherine Ryan, Purple Mountain, 2008

Show highlights:
This June is the three year anniversary of Paper Boat Boutique & Gallery. We will be welcoming two talented artists Catherine Ryan who hail's from San Francisco showing her haunting watercolor and charcoal works on paper. Ryan will also be selling limited edition archival prints along with her artwork.
Showing along with Ryan will be local emerging artist Eduardo Villanueva. Eduardo will be painting a permanent site specific mural to commemorate our three years of bringing innovative and creative new work to the Milwaukee public. Villanueva will also have a new body of work in the gallery.

Catherine Ryan Artist Statement:

This series of drawings is an examination of "canned" hunting preserves; plots of private, fenced-in land that are stocked with a wide array of domestically-raised "wild game". A commodified and sanitized version of something that was once an instinctual means of survival, canned hunts are stripped of the inconvenience, danger and uncertainty of an actual hunt. Like fast food, canned hunts are a perverse version of something real; devoid of substance, but packaged for easy consumption.


Eduardo Villanueva Artist Statement
Eduardo Villanueva's work is introspective in nature, combining personally iconic images to emit stories and emotions that are intrinsically personal and altogether universal. Physically his work ranges from the very small to the monumental. As of late he has been exploring mural painting in an attempt to ensnare the viewer with the power of his wild imagery. Movement is a key element to the development of Eduardo's painting style. Shapes knead into on
e another in an almost churning motion creating undulating compositions that mimic the kneading of the artists thoughts.

Media Contact: Faythe Levine (414) 483-8462
paperboatboutique@gmail.com


Paper Boat Gallery 2375 S. Howell Ave Milwaukee, WI 53207 www.paperboatboutique.com

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Owly Shadow Puppets!

Andrea Everman creator of Owly Shadow Puppets passed this along to us today.
We stock her work at Paper Boat if you are interested!

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Milwaukee International art fair


It was a super long weekend for us since we participated in the Milwaukee International art fair. The event was great and we met a lot of fantastic people from all over the world, saw great art, I bought some books and now it's time to pack all of Kate Bingaman-Burt's work back up and ship it home.

Take a gander at our photos from the weekend HERE.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Steve MacDonald brings Little Zero to Milwaukee!

As a part of the May 2008 gallery exhibit, Little Zero shirts are available now at Paper Boat.
Thanks to Steve for sending over these images, here is a detail of my favorite one:


The Skulls, Create & Burrow and 3-D bike design are also available at this time. Shirt are limited so give a call if you are interested and would like to put one on hold.


Little Zero is a collaboration between Steve MacDonald (ramblinworker.com), Matthew Davis (treatzone.com) & Tim Clinton (Dawson-Clinton.com). The first project together as Little Zero was a new T-shirt for the San Francisco track bike production "MASH" (mashsf.com).

Steve MacDonald and Matthew Davis have made t-shirts for Puma, DC Shoes, Bicycle Film Festival and Modest Mouse. After 3 years they have come out with a line for summer!!!

www.littlezero.net

Milwaukee International Art Fair

Paper Boat will be representing artist, designer and illustrator Kate Bingaman-Burt of Obsessiveconsumption.com at the 2008 Milwaukee International Art Fair
Kate Bingaman-Burt, Plastic Forks , 2008

Kate Bingaman-Burt, Chase Bill , 2007


Milwaukee International art fair

Polish Falcons Beer Hall
801 E. Clarke St.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin USAFriday, May 16, 5-9 pm
Saturday, May 17, Noon-9 pm
FREE!

*****
The second Milwaukee International art fair arrives to the Polish
Falcons beer hall, May 16-17, 2008. This location puts amazing contemporary art from around the world against a backdrop of real
old-world charm, in the midst of the quaint working-class Riverwest neighborhood. Stroll through the aisles to get a glimpse of new
drawing, painting, video and sculpture while the sweet sounds of the Falcon Bowl rumble up from the basement. The Falcon Bowl sports the
4th-oldest bowling alley in America, and for two days, possibly the coziest art fair you'll ever visit.


This year, the Milwaukee International team (Elysia Borowy-Reeder,
Nicholas Frank, Scott Reeder, Tyson Reeder and John Riepenhoff) is
pleased to announce that Joey Chang Art will join the art fair line-up
all the way from Beijing, along with Cuban gallery project Espacio
Provisional (Havana/Miami). From Puerto Rico, Milwaukee International
veteran Luis Agosto-Leduc brings his new gallery, Mano Izquierda, and
the artists' project Repuesto from San Juan will visit for the first
time. Additional first-timer (and former Milwaukeean) Hiromi Yoshii is
coming from Tokyo. This year we also feature a special fair t-shirt
designed by David Shrigley of Glasgow.

Other M.I. veterans from our first successful fair making their return
are: Gavin Brown's Enterprise (New York), Canada (NY), The Suburban
(Chicago), Swiss Institute (NY), Locust Projects (Miami), Western
Exhibitions (Chicago), Other (Winnipeg), Zieher Smith (NY) and
Angstrom (Dallas/LA).

We are pleased to welcome the esteemed non-profit Midway Contemporary
Art (Minneapolis), along with galleries Daniel Hug (LA), Marianne
Boesky (NY), Small A Projects (Portland), Leo Koenig (NY), Rowley
Kennerk (Chicago), Golden Age (Chicago) and Shane Campbell (Chicago),
and a special project by new Chicago gallery Old Gold. Milwaukee
galleries and non-profits joining the line-up are: Paper Boat, Borg
Ward, Green Gallery, General Store, and Inova.

Please join these 28 art spaces in celebrating Milwaukee culture.
Delicious local beer will be flowing, there will be polka dancing in
the aisles (with the welcome return of Vern and the Originals!), and
unexpected art around every corner (including work by current Whitney
Biennial artist Amanda Ross-Ho, and Milwaukee Art Museum collection
veteran Michelle Grabner, among many choice offerings), and a big Mad
Planet dance party to wrap things up Saturday night, featuring DJs
from New York and Milwaukee. For the extra-adventurous, local legend
Paul Finger will lead bus tours of area treasures during the fair.

For more info:
http://www.milwaukeeinternational.tk

Please feel free to pass this message along to any interested friends.
See you there!

Friday, May 9, 2008

New Gallery Opening Tonight!!

From Onmilwaukee.com

Introducing the latest addition to Milwaukee's burgeoning art gallery scene: The Armoury.

Established in January 2008, and inspired by the Armoury at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, the gallery lengthens the list of new art venues seeking to promote contemporary fine art in Milwaukee.

Join us tonight for a Gallery Opening celebration. Owners Jessica Steeber and Cassandra Smith will be showing new work for the opening, along with Karin Haas, Eduardo J. Villanueva, and Emily Siegel Belknap. Refreshments and hors d'oeuvres will be served.

Please call 414.265.2806, email info@thearmourygallery.com, or visit our website through the link above for more information

Monday, May 5, 2008

Featured Designer #3 Mollie Green of La Familia Green

Our current featured designer is the fabulous Mollie Green creator behind the stationary line La Familia Green- a must have for the usual and unusual occasions. La Familia Green features tons of amazing designs including great cards for Mother's & Father's day, both quickly approaching!!*all photos courtesy of the artist
Name: Mollie Green
Business Name: La Familia Green
Location: Chicago, IL


1. Tell us briefly what you make/do:
handprinted/collaged cards---for holidays and special occasions, or just for fun; and hand-bound journals---created from VHS boxes, album sleeves, and vintage postally-used postcards.

2. How long have you been doing it?
since 20053. Where did you learn your skills?
Formally, I have a BFA in painting and print media from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and I honed my stationery chops while working at Paperboy here in Chicago. Informally, I taught myself to print on a Gocco, and I'm always coming up with my own lo-tech techniques.

4. What's your current inspiration?
We just went to Mexico City, and I loved the intense color---embroidered textiles, violet flowering trees, abundant candy, painted doors and gates---usually royal blue, and the ring girls at lucha libre matches---their fabulous day-glo bikinis and go go boots.

5. What have you been listening to while you work?
I always come back to npr---what can I say, I heart Terry Gross. And a rotating playlist of new and classic Indie Rock---The Clientele, Pinback, Stars, Stereolab, Spoon, Belle and Sebastian... But right now I'm listening to David Bowie on my Sirius radio.

6. What else do you do to keep busy?
I'm lucky enough to live in the same neighborhood as most of my friends---so I love going for walks with any of them. Or thift store scavenging with my cute husband Andrew, or going to movies with my brother Bill. And I love riding my bike around town. This summer I finally want to teach my cat Lemur (one of three) to walk on a leash!

7. Any summer plans you are looking forward to?
I plan to finally get my etsy shop up and running---it's going to house my collage pieces and paintings. And I'm excited to work on my tennis game.

* If you can make it into Paper Boat to pick up cards visit his shop HERE