North American Risograph Conference 2019
10:00AM–5:00PM
1551 W Homer St, Chicago, IL 60642
NARC is a day of talks, panels, and workshops dedicated to strengthening the North American Risograph community.
The event is biennial, held in tandem with Chicago Art Book Fair. It is organized by Issue Press and Perfectly Acceptable Press.
Perfectly Acceptable Press
Chicago, IL, USA
Matt Davis is the founder and director of Perfectly Acceptable Press, a Risograph print studio and publishing house in Chicago. Besides doing contract printing for artists all over North America, Perfectly Acceptable publishes 8-10 titles per year spanning the genres of comics, artist books, and essay with an emphasis on narrative and craft.
Matt is the co-organizer of NARC along with George Wietor.
Space Cow Press>
Tyumen, Siberia, Russia
I'm a cartoonist and publisher of Space Cow Press, a Siberian-based art community founded in 2014. Along with publishing zines and comics I organize Comic Arts Tyumen independent comics festival and summer school for young artists (since 2018), do diary comics strips and host comics workshops for kids and adults.
Martian Press
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Stephanie Lane Gage is an artist, graphic designer, printmaker and writer. She received her BFA from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 2015 and founded Martian Press later that year. Martian Press aims to publish art and writing by primarily queer makers, with a thematic focus in science fiction and works of a speculative nature. She relocated from Milwaukee to Los Angeles in 2017, where she is now based.
Flatlands Press
Chicago, IL, USA
Eric Von Haynes founded Flatlands in 2007, focused on producing publications and other printed ephemera for artists worldwide.
Flatlands aims to be a community-minded space for artists to create, inspire and share ideas. Flatlands Press is a proud operator of a EZ590.
Endless Editions / Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop
New York, NY, USA
Paul John is the Risograph Studio Manager at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop where he also teaches. In addition to RBPMW he has taught and lectured on printmaking at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Art and Design, the Queens Museum of Art, IPCNY, Pioneer Works, and at many other institutions and venues. He is the co-founder of Endless Editions, a publishing and curatorial initiative whose mission is to produce and disseminate books and prints by underrepresented and emerging artists, and whose books are in the collections of many major museums. Endless Editions participates in all major artbook fairs and organizes the annual Brooklyn Art Book Fair at McCarren Park Play Center. Paul received his MFA in printmaking and his BA in Philosophy.
Diskette Press
Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Carta Monir is an award-winning cartoonist and publisher living in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her own independent research suggests that she may have been the first cartoonist to ever have sex.
Shelf Shelf
Chicago, IL, USA
Lucas Reif is a designer, printer, and publisher. He is a co-operator of the Chicago-based publishing imprint and collaborative design practice Shelf Shelf. Reif is a BFA candidate at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Drawing from the writings of John Z. Komurki, Steven Shaviro, and Mark Fisher, Reif’s in-progress study, On the Commercial Subsumption of Subcultural Print, attempts to locate the Risograph print within a post-digital production landscape, specifically at a pivotal opening between subcultural publishing and commercial-corporate subsumption. Reif’s work here comprises an initial aesthetic analysis and a consideration of the Risograph’s “virtuous” refashioning at the hands of Facebook and Urban Outfitters.
Mega Press / SVA RisoLab
New York, NY, USA
Panayiotis Terzis is an artist, printer and publisher based in New York City. Born in Greece and relocated to the United States at an early age, he is a citizen of both nations but knows that his corporeal vessel belongs to the universe. His work has been published by Nieves, Fantagraphics, Landfill Editions, Vice Magazine, and other platforms, and has been exhibited widely across the US and globally including at the Elizabeth Foundation, Printed Matter Inc., the Swiss Institute, the Pera Museum (Istanbul), Andreas Melas Presents (Athens, Greece) and the Greek Consulate in New York. He has worked as an illustrator and textile designer with brands and labels such as American Apparel, Digitaria, Lurid Records, and others. Terzis is also the founder of the Risograph publishing platform Mega Press. His artist books, zines and print editions are held in the permanent collection of the MoMA Library, the Brooklyn Museum, the New York Public Library and the collection of Stanford University among others. He teaches printmaking and Risograph printing at the School of Visual Arts and Parsons in New York City, and is a co-founder of the SVA RisoLAB.
Mega Press is an evolving Risograph publishing platform dedicated to showcasing dynamic and unique content that looks towards the tides of the future while marinating the detritus of the past in the turbulence of our present moment. Previous editions include Trapper Keeper Vols. 1-6 (2014-2018), Megalith vols. 3-5 by Panayiotis Terzis (2016-2018), Sabre by Antoine Orand (2018), Orkness by Theo Triantafilidis (2018), Changes by Zebadiah Keneally (2018) and Lonely One Home by Ben Mendelewicz (2014).
Issue Press / stencil.wiki
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Issue Press is a small independent publishing and curatorial project initiated in 2010. It is run in Wietor's spare time and operates with a elastic publishing mandate, primarily concerned with works that trade in humor, history, and exploration of place.
In addition to Issue Press, George runs stencil.wiki, an open platform for sharing information about Risograph printing and is, along with Matt Davis, the co-organizer of NARC.
Hverdag Books / Norsk Risoforening
Oslo, Norway
Jessica Williams-Holmberg is an Oslo-based artist and publisher. She started working with Riso in 2011 and was key to the establishment of the Self-Publishing Workshop at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. Between 2011 and 2014, she was the driving force behind NSEW Press and since 2016 has run the publisher and Risograph studio Hverdag Books. In 2018, she co-founded Norsk Risoforening (Norwegian Risograph Society) along with Ann-Kristin Stølan and Benjamin Hickeither.
As an artist, she has exhibited widely and her working methods are like those of a hunter/gatherer—which is a nice way of saying she often works with trash. Everything from institutional language, mass-produced consumer goods, internet scraps, and physical debris finds its way into her work. She is also an avid collaborator, often involving others in her works. The machines that have passed through her studios in chronological order: RZ220, MZ790, CV3230.
NARC is co-organized by Issue Press and Perfectly Acceptable. This is it's second iteration.
Thank you to Chicago Art Book Fair and Chicago Design Museum for assistance and an especially immense gratitute to to Cards Against Humanity for the incredibly gracious use of space.
2019 logo by Jim O'Boyle. Thanks, Jim!
North American Risograph Conference 2019
10:00AM–5:00PM
1551 W Homer St, Chicago, IL 60642
NARC is a day of talks, panels, and workshops dedicated to strengthening the North American Risograph community.
The event is biennial, held in tandem with Chicago Art Book Fair. It is organized by Issue Press and Perfectly Acceptable Press.
Perfectly Acceptable Press
Chicago, IL, USA
Matt Davis is the founder and director of Perfectly Acceptable Press, a Risograph print studio and publishing house in Chicago. Besides doing contract printing for artists all over North America, Perfectly Acceptable publishes 8-10 titles per year spanning the genres of comics, artist books, and essay with an emphasis on narrative and craft.
Matt is the co-organizer of NARC along with George Wietor.
Space Cow Press
Tyumen, Siberia, Russia
I'm a cartoonist and publisher of Space Cow Press, a Siberian-based art community founded in 2014. Along with publishing zines and comics I organize Comic Arts Tyumen independent comics festival and summer school for young artists (since 2018), do diary comics strips and host comics workshops for kids and adults.
Martian Press
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Stephanie Lane Gage is an artist, graphic designer, printmaker and writer. She received her BFA from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 2015 and founded Martian Press later that year. Martian Press aims to publish art and writing by primarily queer makers, with a thematic focus in science fiction and works of a speculative nature. She relocated from Milwaukee to Los Angeles in 2017, where she is now based.
Flatlands Press
Chicago, IL, USA
Eric Von Haynes founded Flatlands in 2007, focused on producing publications and other printed ephemera for artists worldwide.
Flatlands aims to be a community-minded space for artists to create, inspire and share ideas. Flatlands Press is a proud operator of a EZ590.
Endless Editions / Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop
New York, NY, USA
Paul John is the Risograph Studio Manager at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop where he also teaches. In addition to RBPMW he has taught and lectured on printmaking at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Art and Design, the Queens Museum of Art, IPCNY, Pioneer Works, and at many other institutions and venues. He is the co-founder of Endless Editions, a publishing and curatorial initiative whose mission is to produce and disseminate books and prints by underrepresented and emerging artists, and whose books are in the collections of many major museums. Endless Editions participates in all major artbook fairs and organizes the annual Brooklyn Art Book Fair at McCarren Park Play Center. Paul received his MFA in printmaking and his BA in Philosophy.
Diskette Press
Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Carta Monir is an award-winning cartoonist and publisher living in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her own independent research suggests that she may have been the first cartoonist to ever have sex.
Shelf Shelf
Chicago, IL, USA
Lucas Reif is a designer, printer, and publisher. He is a co-operator of the Chicago-based publishing imprint and collaborative design practice Shelf Shelf. Reif is a BFA candidate at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Drawing from the writings of John Z. Komurki, Steven Shaviro, and Mark Fisher, Reif’s in-progress study, On the Commercial Subsumption of Subcultural Print, attempts to locate the Risograph print within a post-digital production landscape, specifically at a pivotal opening between subcultural publishing and commercial-corporate subsumption. Reif’s work here comprises an initial aesthetic analysis and a consideration of the Risograph’s “virtuous” refashioning at the hands of Facebook and Urban Outfitters.
Mega Press / SVA RisoLab
New York, NY, USA
Panayiotis Terzis is an artist, printer and publisher based in New York City. Born in Greece and relocated to the United States at an early age, he is a citizen of both nations but knows that his corporeal vessel belongs to the universe. His work has been published by Nieves, Fantagraphics, Landfill Editions, Vice Magazine, and other platforms, and has been exhibited widely across the US and globally including at the Elizabeth Foundation, Printed Matter Inc., the Swiss Institute, the Pera Museum (Istanbul), Andreas Melas Presents (Athens, Greece) and the Greek Consulate in New York. He has worked as an illustrator and textile designer with brands and labels such as American Apparel, Digitaria, Lurid Records, and others. Terzis is also the founder of the Risograph publishing platform Mega Press. His artist books, zines and print editions are held in the permanent collection of the MoMA Library, the Brooklyn Museum, the New York Public Library and the collection of Stanford University among others. He teaches printmaking and Risograph printing at the School of Visual Arts and Parsons in New York City, and is a co-founder of the SVA RisoLAB.
Mega Press is an evolving Risograph publishing platform dedicated to showcasing dynamic and unique content that looks towards the tides of the future while marinating the detritus of the past in the turbulence of our present moment. Previous editions include Trapper Keeper Vols. 1-6 (2014-2018), Megalith vols. 3-5 by Panayiotis Terzis (2016-2018), Sabre by Antoine Orand (2018), Orkness by Theo Triantafilidis (2018), Changes by Zebadiah Keneally (2018) and Lonely One Home by Ben Mendelewicz (2014).
Issue Press / stencil.wiki
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Issue Press is a small independent publishing and curatorial project initiated in 2010. It is run in Wietor's spare time and operates with a elastic publishing mandate, primarily concerned with works that trade in humor, history, and exploration of place.
In addition to Issue Press, George runs stencil.wiki, an open platform for sharing information about Risograph printing and is, along with Matt Davis, the co-organizer of NARC.
Hverdag Books / Norsk Risoforening
Oslo, Norway
Jessica Williams-Holmberg is an Oslo-based artist and publisher. She started working with Riso in 2011 and was key to the establishment of the Self-Publishing Workshop at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. Between 2011 and 2014, she was the driving force behind NSEW Press and since 2016 has run the publisher and Risograph studio Hverdag Books. In 2018, she co-founded Norsk Risoforening (Norwegian Risograph Society) along with Ann-Kristin Stølan and Benjamin Hickeither.
As an artist, she has exhibited widely and her working methods are like those of a hunter/gatherer—which is a nice way of saying she often works with trash. Everything from institutional language, mass-produced consumer goods, internet scraps, and physical debris finds its way into her work. She is also an avid collaborator, often involving others in her works. The machines that have passed through her studios in chronological order: RZ220, MZ790, CV3230.
NARC is co-organized by Issue Press and Perfectly Acceptable. This is its second iteration.
Thank you to Chicago Art Book Fair and Chicago Design Museum for assistance and an especially immense gratitute to to Cards Against Humanity for the incredibly gracious use of space.
2019 logo by Jim O'Boyle. Thanks, Jim!