Birthing Ugly

Brewed in the bars and backyard ramps of Richmond Virginia, Born Ugly Magazine is the voice and visual of the everyday skateboarder. With content focused on the lives of people that skateboard for the love of it, and not a paycheck, Born Ugly sets itself apart from the homogenized glut of skateboard mags currently saturating skateshop counters. Add to that layouts infused with illustration soaked in masonite dust and beer sweat, and you’ve got Born Ugly.

*spoiler alert* - This new local magazine features tons of illustration and other contributions from our very own JimBarf Callahan! And apparently you can be there tomorrow to witness the nasty nasty event of its first issue being, well, born:

Due Process at Gallery 5

It was a busy weekend! Thanks everyone who came out Friday night to Gallery 5 and gave screen printing a try. And I do mean everyone. We brought over 300 sheets of paper for folks to print on and we ran out by the end of the night. We didn't even have any samples left over. So thanks and I hope you all learned a little bit about what a silk screen is.

For those of you who didn't make it out, here's a recap. Kevin Orlosky of Art on Wheels curated the show Due Process which opened last friday night at Gallery 5. He asked us create an original piece for the show as well as conduct a screen printing demonstration for the crowds that inevitably pour in on a First Friday on the Artwalk. Here's our print, "Cross-Corporate Synergetics" by Matt Deans, Spencer Hansen, James Callahan, Rawn Gandy, and Kelly Alder, displayed alongside the transparencies, a few of the layers, and the actual squeegee and screen we used:



For the demonstration we thought we'd keep it simple. We took a character from each artists' section of the print and enlarged them and threw each on a screen. Passersby were invited to choose one of the five characters to lay down over the first silver layer that had already been swiped. It was a hit. People got real excited to pull that squeegee and then lift the screen and see the results right there on the paper. Pure magic! We're definitely planning to incorporate demonstrations like this wherever possible.

Our setup at Gallery 5:


Professor Rawn instructs an eager participant:


The eager participant registers his paper:


The Magic happens!


Here are the prints all those lucky participants printed themselves and took home to hang over their fireplaces:

artist Matt Deans:


artist Spencer Hansen:


artist Jim Callahan:


artist Kelly Alder:


artist Rawn Gandy:


Special thanks to Rawn Gandy and Barf Callahan for manning the tables and offering their expertise to all those inquisitive and adventurous minds.

Upcoming Show: Due Process at Gallery 5

Friday, April 3rd
First Friday Opening Reception

Due Process: An educational exhibit about the many processes of printmaking
Curated by: Kevin Orlosky
First Friday Opening Reception April 3rd 7-11pm
Gallery 5 RVA

Exhibit runs through April 28th

Printmaking is one of the most versatile forms of art making. It has been used by artists for thousands of years. It has had tremendous advancements over the years while the traditional techniques are still being used. Artists are usually drawn to its methodology, intimacy, and subtlety. One advantage to printmaking is that prints can be editioned so that multiples of the same image may be sold. Because of this, printmaking has been used in the reproduction market. Unfortunately outside of the fine art and collector world, a reproduction is what is generally thought of when someone mentions the word "print." This is mostly due to the size of the greedy art reproduction industry. "Due Process" aims to end this stigma that has hindered the reputation of fine art prints to the general public. Fine art prints are original artwork that has been produced by the artist's hand.
Due Process will showcase not only the end result of the artist's works, but will exhibit and explain the steps, tools and materials involved in each print process.

- Gallery5arts.org

We worked very hard on our submission for this show and it turned out pretty well. I didn't have time to photograph the final print properly, so here's the digital version. You'll have to come to the show to see it in person. It's a whopping 40in x 26in! Way too big. Never again! Come to the show this friday anyway and you can swipe you're own exclusive Team Eight Press print during our live print tutorial. Five designs to choose from, each one from a different artists involved in the following piece. I'll post how they turned out after the show.

So here's the skinny on this big-ass poster. Five of us contributed to the illustration, Matt Deans, Spencer Hansen, Jim Callahan, Kelly Alder, Rawn Gandy, and some consultation by Russ Guatier. It should be self explanatory the chaos that ensued.

This poster is titled "Cross-Corporate Synergetics"


Details, clockwise:

Matt Deans:


Spencer Hansen:


Jim Callahan:


Kelly Alder:


And Rawn Gandy:


It was epic, so come out and see it in person.

Mini-Comics!!

Okay, its time to fill you guys in on the top secret project we've been cooking for the last couple months. Its . . . dum, dum, dum . . . MINI-COMICS!! I can smell your astonishment from here. Basically, this first series in our Creator Showcase is slated to debut late June and it will feature 6 different mini-comics each from different writers and artists, and all from Richmond, VA!
We just finished printing the first set of covers for James Callahan's contribution to the project. Here's a preview:

James Callahan!!

We finally got the notorious James Callahan into the studio. He's working on finishing up his Barf Comics #1, a book filled with his comics, album covers and other artwork. So, to commemorate the occasion we thought we'd print up a huge 6 color version of the poster. Jim is no stranger to the squeegee, having slaved away at one of the local t shirt factories ages ago, but I'll let him tell you about that soon ... Until then enjoy the photos of everyone's favorite barfbrain skateboard junkie!