PS1 Sustainer Update - late August 2015
dear PS1 sustaining members,
A letter to you in the midst of a busy week! Read on...
POST FACTO FUTURE
If you haven't yet been barraged with the publicity for this show, let us briefly remedy that. Post Facto Future features work from upwards of 60 artists who have shown in our gallery in the past 7 years at the Jefferson Building and the Wesley Center, from Caleb Engstrom, who founded our gallery programming in its current form, to Jesse Albrecht, a multi-medium artist and Iraq war veteran who presented a solo show, UXO, at PS1 in 2010, to Jan Duschen, who you may know both for her intricate depictions of native birds and for being the awesome assistant manager (and mega community-art-supporter) at Iowa City's Blick Art Materials.
shot from Jesse Albrecht's UXO in our old Jefferson Building gallery
The majority of the pieces have been donated by the artists for a sealed-bid auction (in the gallery and online starting this Friday at 7!) that will raise money to sustain our non-commercial art programming. If you have the opportunity to share Post Facto Future with your friends who might be interested, we would deeply appreciate it, and of course, we'd love to see you at the opening (Fri. Aug 28th, 7-8:30p) or closing (Sat. Sept 12th, 7-8:30p). During the show we're also offering sustaining members the change to add a streak (drip, flow, dribble) of paint to our new members wall in the foyer. (Like a brass plaque, but messier!)
Whether or not you want to buy some art, we've been blown away by the range, talent, and generosity of our "alumni" artists and hope that you will check it out at the very least to admire their work.
Letter-within-a-letter
This from Hannah, one of our two very excellent summer interns. Hannah grew up in Iowa City and was home for the summer after her first year at Reed College in Portland, OR.
I spent this past short-but-long, hot summer working as an “intern” (scare quotes because it never felt that formal) working, helping, learning from Public Space One. I did everything from going through PS1 archives to setting up a series of kitchen workshops that are going on right now. It’s hard for me to put into concrete words why I believe in PS1 (and by extension, why you, mysterious email-reader, should believe in them too) because it’s more of a feeling. PS1 feels open and infinitely flexible if you only have an idea and the time; it is filled with the pleasure of art and creation, but also something more than that: the deep, soul satisfaction of finding a community. For me, being at PS1 was finally feeling at home in a city in which I always felt like a little bit like an outsider. Public Space One is special, a totally unique place for the eccentric (in the best possible way) people who make and create in Iowa City. It's home.
Here's Hannah, advertising for the wildly-successful free ice cream-making workshop she hosted in early August:
Quick Notes of News Items/Things to Look Forward to
Dreamwell Theater will be presenting its entire 2015-16 season at PS1, which includes Beyond Therapy, 1984, The Great God Pan, Gidion's Knot, and Cock.
Recent Iowa printmaking MFA grad Corinne Teed is our Free Studio Artist in Residence until the end of the year. Corinne's ecology-focused work addresses endangered animal populations and marginalized human communities, and her residency project centers on grey wolves (or, their absence) in Iowa. She will host several participatory public events as part of this project (including a kids wolf workshop in September!) -- stay tuned!
Curt Oren (of Curt's New Hat) will be launching the Curt Oren Memorial Institute for Comedic Safety (COMICS) grant this fall in collaboration with PS1 -- open to all with ideas for making the world more squishy.
Our collectively-run community print shop (if you haven't heard, now operating under the name Iowa City Press Co-op) has a growing membership, expanded facilities within our space (including a new-to-us combination press), and a great lineup of fall workshops and activities in printmaking and the book arts. If you've never been to the print shop, we invite you to come check it out sometime this fall!
The Iowa City Tradition of Summer Goodbyes
For the most of you living in Iowa City, you know you've got to get used to saying regular farewells (usually around the end of the July) to awesome friends and colleagues. This summer we had to say really tough goodbyes to three people who had a huge impact on PS1, in addition to their work in the greater IC community: Sarah Kanouse, Erica Blair, and Max Johnson. There's no way to write about all their good deeds and hard work without sounding obit-esque, and all of them are going on to great work in great places, so suffice to say that PS1 (our gallery, our recording studio and music shows, our increasing sustainability, and our weird) wouldn't be where we are without the three of them.
501(c)(3) & Other Official Biz
We happily heard back very quickly from the IRS and are officially a 501(c)(3) non-profit (!)(!), as of late July but back-dated to May 11th for tax purposes. That means that all of your contributions for 2015 starting from that date are tax-deductible, if you're into that sort of thing. And if you are, we'll be sending you a summary of your contribution at the end of the year to make the math easier.
We are also excited to welcome three new board members this fall: Anthony Manning, Emily Jalinsky, and Sayuri Sasaki Hemann. All three have been involved in what we're doing for at least a year (3+ in Anthony's case) as well as being great community-building artists in their own right, so it's an honor and a pleasure to have them on...board. (sorry.)
As Always
I (Kalmia, the Me writing this letter this time around) am the bookkeeper, among other things, for PS1, and though I know it's the thing to say in this situation, it's also true: the contributions of our sustaining members (you!) make an enormous difference, even the smallest ones. Thank you!
Please be in touch if you have ideas, comments, or questions.
yours,
kalmia
Kalmia Strong
Program Director & Board Member