we’re in the fucking woods! shirts…

ok, so years ago i first stencilled and then eventually made a screen to print up tanks and t’s with the saying “we’re in the fucking woods!” it’s hard to explain to folks who don’t go to the annual michigan womyn’s music festival, but, well, the reader’s digest version is that the festival is a camping music fest, a week long, in a very remote national forest in the middle section of michigan, close to the lake. it’s beyond rustic. cell phones don’t work there. people who live in the area are still on dial-up and there’s no internet access while at the fest. all concerts and events happen in big circus-style tents. there’s a lot of dirt and grass and nature. you are living in a tent and showering outdoors. it is an exceptionally low-tech experience… largely built with wood. most who attend find it a really wonderful escape from the wired reality of our daily lives.

but some find it challenging. you just simply can’t expect all the creature comforts of home. we are really winging it out there in the woods. we get creative. we make due with what we’ve got and can rig up. so as workers, over the years, it became a saying, often made in response to a situation where something isn’t as it is or doesn’t work the way it does out in the “real” world. “we’re in the fucking woods!”, ya know?

so anyways… i first cut a stencil and spray painted these one year to help subsidize my weeks spent in the woods as a volunteer worker (we don’t get paid, it’s just a work exchange where we are fed and don’t have to pay for a ticket in exchange for 8 hours a day of sweaty work). and then i made a silkscreen the next year and printed them up and offered them on my etsy site and at fest, again to help pay for my travel and time lost not working. but the last year i made them (can’t remember when it was – it’s been some years) i probably actually lost money making them, anticipating i would sell a lot more than i did and spending a lot of time customizing styles/brands/colors, etc. for gals. so i just stopped making them cuz i kinda felt like they were “over.” and then, well, i stopped making everything for a few years. and actually missed fest in 2011. (i went back in 2012 but did not sell any wares at all.)

and though i am again missing fest this year due to a multitude of personal, health and financial reasons, all of a sudden the demand for these shirts is high again. so due to intense peer pressure via facebook and in the hopes of making some money that i can spend restocking art supplies like spray paint, acrylic paint, brushes, exacto knives/blades, mylar for stencils, screen printing ink, etc. to get my art life going again, i have agreed to print some up.

this time, however, i will be taking pre-orders so that i don’t print up way more than i can sell.

wereinthefuckingwoods

[paypal button removed so i can finish printing what’s already been ordered – will put the button back when i’m caught up and can take more orders.]

the little paypal button above has a drop-down menu. the first option is whether you want it shipped to fest (if you are a worker and will be leaving before you think i can ship it to you at home) or whether you want it shipped to your home (for short crew who have enough time or for festies who definitely have enough time).

if you are only ordering ONE shirt, then use the second drop down menu to pick the size. if you want to order more than one shirt and pay for it at the same time, you have to go ahead and just pick a size and shipping option, hit the “buy now” button, and it takes you to a paypal page where you can input quantity. put in how many shirts you are purchasing at once and don’t worry about the size listed – once you log into paypal or go to the purchase page, it gives you the option of adding comments to the seller and there you can explain to me what sizes you want your multiple shirts to be. (or you can just shoot me an email and tell me – the important thing is for the quantity to be right when the transaction goes through so you pay the right amount.)

(and if this is all too complicated or confusing for you, just email me and i can invoice you separately if you need me to.)

fyi, right now, i’m only going to print them on hanes ribbed white a-tanks, to make it easy and fast. i *might* entertain the idea of printing them on something else later but for now, cuz i’m trying to accomodate long crew workers who are leaving in the next few days (or have already left), i’m just doing the a-tanks. IF you are a worker and order one, i can send them up in bulk next week with a list and deuce in inventory said she’d handle disseminating them. you can just check in with her and she’ll know you’ve already paid for it. if you are a festie, there should be plenty of time for me to ship them to you directly next week and have them get there in time, so i’m gonna do $5 for priority shipping which i know isn’t probably enough to actually cover priority shipping but it makes it an even $20 so i’m going with it.

ok, order away!

recent news…

so before i get to totally NEW news…

last month i participated in the true colors lgbtq art show. i submitted my rachel maddow stencil piece “oh rachel” (pictured below) and it was accepted and exhibited at ashe cultural arts center during pride week. it was an honor and was kinda just the kick in the pants i needed to start thinking about making more art. and the best news is… the piece sold! thank you to whoever bought it, and to the show’s organizers holis hannan and maxx sizeler. and to my dear friend isobel who i know was really the one responsible for me being in that show – love you, darlin. thanks.

oh_rachel

creeping slowly back to life…

yep, i’m back! well, perhaps i should say, i’m starting to make the motions to eventually BE back. it might still be a little while before this thing is going strong again.

but in the mean time… in the next post i’ll be throwing up a paypal button for pre-ordering of my “we’re in the fucking woods” shirts that i made for/at/about michfest many years back. i haven’t printed them since 2008 or 2009, but due to some incredible peer pressure, i’ve decided to whip up a few for gals attending this year’s fest. so… the button will be up for a week or so and then i’ll either ship to you at home if there’s enough time or ship to the land if not.

so stay tuned… hopefully tomorrow.

on hiatus

not that anyone really looks at this site anymore anyways, but just a note to say that art by mags is officially on hiatus now, indefinitely. i’m super focused on wags by mags! and though i may or may not still occasionally create things, i am not focused on art as a business or even much of a hobby right now. i even dropped out of the new orleans craft mafia – so you know i’m serious.

i just need a break, some extended time away from the hustle of constantly making stuff. i’m sure i will go back to it eventually, in some way – i have always been and will always be a maker, a creator – but it will likely not be as art by mags. i’m not quite ready to tear down the site and give up the domain, though. so i guess it’ll just sit here as an archive, for now. we shall see what happens down the line.

of course, if you have specific requests, i will still entertain custom orders at any time. just know it will probably take me much longer to do it, as i try to find the time in between the dogs and cats.

thanks, everyone, for all your support of my art-and-crafty life over the years.

artbymags on tv!

i know i’m technically on hiatus right now and haven’t been writing here, but as i was just enjoying the latest episode of one of my favorite new tv sitcoms this fall, 2 broke girls, i FINALLY saw my stencil painting that their set designer bought from me on etsy! i guess the camera angles just hadn’t gone in that direction yet in the set apartment on the previous two episodes, but it’s right there, hanging on wall in the living room:

 see it? smack in the middle of this screen shot. it’s a small painting, and it wasn’t much money and i don’t even like the painting – it and its companion piece which i still have were just silly little stencil things i sprayed on thrift store canvases one afternoon when i was thinking about my relationship with money. i had absolutely zero luck selling them at markets for almost a year! i almost don’t even like claiming that it’s mine… except that it’s kinda exciting to see something you made on the set of a new hit tv show that’s on every week!

this is what the painting looks like:

see? not really indicative of my usual work. kinda sloppy. though i guess it does have a little street art feel to it, which is probably why they liked it for this set. it does kinda look like the kinda crap you can buy on the streets of new york for $20!

if you watch the show (which you can do online from its homepage), you know their apartment is totally thrift store funky. it must have been a really fun job for the set designers to come up with, and there’s clearly a lot more etsy art on the walls beyond mine. but, hey, it’s still cool.

and this makes my second film/tv “credit” where something i made has appeared on screen. those who’ve known me for a while will remember that my popular “evildoer” stencil t-shirt appeared in the indie film “flakes” starring zooey deschanel many years back.

i guess i do keep getting signs from the universe that i am not done creating and selling my creations… but i’m still not really feeling it right now. but who knows. maybe i’ll get a rare burst of inspiration sometime soon. we’ll see.

check me out on derbygirlsblog.com!

finally! something new to report!

i actually did this interview months ago, but it finally posted today. the owner of this awesome derby blog – derbygirlsblog.com – approached me via etsy about donating one of my clocks for a giveaway. so of course i said yes!

she sent me a list of questions via email and well, i couldn’t resist gushing about both of my derby teams – my first love, the derby city roller girls (dcrg!), and my hometown team, the big easy roller girls (berg!). i am still and will always be a rollergroupie!

so check out the interview and enter to win the clock!