3 limited edition prints of Alkebuluan Merriweather’s collages: Finally Free, Black Girl Take Pride In Your Hoods, and For Black Girls Who Dream of Space, are now available.
For Black Girls Who Dream of Space
Finally Free
Black Girl Take Pride In Your Hoods
Flatlands had the pleasure of collaborating with a peer and comrade, Edgar Serrano on a limited edition 4 color risograph posters. The prints are based on an image from Edgar Serrano's artist book: Rumors of My Demise. The book was released at the show's opening on October 30, 2021. This Limited Edition print is only available through Brief Histories (whiles supplies last).
In a recent interview with Brandon Johnson of Zingmagazine, Edgar talks about his latest show.
Brief Histories /Rumors of My Demise: Press release
Rumors of My Demise
Edgar Serrano's artist book, Rumors of My Demise, published by Brief Histories Press (2021) is a limited-edition visual anthology of Serrano’s research, inspirations, and interests – from cultural icons and anthropology pages to street life, memes, screen savers, and ideologies of the individual.
Brief Histories
115 Bowery, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10002 USA
Gallery hours: Wed-Sat 12 pm–6 pm and by appointment.
www.briefhistories.art
gallery@briefhistories.art
+1 (347) 951-0267
Instagram @brief_histories
The second edition of Volume One of the Black Matriarch Zine is now available. The First edition sold out and we are happy to be able to continue to distribute Alkebuluan Merriweather’s tribute to the Archive of Black Matriarchs.
“Thank you to everyone that purchased the first round of zines. We raised $638. Donations were made towards 360 Nation, Black Art Library, and three incarcerated individuals whom I work with within the Illinois Deaths in Custody Project.
The next round of zines will be used to continue the archival work of Homagetoblkmadonnas. A donation will be made towards Brave Space Alliance once we officially sell out.
Brave Space Alliance is the first Black-led, trans-led LGBTQ+ Center located on the South Side of Chicago, dedicated to creating and providing affirming, culturally competent, for-us by-us resources, programming, and services for LGBTQ+ individuals on the South and West sides of the city.” ~ Alkebulaun Merriweather
Echoes: Sight, Sound, Touch is featured this year in the Terrain Biennial.
Projections can be viewed on Saturdays and Sundays from 7–9 pm,
October 2nd - November 15th, 2021
Echoes: Sight, Sound, Touch is a collaboration between Eric von Haynes and Lisa Armstrong. A call-and-response between the artists, the work tracks growth and healing over time. The installation explores the forms of sound, light, and print in the reconstruction of memories.
An Exploration in Slow media, images that evoke memories are distilled and sequenced for projections in space. The artists interlaced tones from plant biofeedback, as well as field recordings, to create a layered soundscape resonating with the floating images in space.
The work asks, how are memories stored in the mundane? How do we grow and heal over time? And what are the memory markers that help us construct meaning?
Lisa Armstrong is a multi-disciplinary designer, artist, and instructor Her work focuses primarily on themes of time, space, motion, and the tensions between artificial and emotional intelligence. She currently teaches as a Lecturer of Visual Communication at Loyola University Chicago, where she serves as Co-Director for the Ralph Arnold Gallery. She also performs as part of the electronic music collective, Chandeliers.
Founded in 2007, Flatlands Press is owned and operated by Eric Von Haynes. Eric is an artist, whose work synthesizes old and new printing methods and aesthetics. While design and printmaking are his passions, he is energized by collaborations and the ideas and challenges that come from working with a community. Flatlands has created art objects and printed ephemera for artists worldwide. One of the core tenets at Flatlands Press is community building and making the invisible visible.
LETTERS TO CHICAGO: AN EXHIBITION
presented by Almighty & Insane Books
at Co-Prosperity, 3219 S Morgan, Chicago, IL
August 6 - 8, 2021
Friday, August 6
Gallery hours, 12-7pm
Saturday, August 7
Gallery hours, 12-7pm
Sir Charles book signing & exhibition reception, 5-8pm
Sunday, August 8
Gallery hours, 12-5pm
Mario “Liv It Up” Luna book signing & afternoon of house music, 1-4pm
In 2019, Sir Charles and Almighty & Insane Books collaborated with risograph printer Flatlands Press to create the book Letters To Chicago. Within its pages Sir Charles's lettering work is paired with mid-20th century photographs from the archives of Chicago’s Urban Renewal Department. Documenting the process of identifying “blighted” buildings/neighborhoods and targeting them for destruction/replacement, these photos preserve images of bygone structures in the oldest parts of the city. This initiative displaced many from their homes for the sake of municipal infrastructure projects, a new university campus, public housing, and private real estate developments. With a mind to current parallels, Sir Charles’s letters, symbols, and messages ghost through this history demonstrating a new lettering mode combining calligraphy with graffiti hand-styles that is both deeply indebted to and an integral product of his native city of Chicago.
This exhibition celebrates Letters To Chicago through a display of its individual pages on the walls of Co-Prosperity to continue a conversation around this history and related subjects of identity, displacement, and community. To support and deepen the historical context, ephemera from the archive of Almighty & Insane Books will be on view, including a small selection of social athletic club dance cards from 1901 to 1930 and gang compliment cards from 1960 to 1980, along with 1980s Chicago house music memorabilia courtesy of DJ Mario "Liv It Up" Luna. There will also be an archive of Made In Chi-Town With Love apparel designs on display, representing a contemporary small creative business from Chicago founded by Sir Charles and Michelle Vega, who teamed up to create a brand to continue the dialogue of inner city challenges many of our youth continue to face. Their brand has grown widely and their story has now reached international levels, but has never lost its focus or message.
Finally, there will be new works on canvas by Sir Charles, following in and expanding on a series of “scrolls” he made in 2020. These commission-based scrolls incorporated messages of unity, love, forgiveness, and growth, hand-lettered in ink over patches of paint and other pigments on loose canvas. The new work will reflect an evolution of this process, and a movement forward from the original Letters To Chicago project in which the exhibition is rooted.
Lisa Armstrong and Eric Von Haynes: Echoes: Sight, Sound, and Touch
Echoes: Sight, Sound, and Touch on Saturday, July 17th opened at Boundary; collaboration with Lisa Armstrong. Since the world reopened, my first exhibition was a pleasure working with Lisa and creating a space and vibe with them. The audience and space are bathed in warm hues from the projected images created using risograph prints and a gift is offered to all that attend the show.
Seed paper that will sprout wheatgrass and a flipbook is offered.
July 17 - September 4, 2021
Echoes: Sight, Sound, and Touch is a collaboration between Lisa Glenn Armstrong and Flatlands
A call-and-response between the artists, the work tracks growth and healing over time.
The installation explores the forms of sound, light, and print in the reconstruction of memories.
An Exploration in Slow media, images that evoke memories are distilled and sequenced for projections in space. The artists interlaced tones from plant biofeedback and field recordings to create a layered soundscape resonating with the floating images in space.
Handmade seed paper is an offering to participants during the exhibit to take and grow at home. Documenting changes over time in plant matter, the work asks, how are memories stored in the mundane? How do we grow and heal over time? And what are the memory markers that help us construct meaning?
The show is on view every Saturday by appointment thru 9/4
Grab a flipbook and some seed paper upon your visit.
Peace.
Flatlands Press in collaboration with our sister studio, Hoofprint, has created a series of four screenprints. This series is a study of Masks inspired by meditations and reflections on the ancestors. They are meant to reveal more than they obscure and attempt to bridge the future and the past. The first mask in the series, The Seeker, is available to purchase and all proceeds minus the cost of shipping ($20) go towards the Raise It Up Fundraiser sponsored by CPG, on behalf of the South Side Community Art Center. This fundraiser will provide improvements to the ceiling and lighting in the Dr. Margaret Burroughs Gallery.
The South Side Community Art Center (SSCAC) is the oldest independently-owned African American art center in the United States. Founded by Margaret Burroughs and other African-American artists in 1940, the SSCAC boasts connections to printmakers Charles White and Elizabeth Catlett, photographer Gordon Parks, and the first woman to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize, Gwendolyn Brooks.
To learn more go to Raise It Up! CPG for South Side Community Art Center
Volume One of the Black Matriarch Zine is now available!
The Goal of the Black Matriarch Zine is to honoring black women and the role they play in shaping black families, as matriarchs. Members of the African diaspora submit images and video documentation of black elders, whether they may be grandmothers, great-aunts, godmothers, or caregivers. The goal: “to create an ongoing archive commemorating the black women in our lives who were crucial in our upbringing.” ~ Alkebuluan Merriweather
20% of the proceeds made from this publication will go mailing zines to the incarcerated in Illinois and to the Illinois Deaths in Custody Project. Illinois Deaths in Custody Project seeks to document, archive, highlight and mourn the deaths of all people in custody in Illinois.
Alkebuluan Merriweather is a Chicago based artist, zine maker, an unconventional archivist in training, and image-maker. In May of 2019, she received her bachelor’s degree in Art History from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Currently, she is a graduate student within the Museum and Exhibition Studies program at UIC. Her practice often derives from personal narratives and as a Black woman she views art as a form of self-care and therapy. Alkebuluan aspires to be the second Black woman Doctorate within her family. She hopes to pursue a Ph.D. degree in either Black Studies, English, or History. Alkebuluan is also the founder of the Black Matriarch Archive. Black Matriarch Archive seeks to create an ongoing record commemorating the black women in our lives who were crucial in our upbringing. Image by Patrick Lentz
Flatlands Press in collaboration with our sister press Hoofprint Press is creating the next print in a series of masks that I began in 2016. This print will pay homage to the work of AfriCobra and will be available for purchase in the next few weeks. Proceeds from the sale of the print will go to the Raise It Up Fundraiser Sponsored by CPG, on behalf of the South Side Community Art Center. This fundraiser will provide improvements to the ceiling and lighting in the Dr. Margaret Burroughs Gallery. The South Side Community Art Center (SSCAC) is the oldest independently-owned African American art center in the United States. Founded by Margaret Burroughs and other African-American artists in 1940, the SSCAC boasts connections to printmakers Charles White and Elizabeth Catlett, photographer Gordon Parks, and the first woman to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize, Gwendolyn Brooks.
Pictured prints are previous Mask in the series.
To raise funds toward the continued mission to provide food around the chicago area, WE have created a Tote to raise awareness and offer donors a keepsake.
Designed by Lisa Armstrong and Printed at Bitmap Press.
Donations for the Totes have closed. Thank you for all the support!
Support the Love fridge via our Open collective page.
Thank you, Chicago for all the support today at ZINEmercado #zinemercado2020! Great DJ sets amplified what was a beautiful fall day in Comfort Station.
Sold out of many titles, which made packing up a breeze.
Oscar & Pablo
Chema Skandal! hanging prints
The Love Fridge Magnets
The fifth annual outdoor festival of zines and self-made publications features DJs, vendors, and more.
Sunday, October 4, 11 AM-5 PM
Comfort Station Logan Square / https://comfortstationlogansquare.org
2579 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647
Join us in person OR globally with the hashtag #ZINEmercado2020
- MASKS MANDATORY
- HAND SANITIZER PROVIDED
- 6 FT DISTANCED FROM OTHERS
- ONE DIRECTION WALKING PATH
IF YOU WANT YOUR ZINES TO BE FEATURED PLEASE SEND US A DIRECT MESSAGE
Now available through our store!
4 color Risograph prints on paper.
Size: 25x35 cm
All proceeds from the sale of these prints will go toward organizations such as Brave Space Alliance, The Chicago Community Bond Fund, and Chicago Freedom School.
There are 11 Fridges in the Chicago Area now helping to provide food and resources to the community.
WE are building shelters at present to help combat the elements to ensure we can continue to provide food through these fridges this winter.
The Love Fridge is a collective that practices mutual aid grounded in food. We are powered by kindness, generosity, and most importantly, love. We are your neighbors, looking out for our community. We have a common belief that being able to feed yourself is not a privilege, but a right. With food insecurity at an all-time high, keeping our communities fed right now is more important than ever.
Our goal as a collective is to nourish our communities while combating food scarcity and food waste. Our volunteers come from all over Chicago and work within their own communities to collaborate with local, like-minded partners to place community refrigerators across the city. These refrigerators, painted by local artists to reflect the communities in which they live, provide people with access to donate and/or take food with the goal of providing access 24/7 where possible.
MARZ Brewery Location / painted by Yamdini / Located 3630 S Iron St Chicago, IL 60609
El Refri De La Vida! Located in the West Lawn neighborhood of Chicago. Club Nutricional Activate
4215 W. 59th St. • 59th & Keeler
Takoreacocina in Ukrainian Village / Painted by Afrokilla / 1022 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60622
Moreno’s in Little Village / Little Village Moreno's Liquors 3724 W 26th
Flatlands Press is happy to say that during this surreal error/era, WE have found like-minded people to combine efforts with for a common goal: to help those in need and to link pocket groups together in support and solidarity toward a healthy community.
In an effort to alleviate food apartheid, I've linked up with the Love Fridge Chicago. The Love Fridge is a mutual aid network that sets up community-run, free-food fridges across the city. In less than 5 weeks, we've placed 4 free fridges in locations around Chicago, with 3-4 more planned by the end of the week. This is not charity, this is community-led mutual aid, an investment by neighbors to care for each other. As I've visited each fridge to drop off flyers, printed collateral, and food, I've seen community members and neighbors adding food to the fridges as well as liberating food from them.
We are grateful to have an opportunity to work within this movement, it gives me a place to focus my efforts and alleviate the anxiety of our current dystopian zeitgeist.
Hurt people hurt others. Please join our movement to help break the cycle. Let's care for one another. Peace.
The Love Shack 💚
Painted by Dyana Pietrzyk
Flagship Love Fridge Local
2751 W 21st St, Chicago, IL 60623
24/7 ACCESS
4 C Riso Poster for The Love Fridge Chicago Round 1
Design by Lisa Armstrong. / http://www.lisaglennarmstrong.com /
FREE with proof of donation to @blmchi, @chibondfund, @bravespacealliance, @raceforward or any other reputable organization fighting against police violence and for racial justice.
Available for pickup at these locations: @shadyrestchicago @pilsenoutpost @readwritelibrary today.
WE are going to keep a few from this series in the flat files so feel free to reachout. We can ship IF you pay for shipping.
Kashink ACAB four color RISO
Kashink ACAB four color RISO
Carlos Barberena “I Can’t Breath”
Work_Play Press
Free RISO printing services for Anti racist organizations, activists, community organizations or protesters in need of flyers or posters.
FREE PRESS
Todd Irwin of Bitmap Press designed this broadside
Nicole Marroquin’s Defund the Police
Protests demand visuals Flatlands Press talks about collaborating with artists all over the city to make prints for the movement demonstrating in support of Black and Brown unity and defunding the police.
On this third anniversary of the All of the Above exhibit, which was organized in the spirit of creating conversations around community building, I'm selling the last editions of my Roll Call Letterpress print and donating all proceeds (minus shipping) to the Chicago Community Bond Fund. Covid19 has arrested the progress that CCBF is working toward due to the court system coming to a screeching halt. In order to continue their mission immediate funds are crucial.
Please consider purchasing my poster or donating directly to CCBF: https://chicagobond.org/
Roll Call / CTZNBLK, 2017, Letterpress Silver Graphite Ink on Black 140 # French paper 11x17
Printed with iS Press for “All of the Above, Art, Theory, Culture” Exhibition 2017’
Flatlands Press intrinsic practice is about collaboration and creating printed matter. During this period of social distancing and flattening the curve, we seek to flatten the world and bring us closer together in the process.
With this in mind, Flatland Press invites you to submit pieces for Flat Space, a publication that will be created around this period of social distancing.
Present themes orbiting around forms of communication, shorten the distance between us, and antiquated tech/dead tech.
The initial issue will be a pdf version for Quaranzine Fest April 4-5, 2020, with physical copies available for shipping. Each featured artist will also receive a printed copy.
I will be using a RISO EZ590 on site to print this zine, so one or two color work (or work that can translated as such) is optimal. If you aren’t sure if your work will translate, reach out and we can discuss it.
Please submit ideas, images, writings at Flatlandspress@gmail.com
Please add Flat Space to subject headings. Safe journeys.
We are all alone together.
