september 2012

Friendlies: so much is going on. So. Much. Is. Going. On.

First, there's this: Mac @ ARCH Art Supplies asked me to design a poster for Papergirl SF, a "a community art project that distributes submitted art pieces by bicycle, freely and at random, to people in the streets of San Francisco, American paperboy style".

Here's a lovely little video of the poster getting printed. These posters will be distributed free this Friday night at the DeYoung Museum.

Making of the Michael Wertz Papergirl SF Poster from Papergirl SF on Vimeo.

I'm working on the new Camper Van Beethoven album packaging right now. The record is called La Costa Perdida. Have I heard the record? Yes, and it's their best record since Key Lime Pie. I can't wait for you guys to hear it. In the meantime, here's "Camper Van Beethoven" and "La Costa Perdida" in Hebrew:

כמפר ון בטהובן camper van beethoven

לה כוסתה פרדיטה la costa perdida

Here's this year's Campout poster. It'll be available on my site after the Campout.

camput_2012

This summer I worked with my friends Babs & Steve at Hard Boiled Industries to make an e-Book version of Dog Dreams. Get it on iTunes! You can have me read the book to you and say the word "hurtling" 100 times in a row. Fun! The post below (the video of me at the SFCB being goofy-looking) is included as part of the e-Book, so you can watch me pretend to make prints on the Vandercook again and again!

What else. Oh, it was a lovely, lovely summer. Spent the 4th of July weekend with our good friends Earl & Samuel in Port Costa. Stayed at this beautiful old hotel : these spots (without strip malls) are hard to come by in the Bay Area. Did the yearly family trip to Tahoe (this was our 24th year ; we've somehow managed not to kill one another), and prepared for my teaching gig at CCA. I'm teaching Digital Tools to 20 students in the Illustration department. There's only been one class thus far, but so far, so good.

OH MAN. Also! In the "Cool Stuff I get in the Mail" department: Chris Rathman sent me a Plastic Bead version of the Space Bear from this year's Campout Poster! Behold!

space_BEAR

Thank you so much Chris!

xm

4 New Posters

Friendlies, I'm finally catching up with the work I've been doing in 2012. So TODAY! FOR YOU! there are four NEW! entries on the Wertzateria shop page. Work I've been designing (and printing) for the Oakland Museum of California, ALO, and the Camper Van / Cracker Family is all up now and purchasable through this lovely invention called PayPal. Have you heard of it? It's sweeping the nation!

All of these were lovingly printed by hand (by me) at Bloom Press in Oakland. Go check 'em out.

xxm

See Wertz Pull Prints in Public!

My Darlings, my presence has been requested as part of the All of Us or None poster show at the Oakland Museum, and I'm eager (yet full of trepidation). A good friend recently pointed out that my current level of neurosis is rather high, and I think it's because I keep on making public appearances in very public places. Like, for instance, in museums and bookstores. And I don't just appear, darlings, I do things in public. Like sing, or, in this case, pull screenprints that will be given away to the gathered masses for free.

I usually spend a good deal of time by myself with just a pencil and some paper and my dog to talk to, so you understand. Things could go wrong. Terribly wrong. My good friend (and collaborator*) Jim Winters will be there to help out if we have to clean out a screen or extract a squeegee from my eye socket, so that's good.

I'll be pulling (about 50) prints in the gallery from 5:00-6:30 pm on Friday, April 27, 2012, in the galleries of the Oakland Museum. It's free, I think.

Here's the mantra for the evening : IMPERFECT = REAL. Write this on your hand with a sharpie, and come on down to the galleries to see me pull prints. Directly afterwards, I'll be signing the large Peace Sign OMCA Prints at the OMCA Store. See below.

Hope to see you there!

xm

Here's a preview of the print I'll be pulling:

Here's the OMCA Peace Sculpture Print:

Here's me mixing colors for the OMCA print:

* Plus the guy is an amazing artist, and got me on the road to silkscreen - I should be there supporting him, not the other way around.

Hear's Hiss Pop!

Good morning friendlies, Sara Thacher asked me to contribute graphics to a game (Sara calls it a "playful narrative experience") for The Exploratorium called Hiss Pop. You'll be able to play this game (and experience a bit of authentic San Francisco musical culture, including custom-crafted 45rpm records) if you make the scene at The Exploratorium's After Dark event on March 1. Don't be square, be there!

Here's the three patches we produced for the event. We referenced groovy LP graphics for these, and put our own spin on it.

Turn off the glowing box, jump on the train, and getcherself some cool, dads. The Exploratorium is where. It's. At.

xm

The Peculiar Scholarship of Doctor Bedcannon

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SAN FRANCISCO'S SUBTERRANEAN STAMP SOCIETY MATERIALIZES AT SFMOMA!

The Elsewhere Philatelic Society is proud to announce the unveiling of “The Peculiar Scholarship of Dr. Bedcannon”, #7 in the Psychedelic Philatelic Adventure Series (collect them all!). In conjunction with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Koret Visitor Education Center, the EPS cordially invites you to experience the galleries of SFMOMA as Dr. Bedcannon INTENDED THEM TO BE EXPERIENCED. Have you ever wanted to question an institution's extant reality? Dr. Ytterbium G. Bedcannon has! You'll follow in his footsteps as he recontextualizes every object within the museum to match his whimsical and questionable views.

Bedcannon's walkabout can be enjoyed Thursday through Tuesday, in the Koret Visitor Education Center (2nd floor), from January 15, 2012, until such time as the SFMOMA grows weary of its urban whimsy (likely a day in August).

The Elsewhere Philatelic Society (est. 1895) is an interactive fiction project set in various locations throughout San Francisco and the East Bay, and is inspired by the Games of Nonchalance project.  It endeavors to engage players in an on-going adventure storyline, to encourage them to observe and produce street art, and to explore urban areas in new and unusual ways.

Dog Dreams opening at Book Shop Santa Cruz!

Friendlies, we're getting the band back together again - again - for a singing and book signing at Bookshop Santa Cruz. This is one of my very favorite bookstores, and we're excited and grateful that they want to host and event with us. We have a long history with the town of Santa Cruz, and Bookshop is one of the best things about Santa Cruz. We always go there when we visit. Usually we go to Zachary's to fuel up, then down to Bookshop. It's a thing we do.

So come on down, check out the surf, grab a book. Come say hi!

WHAT: Dog Dreams singing/signing at BSSC WHERE: Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Avenue, Santa Cruz, CA WHEN: January 19, 2012, 7:30 pm.

Some video has emerged from the Dog Dreams opening at the Oakland Museum: here it is. It's super goofy.

OH MY GOSH I ALMOST FORGOT AND THERE'S THIS! SUPER CUTE! (t/y Carolee)

xm