port2port

GOODBYE FOR NOW... AND HELLO

2008-03-10T12:27:03Z

top: us / bottom: me hi, friends. today i am going to sign off from this web space. port2port started 3 years ago as a blog between 2 friends in 2 port towns: arc + mav. we have evolved in so many ways and of course we had no idea when we started that we would both be where we are today. and i, of course, had no idea i would meet all of you! it has been absolutely grand and i have loved being here so much... and perhaps arc and i will be in this space again in the coming year(s); i know i would love to collaborate with my dear friend again in the future. if you want to keep in touch with me (and i hope you do) i am starting a new online journal appropriately named: port2port press. bye from p2p:east for now... thanks for the 3 years; thanks SO much. xo mav

MERCI

2008-03-06T05:45:59Z

pictured above: a little postcard going out with all orders from my early spring shop + my special rock from applecross, scotland. i feel the need to be quiet for the rest of the week so i'll see you here next week. just quickly, hi and thank you. be well, mav

LEVITATE/SVÄVA

2008-03-05T04:57:45Z

hi. so nice to hear from you yesterday; thanks for your comments! i am really proud of this new batch of work so it's always wonderful to hear from you guys about it. the process on this new project was a really interesting one. i think i first saw a photograph silkscreened on marieke's blog, treats & treasures. i knew i had to give it a try because i am so inspired when i see mediums in art being meshed. so elisabeth and i were already emailing about LINES & SHAPES and our correspondences sort of organically turned into a collaboration. i adore elisabeth's work ... both illustration and photography (see more of it here). she takes me to another place where things don't necessarily make sense and they don't need to; i just love that openness. i emailed her the photographs i had in mind and she did her drawings right on top of them. the moment i saw them i knew they was perfect (i knew because my heart skipped a beat like it does when i am sure about something) and Levitate/Sväva was born. there was no going back & forth, no question of whether elisabeth had nailed it ... she just did and after her minor tweaks, it was onto silkscreening from there. this part was sort of a challenge since, well, i had never silkscreened before! ... but i will say, i totally loved it. it reminds me a lot of letterpress printing ... the way you get the screen made, put lots of work into the set up and then print, with wonderful thick ink, one item at a time. thank goodness i had a good, and patient, teacher in lena. and it's a very good thing that all of the prints traveled well with me on the plane to and from new york to do the actual work. it was fun to tuck them, packed in foam core and tissue, onto the floor under the seat in front of me and know that i was the only one on the plane with Levitate/Sväva! it made me feel important. :) and now the prints are well-traveled and will have lots of stories of their adventures to tell. i also wanted to mention, lastly, that i realize with this new project that i might have priced some of you who might have fallen in love (i know i fall in love with art all the time!) out of actually owning a piece of it. it's always hard to price art but with this being such a small edition, and so much actual labor, it ended up being my most expensive project ... even more so than a year of the card society ($140) or my new custom card set ($150). just know that if you ever wanted to do a layaway with me for one of the Levitate/Sväva pieces, i'd be happy to hear from you! i have done this with lots of art in my home. i can always be emailed at: maria@port2portpress.com. i hope your day is great! thanks again for all the notes of support and of course the orders. xx mav

NEW WORK

2008-03-04T08:58:36Z

hi there. so the shop is updated today with my first new batch of work for 2008. thank you for being here for the launch!! the photographs are, top to bottom ... 1. the Small Edition Letterpress Printed Single Card: A Beginning 2. the Small Edition Letterpress Printed Card Set: Collection Nº1 3. one image from the Photograph Postcard Set: Away From Home Nº1 4. the very first Photographs & Drawings project in collaboration with Swedish artist Elisabeth Dunker: Levitate/Sväva : : : : : : i want to take time in this space tomorrow to talk about the new Photographs & Drawings project entitled (in english/swedish): Levitate/Sväva. this project is so important to me and i had planned to go into it today but i am just too scattered. i want to take the time now to thank the extremely talented Elisabeth Dunker for collaborating with me (she did the drawings, i took the photographs) and also Lena Crowin for teaching me to silkscreen. i will get more into this new project, at length, tomorrow. thank you for your patience and thanks again for looking at my work. type to you tomorrow ... mav

SHOP GOODS...

2008-03-03T07:37:47Z

hi! busy busy today prepping for tomorrow ... sneak peeks of some items up top. my goods will be in the shop around noon EST. you will find the following ... - Small Edition Letterpress Printed Card Set: Collection Nº1 - Small Edition Letterpress Printed Single Card: A Beginning - Photograph Postcard Set: Away From Home Nº1 - Photographs & Drawings project (in collaboration with a secret Swedish Artist): Levitate/Sväva looking so much forward to showing you what i've been hard at work on these last few months. i hope your monday is nice! mav

THE END OF WINTER

2008-02-29T04:55:23Z

hi there. happy friday. it's freezing here today so the photographs on my mind are ... up top: mine. on one of many winter walks in the last month. middle: 278 by people folk ... untitled by introphonic bottom: ice, chicago, 2008 by styleofafool ... untitled by noah wilson : : : : : well, i have all my work ready for tueday's shop update. i can't believe it has been over 3 months since i have had new work in the shop! this year i will be offering only four small edition card sets {a new one every 2 months}. each will be packaged in a cloth bag {i'm trying to assess wasteful packaging this year so the cloth bag is reusable} & numbered. all four will sort of visually connect ... but i'll wait to tell you about that on monday. and thank you again for your enthusiasm and support for LINES & SHAPES. it has been quite a week. i really hope you have a nice weekend. cheers! mav

LINES & SHAPES, THANK YOU

2008-02-28T05:23:38Z

on top: my charlie. the outtake from my 3191 post last night. on bottom: mixing inks in the studio. hi. time to move on after this exciting week of sharing our new project with you guys... lena and i are so honored that you are excited about LINES & SHAPES... we really are. thank you. our books are made out of love and honest creative energy and there certainly can never be enough of that out there, right? to quickly answer some questions we have gotten about L&S --- V1 orders start to ship out early next week. :::: V2 artists are hard at work on their assignments and that volume will be out at the end of April. :::: we have mapped out the full year of volumes and right now we are not taking submissions from artists but next year ... one never knows! :::: if you were one of the first 40 subscribers you should have gotten an email by now about your tote. :::: and please feel free to email us with any questions or thoughts. :::: in other news, i am going to have to move my shop update to tuesday of next week (3/4) so i'll give you a peek on monday and then get it into my shop on tuesday morning. i am thrilled to tell you about my new collaboration with a great Swedish artist for the new Photographs & Drawings project. and of course my first letterpress printed card set ... and more. it has been a busy 2 months and as always, thanks to you for stopping by p2p! mav

LINES & SHAPES, THE THEME

2008-02-27T05:59:55Z

shown: a sample diptych from my L&S V1 project. hello out there. well i just want to say thank you again for your excitement and support of our LINES & SHAPES. really!! we're nearly sold out of the numbered first edition {for those who still want volume one no worries, the second edition is available directly after this first and it's just the same, but only unnumbered} and we can't wait to get our book into your hands. today just a small word about why our books have a visual theme ... if you read the website you know that each book, in this first series of 6, will have a different visual theme. the artists get their assignment and then create work as a reaction to this theme. lena and i liked this idea best {over the some 50 other ideas we had!} because we felt it really built a true sense of community ... all parts working to make a whole. and really, how often do artists get to create work that they don't have to worry about selling, don't have to worry will look enough like their 'other work' and all the while pairing it up next to other amazing artists?! we hope through L&S that we'll be able to introduce you to some artists you don't know as well as show you new work from artists whom you might already love. tomorrow a few last words about L&S, for now, and then friday onto flickr favorites ... and next week a shop update of my own! this is fun. cheers! mav

LINES & SHAPES, THE ARTISTS

2008-02-26T08:01:03Z

hello! thank you so much for your enthusiasm yesterday. we are so excited that you want to see more of LINES & SHAPES... and today you shall. our website is up! and i am showing you some bits here that you will not see there. at the top we have our front cover. our logo was lovingly designed by christopher ryan and the piece that is shown in the center is a part of lena's V1 project. from the next row on down, going left to right, we have V1 work by karen gelardi, caitlin mociun, lena corwin, jennifer causey, christopher ryan and myself. you can link to all of these artists personal work, and find out more about them, on our website in the artists/volume one section. regarding these amazing artists, for now i'll just say this: you know you've picked a great group of artists to be a part of the inaugural volume when the work they created is all tucked away into the book and they have not even seen it yet!! i mean, that is trust. and we thank the artists for their trust... this project is centered around the artists and we are so honored to have our work next to theirs but furthermore, to have them as a part of the whole: LINES & SHAPES. : : : : : : : the visual theme of V1 is: CIRCLE. each volume will have a different visual 'jumping off point' and artists are asked to create work around that idea. but let me slow down—i'll write a bit more on that end of things tomorrow. today i just hope you find time to roam around the the site and take a look at our first volume. and there will be more from me in this space tomorrow. thank you! mav p.s. oh and i nearly forgot! the tote at the bottom is our L&S tote that has been hand-printed in a small edition by lena. the first 40 subscribers (and our first group of artists) will receive 1 of these totes with their V1. you can read more about subscribing to all 6 of our first year's volumes on the website. UPDATE: totes are gone {you'll get an email if you're getting one} but all subscribers do get a little something special with their V1 ... it's a surprise!

LINES & SHAPES, A BEGINNING

2008-02-25T09:55:54Z

hi. as i sit down to write i can hardly believe the time is here... it is time for the beginning of a very exciting new project: LINES & SHAPES. well... almost time. our website will be up & running tomorrow. but regardless today is the launch and i am so happy today to tell you a little about this project. : : : : : : : it all started last year when my partner in L&S, the fantastic lena corwin, and i somehow found our way to Lula {as you may know, Lula is a very wonderful swedish art and design collective}. being a very curious person, i inquired and elisabeth dunker graciously agreed to share with me a bit about what her Lula was all about. i hung on every word she emailed, shared those emails with lena, and we both felt the seeds of inspiration being planted. thank goodness i am lucky enough to have a creative partner like lena who very much like me, enjoys talking about ideas and taking them in every which direction before landing them on the exact place where they need to be ... where they should be. and that is just where we are — so, after nearly a year of planning and working, we're ready to share our project with you and we're thrilled. in our words, this is LINES & SHAPES: we create small books {6 volumes this first year}. we are an independent art and design collective {creating new work for every volume}. we are a rotating group of artists whose visions converge {4–6 different artists in each volume}. we are always thinking of new ideas {each book will have a different visual theme}. and lines & shapes connect us. : : : : : : : i know it may still be a bit vague since our website is not up but you will find out and see more about volume one tomorrow. and i am going to talk about LINES & SHAPES all week so i hope you'll join me to read more about the artists who are involved in our first volume as well as many other tidbits about our plans, process, etc. thank you so much for joining me here on day one of our labor of love: LINES & SHAPES. cheers, mav