Reading · It's Good to Be Here

A few weeks ago I met Rebecca Huval, who has appointed herself the artist-in-residence of the Common Knowledge Lecture Series, which is held in cool bars around Sacramento.

I LOVE the idea of becoming the artist-in-residence of a series of ongoing events like this, because it gives you a schedule and a place to be.

But there’s another element to it that makes it especially wonderful, and that has to do with the really lovely way that she’s paying tribute to this event and the speakers. She’s making a decision about what’s worthy about this series, she’s showing her appreciation for the speakers and their ideas, and she is in a way expanding upon those ideas by turning them into a new thing—a piece of art.

Such a lovely project! See more of Rebecca’s art on her Instagram.

Rebecca’s project reminds me of this one, where an artist appointed herself the official illustrator of her favorite podcast and went on to become a food illustrator as a result.

I love public transportation in all its forms and I’m a regular rider of Portland’s excellent system of buses, light rail, and streetcars. I’ve been meaning to do an artist’s residency on one of the bus lines that runs through my neighborhood, but meanwhile, I’m admiring this one over at Blueprint Pyjamas:

It’s amazing to me how interesting other people’s bus routes look! But this one is particularly good, with an ocean view and some quintessentially British neighborhoods and a mulberry tree and of course the bus is a double-decker which is of course double the fun. She’s doing some really interesting things with her residency—she’s thinking about it very broadly, from photographs to seismographic drawings to ink from that mulberry tree. Go take a look!

Last year, the editor of UPPERCASE magazine, Janine Vangool, reached out to me to ask if I would write something for her about the self-appointed artist residency. I was happy to do it and even happier to realize what a labor of love this magazine is. Janine is a real person, not an anonymous corporation, and as far as I can tell, she does way too much of the work herself. There are only two people on the masthead: Janine (editor, publisher, designer, and customer service) and a copyeditor.

The magazine is a hefty, sturdy, maximalist creative cornucopia, printed on excellent paper, the kind of thing you can keep around and flip through, over and over again, rather than looking at your phone.

I’m telling you this now because Janine is having a summer sale on back issues, to clear out pricey warehouse space and bring in some cash. It’s a good time to pick up some of these to scatter around the house, and also take a look at these amazing anthology-style books she puts together by subject matter. I’m thinking of ordering some of these as gifts right now. If you’re as eager as I am to support real people doing real things on real paper, check it out.

145. Drawing Your Territory

Aug 3

After last week’s post about the bear house I hadn’t drawn, I’ve been paying more attention to the places on my regular route around town that I love/like/am into/am curious about, and realizing that I really ought to pay more attention to those things (

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