Rachelle Woo Chuang

International Printing Museum blog entry

roowoohoo — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 01:30:44 +0000

Check out my blog post about the Museum for Envelopments. The talented design team put it together with photos from April Rocha Photography.

The Page Show at Chapman University

roowoohoo — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 06:28:37 +0000

Download Announcement here.

February 1-March 12, 2010
Monday-Friday 12-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm
**Opening Reception: Tuesday, February 2, 2010 5:30pm**
The Page
Curated by Karin Lanzoni & Rachelle W. Chuang
For this survey exhibition, over thirty artists from a broad range of studio art practices were asked to submit one page (in the original or poster format) from their artists’ book to mount on the walls of the gallery. Accompanying original books or facsimiles will be on display for viewing in a unique reading area designed by several Los Angeles architects. Guest curators Rachelle W. Chuang and Karin Lanzoni selected these artists—painters, photographers,sculptors, graphic designers, printers, performance artists, and book artists—each employing distinctive artistic strategies and techniques.

Artists include:
Rheim Alkadhi
Michael Asher
Kim Beck
Stephen Berens
Sarah Bryant
David Bunn
Robin Cameron
Carolee Campbell
Macy Chadwick
Rebecca Chamlee
Colin Cook
Harrell Fletcher
Christine Forsythe
Dan Goodsell
Nancy Jo Haselbacher
Deborah Hede
Margaret Honda
David Horvitz
Steven Hull
Amos Kennedy
Mark Robert Lewis
Steve Miller
Susan Porteous
Sue Ann Robinson
Moira Roth and Slobodan Dan Paich
Jérôme Saint-Loubert Bié
Robbin Ami Silverberg
Sumi Ink Club
Katie Lewis Underwood
Susan Viguers
Susan Weintz
Michelle Wilson
Jenny Yoshida

Reading Area Designed by Linda Chung and Daniel Herman
Chairs by:
Renee Dake Wilson and Brian Wilson (Dake Wilson Architects)
Tim Durfee
Pierpaolo Granata
Tom Marble (Marble Architecture)
Chris Puzio
Nathan Swift and Gloria Lee (Swift Lee Office)
Warren Techentin with Nima Payan and Machine Histories
f.l.u.f.f.
Chris Warren (WORD)

Merry Christmas!

roowoohoo — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:54:37 +0000

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL! Here is our annual Chuang Christmas Chess Board (2.6MB).

31 Bits

roowoohoo — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:40:03 +0000

“With a little bit of paper, you can share a whole lot of love.”
{image used by permission}

Discovered 31 Bits at Patchwork Santa Ana last week and am in love with their vision and products! From their website:

31 Bits is centered around using the creative art and entrepreneurship already present in the women. Our goal is to help get them out of poverty, provide consistent schooling for their children, and proper nutrition and healthcare for the entire family. We do this by creating an international market and a voice for the beautiful jewelry the women are already making. All of our products are bought directly from the women, are fair trade, are made from recycled paper, and are sold in boutiques across the United States. We envision that in two years we will expand 31 Bits to partner with local Non Government Organizations to initiate and fund community based projects directed by the needs and desires of the community.

We would love for you, and even ask you, to catch the vision of hope and join with 31 Bits and the women of Uganda.

I met the gals this week and am inspired by their entrepreneurship and gusto. I’d love to support them somehow with my art endeavors somehow in the future.
Here’s what I’m giving and getting for Christmas:

Holidays at the Printing Museum

roowoohoo — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:51:16 +0000

There’s lots going on at the International Printing Museum in November and December.

Holidays at the Museum
Everyone is invited on Sat. Dec. 19th for our ever popular Dickens’ Holiday Celebration event. Two Readings of the Christmas Carol at 11am and 1pm. Admission is $9 per person, or $30 for a family of 4 or more. Don’t forget to make your reservations!
Please RSVP to the Museum at 310-515-7166.

Click here for a full roster of upcoming book arts, printmaking and letterpress classes. Don’t miss these special holiday offerings:

Linocut Holiday Cards with Sandy Cvar
Saturday, Nov. 14, 9:30am-4pm – $95

Holiday Letterpress Card-printing Slam with Madeleine Zygarewicz
Saturday, Nov. 21, 9:30am-4pm – $95

December 5-6: Bookbinding weekend with Lucia Farias Villarreal
Dec. 5, 9:30am-4pm: Secret Belgian Binding -$95
Dec. 5, 5-8pm: Coptic Christmas -$45
Dec. 6, 9:30am-4pm: Perfect Binding with Hard Cover/Traditional
Signature Book with Hard Case -$95
Email bookarts@printmuseum.org to reserve your spot!

Past Work: Book Objects

roowoohoo — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:09:56 +0000

RECENT ALTERED BOOK STRUCTURES

A Verdant Volume 2008
Altered Book from commercial paper sample
5″h x 11″w x 13″d

Exuberance 2008
Altered Book from commercial paper sample
5 1/2″h x 12″w x 11″d

Paper Edifice 2008
Altered Book from commercial paper sample
Flat: 7″h x 7 1/2″w; Open: 16″diameter x 7″h

Architechtural Tome 2007
Handmade and commercial papers
7″h x 7″w x 7″d
(Photo by Gene Ogami)

Untitled Book Object 2007
Handmade paper
(Photo by Gene Ogami)

Divine Thread 2008
Handmade artist book: tags, monofilament, thread, vellum, bookcloth & board
4 3/8″ h x 6 3/4″ w x 1/2″ d

Unvravelling 2008
Japanese Stab-bound Artist Book: handmade abaca paper with string inclusions, bookcloth
14 1/4”h x 15 1/4” w x 1/4” d

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

BAM! The Artists 2008
11-Panel Carousel Book made for BAM! Auction, February 15, 2008
Size closed: 10″h x 5 1/2″w x 4″d

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Chicago Blue: A Non-Sequential Book of Random Blues 2004. Collage on Independence Air Tags bound with elastic cord, 3” diameter tags x 9”l

On the In-Between 2004, Monotype with Lazertran transfers and Letterpressed Collage,11 1/4”h x 6 5/8”w

Rumpelstiltskin’s Threads 2003, Monotype, Handmade Paper and Letterpress, 13”h x 12”w

Kellogg Revisited 2004, 6”h x 4”w, Carousel Book made with handmade paper, letterpressed printed

Made in Hong Kong: A Gallery of Alphabetic Kin 2005, Carousel Book with collage and pop-ups, Size Closed: 11 1/8”h x 6 1/4”w x 3/4”d

running, by the book 2005, Accordion Book Offset Printed, Page Size: 3 5/8”h x 5”w; Total Length of 80”

Z Nesting Book, Inkjet, 4”h x 4 ½”w

Ti Leaf Alphabet Book, Ink Jet, Page Size: 3” x 3”

Innumerable 2005, 16-Page Unbound Artist Book: Wire in Handmade Abaca Paper, Letterpress, 16” h x 19 1/2” w

Production Papermaking

roowoohoo — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:50:37 +0000

Yippee, after 2 years of doing minimal papermaking, I’m finally up and running in production mode. I am still hoping for a magic grant for David Reina Hollander beater (”I WANTS IT, I NEEEEEDDDSSS IT”), but a blender will have to do for now.

I purchased papermaking equipment earlier this spring from printmaker Neal Sistek in San Luis Obispo and finally have it set-up in my Laguna Beach studio to make production paper. Mable from Lala Press donated bags of Crane’s Lettra trim which I shred in my blender to make environmentally-friendy recycled sheets. I give Ellen Mears Kennedy thanks for the color gradiation techniques.

A limited number of sheets will be available for sale at the International Printing Museum in Carson, CA. Next I’ll be letterpress printing on them.

Here are the results:

Crane’s Lettra Trim

Pigmented Purple Pulp

Pigmented Green Pulp

Purple Pulp in Vat

Pulp Close up

Damp Papers

Dried and Finished Papers

Printing Flags for the LA Printers Fair

roowoohoo — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:14:30 +0000

This is a repeat of the post listed here.

(Printed on Envelopments Geisha-STA00 cardstock)

Thanks to the generous donation of beautiful paper by Envelopments, I started to print “flags” for the Fair using hand-set wood and lead type from the Museum. I printed the flags by hand on my Vandercook-4 at the Irvine Fine Arts Center. Here they are drying en masse.

By the way you can rent time at the Irvine Fine Arts Center for your own letterpress projects. Click here for details on renting press time as well as letterpress classes at the center. I believe the IFAC is the only publicly accessible place to take letterpress classes in Orange County at this time (correct me if I’m wrong!). Madeleine Zygarewicz, one of the instructors, will be at the Fair to answer any questions.

-Rachelle W. Chuang

Where to take Letterpress Classes in OC/LA

roowoohoo — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 15:37:44 +0000

As a promoter, I try to keep up with letterpress class offerings in OC/LA. (This list is not exhaustive)

* Armory Arts, Pasadena
* Art Center, Pasadena – Letterpress classes at Art Center College of Design
* International Printing Museum, Carson
* Irvine Fine Arts Center
* Lala Press, Los Angeles – Letterpress instruction and press rental
* Otis Laboratory Press, Los Angeles
* Saddleback College, Mission Viejo – open to the public

And in San Diego you can rent press time at Bay Park Press.

Rachelle & Gina’s Letterpress Tours

roowoohoo — Sat, 23 May 2009 04:43:35 +0000

This spring I’ve treated myself to artist dates along with graphic designer extraordinaire, Gina Pirtle Simpson. Call it our “World Letterpress Tour” if you will but there’s nothing else I love more than visiting letterpress shops across the country. Now that I’m back in Southern Cal I am hungry to see what’s going on out here.

In April we visited Two Piglets Press and saw the formidable Madeleine Zygarewicz at work. There she was cranking out cards in multiple-colors on her Vandercooks and Kluge. Madeleine teaches letterpress classes at the International Printing Museum in Carson and is one of the most patient and gifted teachers around. She has years and years of experience and is an expert on printing polymer plates.

I’ve been wanting to visit Lala Press in Pasadena for quite some time and it was worth wait! Owner Mable graciously let us ooh and aah over her fabulous presses and beautiful studio. And when I mean gorgeous, it is (click here to see it for yourself). And clean. And organized. And gives a good vibe. Has a serene garden outside. Mable was just getting ready for the 2009 National Stationery Show in New York. If you’re looking to print custom wedding invitations or have personal, private letterpress training in a positive setting, this is for you.

Michelle Noble (left), Mable and myself.

We ate lunch at the yummy VietCafe and headed over to check out Armory Arts. I’ve been wanting to visit there forever. They have spacious galleries, a full letterpress studio and a whole gamut of fine arts classes.