A quick poster for the end of the beginning.
Gold Cartridge: Behind the Motherboard
The Gold Cartridge Show is upon us. It has been a long road with a lot of thinking and planing and talking and planing and emailing and waiting and emailing and some foot work and finally a little bit of hanging. And of course when it came time to release the show onto the public I had double booked myself for the weekend so I missed it all. Luckily we will be hosting music and partying every Saturday while the show is up. Either way, figuring out our first fully independent art show has been quite the experience. Making it all happen isn’t as hard as people will tell you it is, especially when you have a group of cool cats all working towards the same goal. Things got a little loosey goosey in the middle when no one wanted to take the reigns, but everyone handled their own and finished their parts of the project with flying colors. Here is a link to a video the Wildes put together as a teaser for the show.
We gave ourselves a two month window to complete this project and it seemed to be a perfect amount of time for our first attempt. As we put on more shows certain steps will get easier and more attention will be placed on promotion. The two most important aspects of coordinating an art show would be having art and a place to hang art. So getting the word out to all of the artists and social media outlets as soon as possible is pretty key. Of course the artists will all be submitting pieces that are still drying and without proper hanging devices no matter how much time you give them. Being in a small town, one of our key pieces of local promotion was our fantastic window display that was largely directed by Jen Fletcher of REVAMP. She brought us a large collection of old TVs to decorate and it couldn’t have turned out better. Our largest problem was dealing with all of the illiterate crack heads that were upset we weren’t an “old TV store.”
Being a printmaker, I am all about selling high quantity (and quality) at an affordable price as opposed to investing in one piece and hoping it will sell. For my entry I screened a limited run of one color prints featuring one of my favorite video game characters, Donkey Kong. It was my first run of non-garment screenprints since college and I loved printing them. It is so much faster than printing linocuts! I compiled and modified some old clip art to create an imagined end screen from the original Donkey Kong. I also chose to paint up one of the prints and mounted it to some fence planks so that I could have something colorful to hang next to all of the other great work. This piece turned out fairly morbid as I chose to show Mario as a monkey exterminator who has already succeeded in ridding the world of Diddy, Dixie and Kiddy Kong from the Super Nintendo franchise and is about to drop the hammer on the big Donkey. I think it turned out pretty well and apparently a lot of the people at the reception did as well.
Dark Cloud
A couple years ago I was told by a family friend that if I had an “Indian Name” it would be Dark Cloud. Despite his intended jab, I have always thought that was an awesome name, but never owned it because of a local group of bike riding hooligans that call themselves Grey Cloud. Today as I awoke on the wrong side of the bed and watched the storm clouds quietly engulf our spring day I thought back fondly on the name. Maybe someday I will make some prints of a nice big, dark, ominous cloud. This doodle will have to do for now. And here is a shirt design I created a couple years ago for Grey Cloud in case I haven’t posted it yet.
Working on working.
The times have been filled with busyness lately. I have been working full time for a client while trying to juggle several art events and some partying. We all need to party once in a while.
April 30th we saw the Spring Fling in Downtown Sonora and REVAMP was there teaching kids how to make wearable crafts out of everyday objects like toilet paper tubes, corks, paper and plastic bags. It was a really fun time filled with laughter, crafts and hot glue. Make sure that you bring your little one to the next event for some free crafting fun!
(Me making a Mike Tyson eye patch for a space pirate. Photos by Jen Fletcher)
The Second installment of the Alley Art show will be held next weekend May 20-22nd. The pins I have collected so far have been exceptionally excellent and I can’t wait to see the rest. Make sure you take some time to stop by the Black Oak Casino Bowling Alley, have a beer and some nachos, and check out the art. I promise it will be worth it.
(Pin by Josh Fischer)
While I am finishing up that show I have also been helping some of my comrades with the Gold Cartridge Video Game Art Show. We have started to prep the venue (134 S. Washington St) with a wicked silly fresh window display. Thank you to Jen of REVAMP for the TVs and everyone for the help decorating. This week we will start patching and painting the walls as well as starting any other installations we see fit. Come by and check out the window and make sure you grab some grub at Pablito’s new restaurant downstairs. Thank him for helping to further the growth of alternative art in the county.
(Job and Joel working. Photo by Jen Fletcher)
(Preview of my Gold Cartridge Show print)
With all of this going on I have been cutting back on my freelance work and neglecting my block printing. I have several new ideas floating around that I hope to start cutting as soon as I find the time. Hopefully I will get caught up by the end of the summer and hit a couple of art/craft fairs with some new prints. Of course I have to make some time for camping and backpacking too.
(Photo by Dean Fleming.)
Business 101: Get Paid First [CENSORED]
If you are looking for the original posting of this it has been removed. The business operator asked me to take the business name off of the post. This is a censored version.
I don’t know about you, but I hate the business aspect about being an independent designer. Writing invoices, bill collection, contracts and the like are not my specialty. Sometimes, hell most of the time, I get so excited about starting on a new job for a client that I neglect to go through the motions and secure a deposit. The fact that 70% of potential clients need a rush doesn’t help either. They are usually in such a frenzy that I try to get them what they need as soon as possible. Living in a small town and getting paid is not usually an issue. Every once in a while you will deal with some asshole that screens his phone calls and drops off the face of the earth, but not usually. If only I had listened to the words of wisdom from my screen printing mentor the following story might have not happened:
“An error on your account doesn’t constitute an emergency on mine.”
Last summer I was contacted about creating a logo and printing it on some shirts for the reopening of [CENSORED]. [CENSORED] said that they were in a big hurry to get things done and needed a rush turnaround on the shirts. I met up with him as soon as possible with a product catalog gave him prices and shirt options and then discussed the logo they needed. I went home that night excited about gaining a client that I knew would be around for a long time and would need a lot of work as they are planing on franchising. I started working on a logo immediately and sent him a low-res version of it to gauge his feelings on the direction I was going in so that I would waste time on something he hated.
He responded that he liked it, but not much else.
I figured that he was busy trying to get things ready for his opening and would of course ask for the shirts to be done in a day. So I called and sent him emails every other day to remind him that he needed to confirm on the number of shirts and the logo before I could continue with the job.
Eventually the restaurant opened and I was never contacted. I didn’t even know they were open until I drove by it one day and saw a crappy version of my logo staring back at me from the front door. I couldn’t believe it.
[CENSORED] had paid someone else to copy my intellectual property, which they did poorly, when he could have just paid me for the original. Why would someone do this? So far it is the first time this has happened to me and I intend to not let it happen again. So far they have lost a chimichanga loving customer, but I hope that they lose so much more.
You guys think I have a case?
New to 2011
This year has seen some new changes in Tuolumne’s old art scene. CSAC and the George Post Gallery has a new home under the traffic light in down town Sonora. If you haven’t seen the In Focus photography show they have up right now I suggest you do before they take it down. “Boots” by Mark Bergstrom, show here won first place for color photography. I don’t quite agree with their choice, but then again I am not a photographer. Go check it out and see them all for yourself.
David Garcia of the Annex/Ventanna Gallery has extended into the old George Post Gallery space so we ought to be seeing more high caliber art fill those walls as well. I spoke with Mr. Garcia on Friday and he said that they will be having an opening at some point this coming March. That gives us at least three large galleries in the downtown area now which makes the Night Out for Art that much better. Oh yeah, and if you didn’t know every second Saturday of the month the galleries, restaurants and some shops will stay open later and serve wine and cheese and all that good stuff.
I spent last Saturday night in Backspace listening to Minor Birds live and hob knobing with the other attendees. They have started selling an exclusive line of shirts designed by Corey West and printed by yours truly. They are planning on having me print a lot more stuff for them in the near future so go and visit them for more information. They are working really hard to help build a lively and interesting retail scene in our dusty old down town.
The coming months will also see some movement in the new art scene. The second coming of Alley Art at the Black Oak Casino is in talks and this time we will be seeing some entries from some of the more established local artist like Don Hukari. I am very excited at the possibilities of making this an annual show that people can look forward to every year when they come to see the Pro/Am Bowling Tournament that Black Oak puts on. This time around I look forward to displaying the pieces of art in the prominent and professional manner that they deserve. Hopefully I can get a velvet rope to keep the old people from groping the 
pins with their pruney mitts this time around. Even little kids know not to touch art, COME ON!
Also group of eager artist and community members (Job Stauffer, Michelle Steranko, Chelsea & Joel Wilde, Jen & Thabo Fletcher, Mindy Marlowe and I) are also working on a video game themed art show titled Gold Cartridge. We will be releasing the call to artists soon and are currently working to secure a venue to display the show. This is fixin’ to be an awesome, full video game culture immersion event that you will not want to miss for any reason. Our current plan is to open it in down town during one of the Night Out for Art Saturdays so stay tuned for more information as the story develops.
It’s been a while…
What can I say? I have been slacking for a long time now, but I am planing on turning all that around. I have gone back to working full time for UV Skinz as their Creative Manager which, believe it or not, gives me much more time to work on personal projects. Over the holidays I made gifts for my family members and am now ready to create for 2011. I will post photos of the completed Christmas presents soon as well as the new projects I have in the works. 2011 will see the completion of a dog house painted for a charity event as well as some tiki gods and various cryptid lino/woodcuts. This is not to say that I wasn’t creating in 2010, I just hadn’t been posting the completed projects. I am sure that I will start posting images once I get them sorted out.
I hope that everyone has a year full of creativity ahead of them. See ya soon.
UTL at KVIE
Yesterday was the KVIE Preview Party for their televised art auction, so my posse and I jumped in the car and headed up to Sacramento to represent Sonora’s budding “youth” art scene. Two other Sonora artists, Travis Logan and Chelsea Wilde, were featured in the auction as well as the framing work of All That Matters, a Twain Harte based framing shop which KVIE coincedentally had frame my piece. For those of you who haven’t seen the piece yet it is titled M’boi Tui v Tatzelwurm and depicts the Paraguyan parrott-snake god M’boi Tui engauged in mortal combat with the Swiss cat-snake cryptid known as a tatzelwurm.
I was very excited to be a part of this event as it meant that I was able to get my piece in front of SKINNER, the jurror of my category. The good news is that he thought it was good enough to make money for a non-profit organization. The bad news is that he didn’t show at the preview party so I will have to meet him later in life. I am able to gloat a little as during the event my piece received a starting bid before it will be aired on KVIE this Sunday. My piece is #44A and will be aired at 9:30PM. Chelsea’s is #46E and will be aired between 10:30 and 11PM. Travis’ is #47A and will be aired at 11PM. Remember the money goes to KVIE. You can always buy stuff from us if you want to.
Check out photos of all of the art here, because I can’t steal the images off the KVIE site and post them for you.
Manzanita Writers Press Presents… Zac Calbert!
Here is a press release for a local publication that a print of mine will be featured in. I will be at the event having a great time and selling prints. Best yet, the event is FREE!
Manzanita Writers Press Presents: Manzanita Volume 6 Book Release & Reading & Reception at Hotel Leger in Mokelumne Hill, Calaveras County 11-6 Saturday, August 14
Manzanita writers will be reading new work published in the new Volume 6 book, Manzanita: Poetry and Prose of the Mother Lode and Sierra — and photographers and artists will display their art. The event is free to all, and the public is invited to participate and share in the community reading. A no-host Leger buffet lunch and dinner is available, so reserve ahead for lunch, dinner, and reading slot with Linda Field, Events Coordinator at linda@lindataylorfield.com. Or call Linda at (916) 454-5738. Be sure to sign up for one of the three available reading time slots.
Writers can pick up their free 2 copies of the book hot off the press at the event., and purchase additional copies at 1/2 off (7.50 each) as well as share their writing with the public at the reading. Writers need to reserve their time slot with Linda Field, Events Coordinator, for reading, lunch, and dinner as soon as possible as slots fill up quickly. Hope to see you there!
- 11-11:15 Manzanita Writers Press staff introductions and acknowledgements—sponsor recognition and program details
- 11:15-12:15 Manzanita Writers Reading their work from the book by sign up
- 12:15-1:15 Lunch with the writers—buffet with paid reservations in advance 12.00
- 1:15-3:15 Manzanita Writers Reading their work from the book by sign up
- 3:15-5:00 Manzanita Writers Reading their work from the book by sign up
- 5:15-6 PM Open Mic in the Lounge—open to the public—sign ups taken in advance and at the event
- 6:00 PM Dinner with the Writers—Buffet pre-paid reservations in advance—19.00
Mokelumne Hill Nut Company and a winery will be featured vendors.
For the Writers Table for sales of books: writers are encouraged to bring their books to sell—prices
need to be posted on books. All proceeds of individual authors’ books at the table go to the author of
those books.
Event sponsored by Manzanita Writers Press and The Hotel Leger
Summer Art Explosion: the Prologue
Everybody is always asking me, “Zac what are you doing‽ Why don’t you keep us informed on the interweb?” And I always answer, “Because I am busy doing stuff and junk…” And then they walk away. But really I have been very busy in recent weeks helping to organize a huge fund-raising event for REVAMP. For those of you squares out there that don’t know about REVAMP yet, they are a non profit dedicated to aiding our few remaining art programs with recycled and re-purposed art and craft materials. If you want to know more visit them here. The event is titled the SUMMER ART EXPLOSION and is being sponsored by the fantastic people at Help-U-Sell here in Sonora. The event will feature food, fun and entertainment such as an open mural, silent auction, craft competition and the kids craft of the day Toy-Hacking!
Here is a little more on Toy-Hacking: Basically we are taking your old and unwanted toys and disassemble them until they are nothing more than limbs, heads, torsos, wheels, wings, etc.
Then with the help of some big kids like Peter and myself kids of all ages will be able to reassemble them.
Once reassembled they will become Frankentoys that are ready for a new paint job and a lot of fun!
Come join us in the fun on August 1st and help REVAMP sustain the creativity of Tuolumne County’s children. If you don’t care to join in the crafty fun you can sit, eat and enjoy the music of the Minor Birds and the other great local bands that will be playing. I hope to see you there!