SPHERE: SGCI 2015

Happy April Fools! So for those of you who don't know, I just got back from the Southern Graphics [International] Conference (SGCI) in Knoxville last week and can I just say wow. What a trip. We went in a group with some of my classmates and a couple of my professors. It was a pretty short drive for us. And completely worth it.

To go to the event there was a nice student discount, which was most of the reason I was able to be talked into going. I was terrified to be honest. I haven't gone on a trip by myself since youth group and I wasn't too keen on it. But my friend talked me into it and I don't regret it one bit! There's only so much I can say about it right now as I'm still not done processing it myself. We had to hit the ground running when I got back because of Print Big coming up, and school work is every minute of my life since our spring break is next week (weekend? what weekend.. lol). I haven't even had a chance to go through all the prints I bought from the sales and stuff so that will have to be a whole other post...

So in an effort not to bore you further with my rambling.. pictures!

Some etchings done with a sort of vibrating tool I've never seen. It was like a tattooing machine.

Just a lovely split fountain poster at one of the sales. I have a gradient addiction so..

This woman was selling German paper made out of fruit slices. My sister loves cucumber so I had to get a photo.

The artist, Anastasi, was someone the man selling this knew. Apparently he drew a straight line, free-handed, on the plate everyday for a year, and then printed it (the image on the right). I don't know about you but if I did that it would look more like tangled headphones than this I think..

Just another really amazing print. There were so many that blew me away, I'd still be there if I kept taking photos. Though I'm not sure that would be a bad thing..

This was a really amazing wallpaper print someone did for a gallery space at Tennessee University

This table had a bunch of quirky prints like this

This awesome display was made of a bunch of screen printed boxes that two artists collaborated on. They were fake ads for "Creamy Crack" which is what we in the black community jokingly call relaxer. I actually got to talk to one of them about it and found out it's part of a larger body of work that makes a commentary on beauty standards. Pretty fantastic stuff.

An angle of an amazing installation at TU

More of the same

Another angle

This is just a portion of a large mixed media installation that was mounted on the wall of one of the galleries at TU. Parts of it are screen prints directly on the wall, and there are embroidered pieces and folded and cut decorative papers also incorporated.

Another angle

And another angle

This is just a photo of Tennessee University's completely unfairly larger-than-ours printmaking studio.. I think this was like half of it that got in the photo. Like seriously guys. Not fair.

This is a photo of Tennessee University's completely unfairly larger-than-ours etching press

A photo of me that my friend took during my open portfolio session which was amazing!

Naturally we finished the last night with some photos under this creepy lighting we found outside our hotel that was perfect for a little alien abduction posing.

Then we vogued of course.

Yeah. It was an amazing, fantastic, exciting trip. Looking forward to next time!

- Kelly Rose