News – Turn-Based Press

Turn-Based Press is pleased to announce that we’ll be part of the official Downtown Miami Art Basel Miami Beach Artist Studio Visits on Friday, December 6, 2013, from 9 AM until noon. We’ll have two demonstrations to offer to guests, as well as the current small-works exhibit, A Close Read, which will also be on view during the Downtown First Friday Art Walk, from 6 – 10 PM that evening.

Encaustic Printmaking Workshop, 10 AM, Dec. 6

Elaine Defibaugh will be sharing her insights into the Enkaustikos printmaking technique; this is a direct transfer method which does not require the use of a press and can easily be adapted for home or studio production. The images produced are expressive and painterly, and the simplicity of the technique makes it an easy, entry-level process for those interested in monotype.

Defibaugh has studios in Miami and New York City, and has exhibited both nationally and internationally. She has work in the collections of Butler Institute of American Art, Memorial Art Gallery, Whitney Gallery at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Jewish Homes, SUNY Brockport, and Jewish Homes in Rochester, NY. Defibaugh is also the recipient of two Pollock Krasner grants, as well as a Constance Saltonstall Foundation grant.

Mare de Deu deis Dorors, Elaine Defibaugh; encaustic monotype

Book-binding Workshop, 11 AM, Dec. 6

Carol Todaro will bind and finish a small edition of artists’ books entitled Book. Designed and printed by Todaro and Turn-Based Press founder Kathleen Hudspeth, Book transposes lines from Gertrude Stein’s Tender Buttons (Objects) onto a playful, screenprinted sheet that will be bound in two pamphlet styles, one folded and one sewn. Each version of Book shuffles the reading order of the text and shifts the presentation of the images in a brief meditation on printing, books and words as objects.

Carol Todaro is an artist and writer who combines both activities by making artists’ books. The Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the National Museum for Women in the Arts, the Library of Congress and the Jaffe Collection at Florida Atlantic University, among other public institutions, have collected her work. Her poetry chapbook Moonviewing (Floating Wolf Quarterly # 7) was released in 2011. She teaches at New World School of the Arts in Miami.

A Close Read, Nov. 1 through December 22.

A Close Read is positioned in opposition to the whirlwind that is the end of year art season in Miami. Comprised of prints, artists’ books and works-on-paper no larger than 6” x 6”, A Close Read will offer intimate, individual presentations, fostering in the viewer—or reader–a moment of focus and reflective, considered observation. The exhibition features the work of more than 25 local artists.

Official ABMB Downtown Miami Artist Studio Visit Map

On December 22, 2012, from 1 – 6 PM, Turn-Based Press will be hosting a Works on Paper Holiday Sale!

Featuring one-of-a-kind artwork, prints, drawings and more, Turn-Based Press’ inaugural event will be a great opportunity to find original works by Miami-based artists.

Who knows what kinds of exquisite treasures you can pick up for your loved ones!

Downtown Arthouse (East Wing): 100 NE 11^th St, 33132

Refreshments will be provided. Tell your friends and come on by!

Back in 2008, Adler and I worked on a collaboration for a show called Coupling (organized by Kristen Thiele), the theme of which was collaborations between artist-couples. Because our kid was six years-old at the time, creating the work was challenging for us, and we primarily made the work by taking turns going to the printshop to work on it; one would be home with our child, and the other would be working on the piece.

During this process, I began to joke that we were doing turn-based printmaking. We both enjoy playing turn-based strategy games, and in the past used to play games together using the hotseat method: we’d each take our turn, then cede the chair in front of the computer to the other, to wait patiently again until our next turn. It seemed to me at the time that our collaborative art-making strategy was much like the playing of turn-based strategy games. It occurred to me that that would be a brilliant name for a press.

There’s a sense of collaboration, patience and turn-taking involved in working in a communal printshop, and there’s also the act of turning: turning cranks, turning pages, turning paper and images recto to verso, and so on. It was during the making of this collaborative work for the Coupling exhibition that I decided that if I ever started a press, that I would call it Turn-Based Press.

When the 2009 Knight Arts Challenge applications rolled around, I applied to start Turn-Based Press, not really expecting that I would get it. When I was awarded the grant, it was wonderful, and all the hard work that lead to today began.

In the Press now, adjacent to the Turn-Based Press Functional Print Series (One), Adler and I have installed Turn-Base Mark, the work which was the beginning of everything. Curiously, black waves feature prominently in the work, and also ended up being a prominent feature of the building mural–a decision that was made by people other than me and Adler (all of the building occupants split tasks well, and the folks who proposed the mural that we ended up going with were actually the TM Sisters and Thom Wheeler Castillo, I believe).

The black waves in the mural now are there as a nod to the original mural on the building which was the former home of Captain Harry’s.

It’s as if the work Adler and I did together had some level of prescience! We wanted to share it with everyone now that the Press is open to the public and in the first stages of setting up (it’s been a long, complicated road!).

Coupling 1 KH AG 2008 — Turn Base Mark; Collaborative image made by Kathleen Hudspeth and Adler Guerrier for the 2008 show ‘Coupling’.

Coupling 2 KH AG 2008 — Turn Base Mark; Collaboration between Kathleen Hudspeth and Adler Guerrier, made for the 2008 show ‘Coupling’.

Black Waves at Downtown ArtHouse — The black waves on the mural are a reference to the previous mural that was on the building before we moved in.

For a little while, at least until Google updates their street view of the area, you can see an image of what the old mural used to look like. It was commissioned from Cary Chen by Captain Harry’s, and was an iconic landmark in the area–it was especially beloved by fisherfolk, in fact. We weren’t able to incorporate the fish into the mural, but we did want to keep some reference to it out of respect.

Downtown ArtHouse East Wing — Turn-Based Press and BFI are located in the East wing of the building.

We’re happy to let you know that we’re moving into a great space in Downtown Miami! It’s the site of the old Captain Harry’s, beloved locale of fisherfolk and fans of fish-related murals, located at 100 NE 11th St. We’ve changed the mural, but insisted upon maintaining the iconic forms of the waves. The building is split into two wings, and we’ll be occupying the East side along with BFI, while Dimensions Variable and the TM Sisters will be sharing the West side.

Work has begun, and events will be underway for this ABMB season, though the Press itself likely won’t be operational until January. We’ll be keeping you appraised via various means, some of which are yet to come!

We’re still working on our website, so expect future changes.

Thanks again to the Miami Worldcenter and the DDA for all of their support and assistance in getting this project off the ground.

Category: News