Happy fall! October in Chicago ushers in a celebration near and dear to our hearts, Chicago Artists Month! Neighborly is hosting our fifth installment of “House Guests” this Saturday from 2-4pm, this time welcoming local letterpress artist Starshaped Press to the shop for an afternoon of refreshments, exhibiting, printing, and general chat with Jen, the artist behind Starshaped.
Enlisting antique metal and wood type for her unique and often Chicago-inspired prints, cards, and paper goods, Starshaped has been practicing and perfecting the craft of letterpress in Ravenswood since the studio’s beginning in 1999. This past summer, Jen and her sidekick Jo traveled through the mighty Midwest to visit over 20 other letterpress studios. Her recent projects also include The Well Traveled Ampersand – a series of ampersand prints representing geographic areas, a book collaboration with Wells College Press titled An Alphabet of Sorts, and a successful Kickstarter campaign with P22 Analog to create molds for a plastic Alpha-Blox letter system.
A before-and-after of Starshaped’s Cooper Black Ampersand print (part of the Well Traveled Ampersand series), representing the city of Chicago.
Come by the shop on Saturday October 24th from 2-4pm to:
> see the shop full of Starshaped’s prints
> meet the artist
> make your own letterpress print
> enjoy food and beverages!
Other Neighborly picks for CAM:
Sedgwick Studio 11th Annual Open House: October 23rd, Sedgwick Studio (Lincoln Park)
Hoofprint Workshop Woodcut Challenge: October 24th, Hoofprint Workshop (Pilsen)
The Art and Nature of Play: October 24th, North Park Village Nature Center (North Park)
Chicago Expander: Community Conversation: November 3rd, Archeworks (River North)
Huge Art Show and Open Studios: November 6th, Hubbard Street Lofts (West Town)
Ten x Ten: November 13, Chicago Art Dept (Pilsen)
Hup/Kid: A Jazz/Hip-Hop Fusion: November 14th, The Foxhole Chicago (Ravenswood)