Plans are moving along with the upcoming First Friday show in April.  The dates and times have been confirmed.  The opening reception will be Friday, April 2 from 6 to 10 pm.  The show will be available by appointment for three weeks until the 23rd.  It’s at Plenum Space Gallery, 504 E. 18th St., Kansas City, MO.  Don’t know exactly where that is?  It’s called Mapquest. 

The gallery is in an unassuming looking building just across the street from Grinders and Pi gallery.  There’s usually an open garage door with a ceramics and pottery display open in the lower level of the building, and right next to that is a red door that leads upstairs to my show.  If you get to the Slap and Tickle gallery, you’ve passed Plenum Space.  I’ll try to have a sign on the sidewalk or something to make it easy to find, but not being familiar with the neighborhood is no reason to not make it to the show.  Where’s your sense of adventure?  Leave the GPS unit at home!  Go out and explore!

There will be some exciting never before seen work at the show.  The eight-foot-long linoleum print “Country to City” will be on display for the first time ever!  “Country to City” a panoramic image composed of eight 1-square-foot linoleum blocks that transitions from a country pasture to the increasingly jumbled and un-organic city scene.  It was a carving I began while in New York, so I began with the city block first and then worked backward, coincidentally finishing with the country end of the image after returning to Lecompton.  Because of is unweildy size, I have never properly documented the piece, so it is not on my site anywhere.   Come and give it a look!

Also on display will be four of the cityscape panels, which have never been shown.  Those, however, are featured in my online portfolio.  The newest piece I’ve made, featured in my last entry, will be there, along with some previously displayed work. 

I almost forgot that there will be one other never before seen piece making its debut at this show.  The intaglio print titled “Buildings 1″ on my site has been revisited, reworked, and transformed into the new piece “Light Beam”.  I’m not going to give you a description for free, but the addition of some gouache and colored pencil has brought that print to its final state.  Gotta come see it to find out what it’s all about!

Well, back to the grind.  See you in April!

Over winter break I finally got a chance to work on something that is non-school related.  It took the better part of a month to finish it, but I also had books to read and other things to enjoy while I had the chance.  I’m just glad I got a new piece finished for the upcoming show. 

That should be big enough that I don’t need to post detail shots.

This was all pretty experimental.  I had this vision of stained canvas, where it’s colored but you can still see the weave.  It wasn’t easy to do, but watercolor ended up working pretty well.  You kind of have to scrub the paint into the fabric.  Then I pasted cut out rice paper shapes over the watercolor design and took to the pen and ink.  The skills were a little shaky first, but once I shook the rust off it all fell into place.  Everything in this piece is freehand, which is also why it took a while to complete.

Anyway, it was probably a bad idea to make this because I enjoyed it so much.  Getting back to what I really enjoy doing made school seem like that much more of a drag.  I just need to keep reminding myself that I’m going to school so I can have more time and opportunities to make my work.  I’ll survive, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy for me.  Gotta keep your eyes on the prize.

My book is going to appear in a show in Chicago on December 11. I hope to make the opening reception that night from 5 to 7. If you don’t make it out that night, I believe the show is up until March, so you can go see it at your leisure.

I’m also in the process of planning a show at Plenum Space gallery in Kansas City for first Friday in April.  Journalism school has consumed virtually every waking moment of my free time this fall, and I’m excited to get back to thinking about art over break.  I might even get a chance to do some drawing if I’m lucky. 

Next semester will probably just as if not more brutal, but starting next summer I might get back into producing new work again.  I miss being able to make my work, but in the long run I hope that what I’m learning in journalism will benefit my artwork and the art world in general.  Artists have a tendency to be lousy at promotions, and I’m hoping to change that.

I’m trying to find a way of reconciling my previous work with my work in journalism right now, and currently my idea for a thesis project is to construct a website specifically dedicated as a news and information resource on printmaking.  Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome, just send an email.

Also, I can be found on Twitter now under the name @mattkuhlman.  Twitter seems silly to me, but also the direction that personal communications are heading.  Resistance is futile, not to mention counter-productive.  Feel free to follow me, I try to keep my tweets somewhat interesting.  No updates about what kind of sandwich I had for lunch. 

Have a happy beginning to 2010!  Has it already been 10 years?  Geez…

-mk

So I stopped holding out and posted my book up for sale on blurb.com. Follow this link to order:
http://www.blurb.com/search/site_search?search=matt+kuhlman&filter=all

It is available in soft or hard cover, and at a much cheaper price than me ordering it and shipping it myself.

A published book of my sketchbook drawings are now available directly through me and also at Wonderfair in Lawrence (803 Mass. St. below the Casbah Market. http://www.wonderfair.com/).  The images included in the book can be viewed in the “sketchbook” section of my site, plus some unreleased bonus material.  The book is 5″x7″, 60 pages long, and softbacked.  Through me, the book costs $15, plus shipping if applicable.  I can also get it in hardback, but the price would be much higher, somewhere around $35 + shipping.  Email me at silverfurfer@hotmail.com with any questions.