CCA News
Zach Gibson to Host 48-Hour Book Project at Levi's Workshop August 6-7
Posted on Thursday, July 22, 2010, by Samantha Braman
On August 6–7, Zach Gibson, a student in CCA's Graduate Program in Design, will host Strangers, a 48-hour bookmaking project at the Levi's Workshop at 580 Valencia in San Francisco. He and 10 other Bay Area artists will gather to produce content for a book about the work they do.
While some of the artists involved know each other very well, some have never met face to face, some have only met because of this project, and others will arrive the day of as total strangers . . . thus the project's title, Strangers. Although the group has discussed content, ideas, and production strategies over the past few months, nothing will be definitely decided until August 6. And by the end of the day on August 7, a book will have materialized.
The Levi's Workshop is the first of what the well-known San Francisco–based company hopes will become an annual event across the country. For the months of July and August, they have converted their 580 Valencia store into a community print shop. Local artists, in collaboration with local businesses and community groups, are teaching workshops in their various areas of passion and expertise: classic letterpress machinery, screenprinting, typesetting, and generally getting one's hands dirty.
Gibson says: "Earlier this year I was approached by Adam Katz, a friend of a friend, who was curating artists and designers to host workshops. I proposed Strangers. I'm interested in what I consider relational design: relationships and possibilities as aftereffects of a production between people or inanimate objects when they are forced into a specific situation.
"My plan is to document what happens when a group of artists makes content for a book that is about the content they produce. Will they work together to find a common thread? Will they work separately? Will a common thread arise even if they don't work together? How will they document their experience for reproduction? Everything about the book, from the content to the design to the production, will be decided upon during the 48 hours. I will be there the entire time, starting at 12:01 a.m. on August 6, whether the shop is open to the public or not!"
A total of 61 copies of the book will be made, one for each artist involved and 50 for Levi's. Gibson hopes Levi's will offer its 50 copies for free. The event is open to the public from noon–8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, August 6–7, and Gibson welcomes any and all interested parties out there to jump into the shenanigans and collaborate.
Many of the other 10 artists involved are CCA students: Ian Cooley (MFA Design), Ammo Eisu (MFA Design), Parker Ito (MFA), Jake Sollins (Industrial Design), David Kasprzak (MA Visual and Critical Studies, Curatorial Practice), Nanci Ikejimba (MFA Design), and recent alum Nick Demarco (Industrial Design 2010).
Two CCA Graphic Design alums, Ed Ng (2008) and Harrison Pollock (2009), each of whom participated in the college's Sputnik design studio, are employed as resident silkscreeners at the Levi's Workshop, lending the general public the benefits of their printmaking expertise.
Said Ng: "It's been a great experience meeting people from all sorts of backgrounds, yet we all have a common thread-we love prints!"
The other artists are Brion Nuda Rosch, Stephanie Mufson, and Liam Devowski.
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