Publishing and Self Publishing Event at The NewBridge Project:Gateshead

Publishing and Self Publishing


NewBridge Books

The NewBridge Project : Gateshead


Sofia Niazi and Sahra Hersi from Rabbits Road Press coordinated this event about the worlds of self-publishing and publishing.

















Initially Sofia and Sahra gave a presentation about, amongst other things

how and why they first started making risograph zines

how and why they formed and developed One of My Kind (OOMK)

how and why they founded Rabbits Road Press.



OOMK make, publish and distribute books and printed works which arise from self-initiated projects. OOMK also commission new works by women artists and co-curate DIY Cultures, one of the UK’s largest annual independent publishing fairs.


OOMK Zine is a highly visual, handcrafted small-press publication. Printed biannually, its content pivots upon the imaginations, creativity and spirituality of women. Each issue centres around a different creative theme, with more general content exploring topics of faith, activism and identity.

http://www.oomk.net/


Rabbits Road Press is a community Risograph print studio and publishing press commissioned by Create London and is based at Old Manor Park Library. The small-scale publishing press provides printing and book binding services for artists and community groups in Newham and beyond.

The project builds on Rabbits Road Institute’s initiative to establish an accessible and diverse community art space to support the development of new skills, knowledge sharing and social exchange for people living in Newham. A responsive programme of workshops and events explore a contemporary model for community publishing, bringing together artists, designers, writers and local people.

Rabbits Road Press runs regular public Open Access sessions, that are free and open to all, providing an opportunity for people to learn about Risograph printing and offering a space in which to work on creative projects.

With a focus on design education, OOMK also offer a range of private Risograph printing workshops at Rabbits Road Press.

https://www.rabbitsroadpress.com/

The second part of the event was a round table discussion where Sofia and Sahra answered questions posed by those attending the event.

Here are a number of links that arose during this discussion

See Red Women's Workshop was a collective producing silk screened posters for the women’s liberation movement as well as for community groups and others on request.

See Red Women's Workshop

https://seeredwomensworkshop.wordpress.com/about-see-red/


Glasgow Zine Library is a community-based zine library on Glasgow’s South side. Glasgow Zine Library puts on Glasgow Zine Fest, and run a year round programme of events.

https://glasgowzinelibrary.com/

Sahra Hersi is a multidisciplinary architectural designer and artist based in London. After graduating from the Royal College of Art Architecture programme, she found herself free to reinterpret what architecture means. She has been quietly rebelling against her architectural education ever since. Her practice explores shared spaces, the public realm, collaboration and community engagement. Her work is often born out of engaging with local communities and the spaces they occupy.

Sofia Niazi is an artist and illustrator working and living between London and Birmingham. She completed an MA in illustration at Kingston University. As part of OOMK, she currently runs a community RISO print studio in Newham, Rabbits Road Press, with studio mates Rose Nordin and Heiba Lamara. She employs various digital and hand drawn techniques and crafts to explore questions around housing, technology and politics. Sofia has produced work for Migration Museum, Museum of London, Barbican and The Guardian, amongst others. She regularly leads workshops and delivers talks about her work in community, gallery and academic settings.

https://sahrahersi.net/

https://www.sofianiazi.co.uk/

Talk Over Print

I was delighted to be asked to contribute to TALK OVER PRINT, a recent publication produced by Foundation Press.

TALK OVER PRINT was a collaborative publication made for/during BALTIC Self Publishers Market, April 27 2019. 

TALK OVER PRINT is a collection of thoughts, both from those sharing books at the market and from self-publishers invited from outside of the northeast. 

Contributions by: Holly Argent (Women Artists of the North East Library), Steven Appleton, Giles Bailey, Elsa Bajracharya, Paul Becker, Holly Birtles, Jessie Churchill, Craig Pound (Dizzy Ink), Freya Dooley, Theresa Easton, Peter Falkous, Marc Fischer & Brett Bloom (Temporary Services), Barry Fox, Annalisa Furnari, Cath Garvey, John Harrison, Samuel Hasler, Ann Jarmolowicz, Pete Kennedy, Robin Kirkham (An Endless Supply), Annette Knol, Leeds United, Leonard McDermid, London Centre for Book Arts, Olisa. L.Osanakpo, Paper Jam Comics Collective, RISOGRAD, Riso Soup, Sabrina Schmid, Rosalie Schweiker, Helen Shaddock, Cherry Styles, Richard Swan, Julia Vogl, Matthew Walkerdine, Fritz Welch, Thomas Whittle, Andrew Wilson, Megan Winstone.

RISOTTO's RISO ROOM at The Lighthouse, Glasgow

Between 23rd March-13th May RISOTTO will be taking over Gallery 1 of the Lighthouse for a jam-packed print programme + exhibition, celebrating all things RISOGRAPH!

Throughout this period, the space will play host to a full programme of unique events. 

Highlights include:

Specialist workshops from leading movers and shakers of the print world; CORNERS (South Korea), http://corners.kr/   Atelier Bingo (France) http://atelier-bingo.fr/   and Wobby.club (Netherlands), https://www.wobby.club/ focusing on specialist prepress techniques, playful collage, and a collaborative zine workshops, respectively. 

This will be the first time these studios have delivered workshops in Scotland, offering a chance to learn from world-leading Risograph experts.

Poster Nights; our cheapest, fastest and most popular workshop will be back; and at 25 participants strong, this is as much a social as it is an intro to the print process. 

These workshops always produce a whole concoction of patterned prints for participants to take home.

Find out more about the RISO ROOM here:

https://www.risottostudio.com/category/specialworkshop/

BBC Arts Digital features designer Gabriella Marcella, Director of RISOTTO

BBC Arts Digital has created a series of short films focusing on specialist artists and craftspeople. 

The second episode in the series features Gabriella Marcella, a designer and Director of RISOTTO, Scotland’s leading risograph print specialist, and stationery company. 

Set up in 2012, RISOTTO produces creative print for a range of clients – from leading art organisations to bands and brands, quickly and sustainably.

Risograph printing is similar to screen-printing, using rich spot colours and stencils to create tactile and vibrant prints, affordably and with little impact to the environment.

I've had things printed at RISOTTO in the past, and they are great! As you will see from the clip below, Gabriella is really knowledgeable and her helpful and friendly approach makes RISOTTO an excellent company to work with.

Check out the RISOTTO website here

https://www.risottostudio.com/

Colour blending with Foundation Press

Following on from the weekend typeface workshop at Pop Recs, I went to the home of Foundation Press in the National Glass Centre, Sunderland to join them for some riso printing.

Foundation Press are collaboratively designing printed posters for upcoming gigs and events at Pop Recs, the independent record shop / cafe / arts space / venue in Sunderland. They will print a new set of posters exploring the colour blending possibilities of risograph printers and hand-made experimental typefaces. 

Today we began making printing templates for the poster backgrounds using geometric shapes, patterns and colour blends. 

The risograph printer resembles a photocopier, and works in a similar way. A colour drum is inserted into the riso. The riso prints one colour at a time. A greyscale image is placed face down onto the photocopy bed, and the riso copier is programmed to make a master template. The image is transferred onto the roller, and then multiple copies can be made. Every time the colour is changed, the master template needs to be transferred onto the newly inserted roller. 

Riso works really well for layering different colours on top of each other, and it is possible to create interesting colour blends.

Here are some of my tests using 3 colours: teal, fluorescent pink and yellow.

We also tried some other designs.

Then began to incorporate the text that we had done at the weekend.

Some were more successful combinations than others.

Foundation Press Workshop at Pop Records, Sunderland

The weekend got off to a great creative start as I participated in a workshop run by Foundation Press. Foundation Press is an experimental printing press, operating as a space for testing collaborative approaches to printing and publishing. It is currently run by Debbie Bower, Adam Phillips and Joe Woodhouse with students from the Foundation Diploma Art & Design course at University of Sunderland.



This was the first of two workshops to collaboratively design printed posters for upcoming gigs and events at Pop Recs in Sunderland, an independent record shop, cafe, arts space and venue.

Inspired by simple but iconic text posters like those made by Colby Poster Printing Co in L.A – Foundation Press will print a new set of posters exploring the colour blending possibilities of risograph printers and hand-made experimental typefaces.



Our initial challenge was to come up with our own band name. There were a number of photocopied bits of text that we could cut up and mix with other words to form interesting band name suggestions.

We were then to create hand-made letter sets, using a cut and paste method with photocopies, glue and scissors. We each picked a set of images that had been photocopied, and with these we were tasked with creating an alphabet.

The selection of images included various food items such as vegetables, meats and candy-canes, hair, bears, clouds, bubbles and more geometric shapes like the set I chose.

This is how my alphabet turned out:

Here are some of the other alphabets created in the workshop:

 Using candy-cane and hair imagery

 Using images of vegetables

 Using an image of a bear

At the next session we will be printing from these typefaces and will experiment with colour blending techniques. I'm looking forward to some riso-action!

On Saturday 18th November the finished posters will be displayed along with cut-offs and experiments in an exhibition at Pop Recs.

'A lot can happen in fifteen minutes' is now available at The Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh

My text, 'A lot can happen in fifteen minutes', published in collaboration with UnstapledPress is now available at The Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh. 

We are wanting to increase the number of stockists selling the publication, so let us know if you have any recommendations, suggestions or if you would like to stock the publication, please do let us know.

If you can't get to a stockist, don't worry, they are available to purchase online from here:

http://www.unstapledpress.bigcartel.com/product/a-lot-can-happen-in-fifteen-minutes

Reflecting on my journey and a time for niceties

I begun writing as part of my practice around January this year, and it was a completely new venture. It felt scary to put into words things that have been in my mind for a long time, and I was aprehensive about showing it to anyone. I felt vulnerable. Was it too personal? I did not want to be self-absorbed or self-indulgent. That is not me, and not what I want my work to be. 

When I plucked up courage to share my texts, I was genuinely startled by the impact it had. People responded from the heart. My text spoke to them and they opened up to me. New relationships were formed, and a different level of understanding reached. I was encouraged to produce more and push what I was doing.

Having worked independently on these personal yet universal texts, I thought long and hard about how they should exist for an audience. I wanted to involve a visual element, and produce something visually inviting, almost luring the viewer into a false sense of security. Once I had decided upon creating a publication, I approached the independent publishing house, UnstapledPress. I had been impressed by the work they had done as a relatively new venture, and was interested in their independent art practices. I proposed a new way of working for them, where we would work togther to produce a publication. The texts would remain largely unchanged, except for some slight editing, but we would work together to produce the visuals and form of the book. UnstapledPress were keen, and we began the long, complicated ambitious task of designing and printing a four colour risograph publication.

A couple of weeks ago we launched the publication at NewBridge Books. We worked together to produce a series of collages which were displayed in the bookshop and I performed a number of experimental readings. It was a huge success.

Out of curiosity, and as an attempt to discover more about how people related and reacted to the text, I decided to invite artists, musicians and others to respond creatively to the tests and diagrams in the publication. The results were exhibited last night at the closing event in the PH Space at NewBridge.

Once again I was overwhelmed by the responses. Artists were keen to be involved, and over the period of a couple of weeks I was sent a variety of artworks from a wide range of artists in the UK and abroad. Works included drawings, collages, sculptures, performances, sound and videos.

I would be deceiving you if I said that the process was easy. But then again, the most fulfilling things in life are often the most challenging. With an hour till the opening I found myself at a local printers collecting one of the artists prints to be exhibited. But it all came together in the end and would not have happened without the incredible help from a dedicated group of artists. In the course of 4 hours we managed to install a group of artworks that had not been seen together until that day (I received about half of the works yesterday). 

I want to say a huge thank you to all the artists who contributed their work to the exhibition, the group of artists who dedicated yesterday afternoon to helping with the install of the exhibition, those who helped with the performances, the documenters, those who kindly lent me equipment in order to be able to show the works, Kuba and the team at NewBridge for their support, and UnstapledPress for all their collaborative work on the publication and launch. Without all of you this publication, launch exhibition and closing exhibition would not have happened.

Finally I want to thank the many people who attended the exhibitions and those who have purchased the publication. I hope that you enjoyed the events and that the publication is something you value. 

I will be sharing photographs from the exhibition on my blog shortly, and more information about each of the artists involved. 

The publication can be purchased in NewBridge Books and online 
http://www.unstapledpress.bigcartel.com/product/a-lot-can-happen-in-fifteen-minutes

Please do get in touch if you have any comments about the publication or want further information.

Thank you!

A lot can happen in fifteen minutes

I'm really pleased that my recent collaborative publication, 'A lot can happen in fifteen minutes' with UnstapledPress is getting positive feedback.

Come see it now as part of my installation 'Everything Will Be Alright' at the Newcastle University MFA Exhibition 2016.



They are printed using risograph printing, making each one (I have 75 copies)an original artwork.

Publications can be bought from Newcastle University throughout the exhibition and online or in person.

In the hands of the printers

In the last few months I have been working with UnstapledPress to create a publication containing a collection of my texts along with some drawings. It has been an exciting process, and has been a real technological learning curve for us all. When we started the process,  my photoshop skills were limited and I had a lot of skills and techniques to learn in order to realise my ideas. I have surprised myself; through experimentation and by asking lots of questions to photoshop pro's, I have become more confident with the tools and have enjoyed creating the designs. 

Don't get me wrong, I am in no way a whizz on photoshop and I have plenty still to learn. Working with the team at UnstapledPress was super and we taught each other skills that we had gained.



Now we have sent it off to HATO, the printers, who will be using risograph to produce the publications. We look forward to receiving the proof print shortly.