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Adventurer Profile: Kelly & Greg Noack of Little Print House Adventurer Profile, art, design, Erin Gainey, Graphics, Greg Noack, Kelly Jenett, Little Print House, Portland, The Adventure Store

Little Print House is an artistic partnership of real-life partners Greg and Kelly. They’ve chosen an inspired path in their little house: sharing the prints of original art, photos, and everything else in between. Themes of evolution, nature, the Pacific Northwest, family, cats, old-time romantic life, and love echo throughout their work. Greg helms the wheel, driving the creative force. Kelly helps to keep things flowing. Together, they love to highlight their honest experience of life through their photography.

Their Snow Leopard, Toma-Hawk, and My Doe (currently on sale!) prints are available in The Adventure Store! *Fun fact: Greg did the web layout and design for the store, too!

1. What skill do you want to learn?

Pottery-making, we are taking a class in the spring.

2. Food & drink you don’t want to live without?

Food is a very close tie between popcorn and pizza. Drink would be beer! We love a good sour ale.

3. The scariest thing you can think of?

Spiders! Or any creepy crawler, we are not fans.

4. Your favorite party supply?

Vetiver and any other mellow mood music.

5. Your favorite book of the moment?

We’re both reading Let the Great World Spin to each other and enjoying it immensely.

6. Describe your dream party place.

Summertime setting at Hog Island Oyster in Marshall, California. Sun + BBQ’d oysters + beer + friends = HEAVEN!

7. What is the evil version of you like?

They hate cats, bikes, and beer!

8. What gives you confidence?

We give each other confidence, loving our life and living it authentically!

9. Name for essential elements of a good party.

Plenty of ice, amazing food, not too harsh of lighting, friends galore.

10. What do you appreciate most about a party host?

How he/she/they can balance hosting, enjoying everyone, and managing to eat and drink! The balance is crucial and very admirable.

11. Favorite adventure supply?

Our cameras! Plus a blanket for impromtu picnic.

12. Describe the best party you ever attended.

Kelly recently had the pleasure of celebrating her favorite adventurer’s birthday in Seattle. It was hosted at the adventurer’s favorite wine bar and the event was full of amazing people, conversation, celebration, tears, and wine + food!

13. Hotel room or campsite?

YURT! Kelly would probably say hotel room, Greg would be happy with either!

14. Do you have a style icon?

Marcel Duchamp for his originality and fearlessness. Kelly would also say Vivienne Westwood for the same reasons.

15. Where is your next adventure destination?

We will be heading to the Bay Area for a week-long wedding adventure in May. We’re hoping to squeeze in a jaunt in Hawaii over the summer, fingers crossed.

16. If you could teach a class about anything in the world, ever, what would it be?

Greg: printmaking! Kelly: ribbon-tying or how to make the best popcorn you’ve ever had!

17. What is your motto?

We are in this together.

18. What is your spirit animal?

Greg: lion. Kelly: deer.

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Special New Year’s Eve Edition Adventurer Profile: Jessica Powers of TARL Adventurer Profile, art, Crawl Space Gallery, Jessica Powers, Labyrinth NYE, Seattle New Year's Eve 2010, TARL

As promised here is another installment of who is TARL and why is TARL. A very smart and beautiful young woman named Jessica Powers is a founding member of this up-and-coming-sure-to-stretch-your-brainz art collective. Read her profile and get to know her, you might be lucky enough to love her as much as we do. If you want to check out what Jessica and TARL are up to and whet your appetite for their New Year’s Eve hi-jinx then you should definitely attend an exhibition they are hosting this Saturday! I will include all the info at the end of this profile.

JESSICA POWERS TO-THE-MAX

What skill do you want to learn?
Ron-Ron Juice mastery by Thursday.

Food and drink you don’t want to live without?
Pho / beer.

The scariest thing you can think of?
Being stuck at a Sequim-based hunting turn-out in the 5th dimension.

Your favorite party supply?
ELI HANSEN.

Your favorite book of the moment?
I like your work: art and etiquette, Edited by Paper Monument.  This
tiny, hilarious text features contributions from 38 artists, critics,
curators, and dealers on the sometimes serious and sometimes
ridiculous topic of manners in the art world.  Typical entry: Q. When
does breach of etiquette play a role in embarrassing or awkward
encounters?  A. One kiss, two kisses or three?  One is never sure.

Describe your dream party place.
Z-Man’s house in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (before all the bad
acid and murders).

What is the evil version of you like?
Disrespectful.  Promiscuous.  Angst-ridden.  Basically me at 15.

What gives you confidence?
Reality TV.

Name four essential elements of a good party.
1).  Spontaneity
2).  Open minded guests
3).  Outrageous party gimmicks (i.e. karaoke RV)
4).  Costumes — will someone please bring back the dress up box?!

What do you appreciate most about a party host?
I appreciate a host who never makes me feel like I am partying wrong,
even when I am.

Favorite adventure supply?
Headlamps! Are! Crucial!

Describe the best party you ever attended.
The best parties give you access to places you never knew existed.  In
college I went to a tepid jazz show at some random warehouse and
noticed a cluster of women who looked like Whitesnake video extras
loitering in a hallway near the washroom. They invited me to a party
at the porn studio next door where an entire room was dedicated to
mattresses and lava lamps. That night I drank whiskey at a prop bar,
learned to use throwing stars in an S&M dungeon and finally started to
appreciate the difficulty of pole acrobatics.  Just when I thought
things could not get any better, a Leather Daddy took me to his ‘art’
studio upstairs to reveal thousands (no shit) of eco-conscious
airbrush paintings he had made depicting dolphins and gas masks.
Perfection.

Hotel room or campsite?
Depends completely on the company.  Ideal campsite companions need to
not care about showering, going to the closest ‘town’ each day and /
or subsiding on more than beer, hotdogs and bagels.  Hotel companions
should feel comfortable in robes, confident taking advantage of the
situation (i.e. getting your room cleaned daily to procure more
L’Occitane products) and productive doing nothing more than ordering
room service and watching HBO all day.

Do you have a style icon?
Lindsay Lohan: yesterday, today, forever… especially the time she
wore her alcohol monitoring bracelet to Pure Nightclub.

Where is your next adventure destination?
LA / Vegas.

If you could teach a class about anything in the world ever, what
would you teach?
The University of Wisconsin offers a course called Daytime Serials:
Family and Social Roles.  I like to think that I have watched enough
GH to help college students determine how the relationship of Luke and
Laura could help stabilize humanity as we know it today.

Your motto?
Don’t be tardy for the party.

What is your spirit animal?
Once a Whole Foods checker urged me not to buy squid because it was
her ‘spirit animal’.  I ate the squid.

P.S.

“TARL hosts an exhibition by Vancouver artists Raymond Boisjoly and Ryan Peter, on view at 1447 21st Ave in Seattle, with an artist talk at Western Bridge preceding the opening.

Using a specious art historical reference as their starting point, Raymond + Ryan have created a wooden dinosaur sculpture with a sound component, a text piece, and a series of collages for their exhibition, THIS IS THE FUTURE, the Rest is History. Mistaking the part for the whole, they have replaced the idea with its realization–the work itself. Indexing the creative possibilities of misreading, Raymond + Ryan seek to find what was never there in the first place.

Raymond Boisjoly + Ryan Peter have been working together on their sometimes nameless collaboration since 2008. Their practice concerns the various guises of objects and materials within contemporary art and popular culture and has included works in sculpture, video, and installation.

Artist Talk
Saturday December 12, 2009
Western Bridge, Seattle
6pm

Opening Reception
Saturday December 12
1447 21st Ave, Seattle
7:30pm

Exhibition
December 12 – 20, 2009
1447 21st Ave, Seattle
Open Saturdays noon to 5pm and by appointment

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Need plans for Saturday? art, Crawl Space Gallery, date ideas, radness

Go to Crawl Space Gallery for a totally excellent gallery experience. Makes a great date!

NO CHASM, NO CLEFT

12 September – 11 October 2009

OPENING RECEPTION Saturday 12 September, 6-9pm

The opening will be the first solo show by new-ish artist member Brendan Jansen, see his video works and chalk drawings.

“For his solo at Crawl Space, Jansen explores the space between pre-mediated experience and the choices that presuppose modes of depiction. As his title alludes—referring by way of negation to the location where ancient Greek oracles tapped into the unseen, mysterious, and infinite—Jansen is searching for new ways of conceiving or understanding the world by breaking down the photograph, the most prevalent archetype of representation in the present day.

Although the work in the show makes use of several photographic processes such as recording, scanning, slicing, editing and projecting, combined together in several unique techniques, Jansen captures not only the flat appearances of the picture plane but also structural information from multiple and fixed viewpoints. The work is also premised on the notion that how we choose to represent what engages us in the world is inextricably linked to how we understand our place in reference to it, conscious of the limitations of our points of view.

Brendan Jansen was born in the Los Angeles area and grew up in the suburbs outside of Seattle. He studied art at the University of Washington and received an MFA in painting at Indiana University.

Crawl Space is a nonprofit artist-run exhibition space dedicated to cultivating innovative artwork by early career artists. Since opening our doors in 2003, Crawl Space has presented new works by more than 150 artists, at no charge to a public audience of over 5,000″.

Booyah! AND as always . . . it’s FREE!

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Spitehouse art, South Seattle, Spitehouse, The Lawrimore Project

You may not know it, but strange and wonderful things are afoot in south Seattle. One such thing is Spitehouse, the intriguing new exhibition at the Lawrimore Project curated by Yoko Ott & Jessica Powers. The Lawrimore Project being a contemporary art gallery located just across the street from the Adventure School offices, all cozied up next to the US immigrations building. If you work in the area and need a breath of fresh air, you should mosey over on your lunch break and look inside. Oh, and don’t be intimidated by the big wall blocking the entrance. It’s supposed to be there; just walk around. 

Now, to pique your interest, here are a few words from Yoko and Jessica on Spitehouse. 

Adventure School:
The phenomena of action taken out of spite is a fascinating and totally prevalent phenomenon, but it isn’t something one would necessarily think of spotlighting. What gave you the idea for the theme of this exhibition?

Jessica:
Yoko Ott introduced me to spite houses when we sat down to plan an exhibition together for Lawrimore Project. Spite houses are typically 19th century buildings that were constructed or modified because the builder felt wronged by someone who did not want it there. The stories of the disputes that lead to said houses are fascinating.

The most compelling spite house story is that of the Richardson Spite House. Story here:
http://www.lawrimoreproject.com/lp/Exhibitions/Entries/2009/7/30_SPITE_HOUSE.html

Yoko:
I became intrigued by spite houses initially because of a desire to create and/or live in one. Reading the stories behind these obstructionist architectural feats fascinated me and I began dwelling on the complexity of it all. As thoughts unfolded in my head, I recalled the time I saw Aaron Young’s Miami Gold Fence in Bortolami Gallery’s booth at Art Basel Miami Beach. I thought Young’s piece was brilliant. That became the catalyst for thinking how a theme inspired by spite houses could be framed up conceptually for a group exhibition. As Jessica and I became more familiar with the stories of the builders of spite houses and fences, as well as the discourse happening among behavioral scientists who study spiteful behavior in humans, the “invisible territories of spite” within the art world began revealing themselves to us, as did the exhibition.

Adventure School:
Any personal experience with this kind of thing?

Jessica:
“Spite House” is a personal experience of this kind of thing.

Group exhibitions are, by their very nature, land grabs and property disputes. When two art objects hang side by side there is an unspoken territory of spite between them. Spite also exists between the artist, the artwork and the audience, especially when an action of obstruction is implied—whether physical or conceptual—and often with self-defeating results.

Adventure School:
Do you think people who experience the space end up feeling spited or spiteful?

Yoko:
Bert Rodriguez’s piece “A Wall I Built With My Father” was intentionally placed in the gallery’s entrance to help set the tone of the exhibition. Viewers are forced to confront, then circumvent the wall which immediately helps incite thoughts about boundaries and obstructions.

Some visitors thus far have felt a bit shorted, or perhaps even spited after their first lap around the space because they “missed” some of the works. Two of the largest pieces in the exhibition have gone almost routinely unnoticed because people have forgotten what the architecture looked like previously. Matt Browning painted the formerly hot pink corner of the exterior and the gallery’s office window black for the show, and SuttonBeresCuller drastically altered the white cube exhibition area. Others have expressed feeling a “heaviness” when viewing the show, sensing boundaries everywhere.

This said, the end goal was not to simply incite spite in viewers. If that were the case it would have been a different show altogether, and possibly resulted in jail time for us. We did mean to provoke the audience–but to the extent of them becoming spiteful, not really.

Adventure School:
Any other interesting things we should know about Spitehouse?

Jessica:
My favorite recurring motif in the exhibition is the ‘buff’. Covering something that previously existed with a flat color field is at once a ‘fuck you’ and an invitation for greater possibility — a grassy backyard becomes a stark monochrome landscape, a concrete wall becomes a front door to an impossible dwelling, and a black corner silences attention requests and dramatically decreases gallery visibility.

Yoko:
The suspiciously serendipitous fire. [The fire was officially classified an "accidental transient fire."  Apparently, a homeless person broke into the sculpture and accidentally set fire to it. One theory is a cigarette ember ignited things.] When Scott and I were running to the gallery to meet the firemen, in addition to the panic and nausea I felt, I kept asking myself, “What artist took this too fucking far?!” We know it was an accidental fire, and not set by an artist, but that experience and the timing of it demanded a lot of me. I was rapidly processing many feelings and one of them was my own commitment to the very exhibition and concept itself. If we were really going to make such a strong statement, where would I draw the line as a curator, and where would I surrender to the fact that I’ve been spited by an artist? The damage from the fire was so beautiful. It connected to a number of the other artworks in the exhibition, and I started seeing the “land-grab” between works in an interesting way. The way the burnt bushes framed through a charred window frame spoke to Dadson’s work; the slumped glass from another melted window within the hollowed shell-of-a-sculputre referencing Hansen’s coffin; the overall blackness becoming the companion bookend to Browning’s painted corner. It all commanded my attention. The fire was the element that dramatically underscored the exhibition concept and left me really considering the ideas we put forth. Similarly, when we discovered that Matt painted the gallery, I had a tinge of irritation at first, which has to be assigned to the protectiveness I felt for Scott’s gallery. I quickly became excited at what he had done however. The curator is not exempt from the spitee v. spiter construct, and to personally have experienced first hand the ethos of spite generated by the exhibition is rewarding.

The corner of The Lawrimore Project, before and after

*photo of the hot pink corner courtesy of Barbie Hull, the rest courtesy of the Lawrimore Project website

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KioskKiosk- They Are The World adventure, art, blogs, design, KioskKiosk, travel

One last word regarding the city formerly known as New Amsterdam, although my return to Seattle transpired a week ago:

Hidden precisely in the center of SoHo, concealed behind a heavy metal door, up a heavily-graffitied  stairway, and down a dimly lit passage lives KioskKiosk, equal parts gallery, a store, and adventure headquarters. You know, one of those secret New York gems.

The people behind KioskKiosk are unquestionable adventurers. They comb the world over for unusual yet sundry design objects, buy a passel, and display one of each along with a description of its history and origin. They posted their manifesto on the wall, and I took a picture. It’s not terribly easy to read. But if you’re up to the challenge, I promise you’ll find that squinting was worth your while.

They had an array of rather cool stuff. I was very tempted to buy something, but if I’m completely honest with myself, when am I ever going to use a citrus-sizer? 

Pictured:

The Citrus-Sizer

A Target Poster

Bucktail Jigs!

Also check out the Kiosk blog

KioskKiosk, you and The Adventure School are kin! 

*Photos courtesy of KioskKiosk

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Live from New York, it’s… Allie, art, intern, New York, Stephan Sagmeister

me!

Allie Wollner here, Adventure School summer intern and reckless adventurer reporting live from New York, the city that, so to speak, never sleeps. That is how you Americans say it, yes?

A few days ago, I found myself at the MOMA standing in front of a piece of art that I think makes an important statement about the status of the modern day intern. For your critical review: An ad for the Detroit chapter of the national AGIA design association by graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister.

The man in the picture is Mr. Sagmeister’s intern. He carved these words into his own body. With an Xacto knife. Himself.

My thoughts on the piece:

Aviva and Cori-

Thank you for not requiring me to carve each post into my body, then photograph it, and then post on the blog.

It truly saves a lot of time.

Love,
Allie

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Friday Night at Ambach & Rice- Where Cori and Aviva Once Again Demonstrate Their Remarkable Coolness Ambach & Rice, art, Eric Yahnker, Matthew Dillon, Seattle, The Corson Building

It’s confirmed. I’m pretty sure I’ve stumbled into the sweetest summer internship in town. Last Friday, Cori and Aviva invited me to join them at Ambach & Rice gallery for a pre-opening party of artist Eric Yahnker’s new solo show, Naughty Teens/Garbanzo Beans. Not only did the fascinating, well-dressed artist-types provide perfect schmoozing material, but there was something else to make any unpaid intern’s ears perk up on the spot:

free food.

And good free food. Chef Matthew Dillion, owner of Sitka & Spruce and The Corson Building, provided an array of delicious and beautiful dishes that said artist-types balanced on one hand as they milled around the space admiring Eric’s work.

This show was by far one of the most fulfilling I’ve seen in a long time in large part due to the unmistakable humorous streak that runs through Eric’s work, making his art easily accessible and exceedingly enjoyable. Coupled with his undeniable talent for drawing and an arsenal of clever pop culture references, Eric’s art jumps off the walls and demands that you pay attention to it. Right. Now.

My favorite piece came from a series called “Selected Reading.” A very large drawing in graphite depicts Dorothy looking up from a copy of Sartre’s Nausea, apparently shocked by Sartre’s unapologetic stance. An easy to overlook piece in the corner of the gallery is Eric’s nod to his college dream of becoming a broadcast journalist. Viewers watch a video from the anchor’s point of view.  All we see is the microphone as the off-screen anchor scrambles to interview a series of flighty cats that bear an uncanny resemblance to celebrities fleeing from ardent reporters. In addition to his talent on the page, Eric also demonstrates unbelievable dedication and endurance in a piece called “Analogous to the Fall of That One Empire (Moby Dick.)” Using a pair of fingernail scissors, Eric cut out and alphabetized every single letter, punctuation mark, and number in Herman Melville’s classic, Moby Dick and then arranged them in discrete piles on a circle of mirrors. I’m still ambivalent as to whether that kind of fortitude is ridiculous good or ridiculous bad.

Not only did I enjoy the food and the art very much, but Cori and Aviva continually introduced me to a slew of interesting people modeling remarkable footwear. If this evening was any indication of what my summer is going to be like, the next three months promise to be action-packed. But not to worry; I am adventure ready.